At the end of the first year of Guangde, it was the eve of the magnificent transformation of the empire.
The past year has been an extraordinary year for the empire, Liu Zhaosun, and everyone on this land.
In blood and fire, killing and forgiveness, rebellion and perseverance, in one glorious victory after another, the empire completed her Nirvana rebirth.
In the dangerous environment of internal and external difficulties, polarism evolved certain characteristics that suit this era, that is, while maintaining a utopian background, it was organically combined with medieval slavery (the political system of the Ming and Qing Dynasties) - later called Eastern Uniform polarism - the new system shows strong adaptability and expansion power.
After the civil strife in Shenyang was put down, the radical and conservative forces within the empire were completely destroyed.
Taking this as a time point, the empire advanced rapidly. For a long period of a century, there was no more powerful opponent on this blue planet.
When the imperial army faced all enemies, they all showed a posture of reducing dimensionality and strike, until one hundred and twenty years later, Qi Renzong and Liu Ji encountered...
Returning to the timeline of the first year of Guangde, the main forces of each regiment successfully entered the customs, crossed the Central Plains, and approached the Yangtze River. They experienced the Battle of Nanyang, the Battle of Jiangxia, the Battle of Jiujiang, the Battle of Zhenjiang, and the Battle of Linchuan... Pushing forward all the way, at the turn of summer and autumn, the basic occupation of the nine provinces south of the Yangtze River was completed.
Of course, behind the glory is endless suffering.
In the era when industrial revolution was not completed, all the people and material resources in various places had been mobilized to support the empire's protracted wars (which had been going on for ten years).
The people have nothing but faith.
Shandong Bailian rebelled, Liaodong was starved to death, and Huguang was almost pushed back by the Ming army...
Countless histories have proven that if one does not pay attention to people's livelihood, does not develop production, does not solve the problem of food for the people, but blindly pursues militarism at home and expands externally, no matter it is polarism or any other doctrine, it will be difficult to escape the fate of destruction in the end.
Fortunately, God blessed Daqi. In the multi-front battle against Zuo Liangyu, Zheng Sen, Zhang Zicheng and other forces, Liu Zhaosun and his empire miraculously survived again.
Polarism once again demonstrates its irreplaceable superiority.
To use a certain saying, the empire went from one victory to another, and it was a mess.
Of course, did you actually win, and how much? Only Liu Zhaosun himself knew it well.
As the de facto ruler of Da Qi, the Supreme Emperor was very aware of the current difficulties between the north and the south, especially in the north of the Yangtze River. In order to support the war, the farmers' association and the chamber of commerce were depleting the lake, and a huge amount of resources had been plundered. Food, soldiers, ores... everywhere were on the verge of destruction. collapse.
Fortunately, Southeast has been included in the pocket. With the blood transfusion of this cow, the poor economic conditions of Liaodong and Henan provinces will be greatly alleviated.
If in the past, most of the gains from siege of cities and lands were negative assets, then Taicang, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Zhenjiang, Songjiang and other sacred places can be regarded as money-spinners.
During the Ming Dynasty, the Ming court levied land tax on Suzhou, Hangzhou, Taicang and other places, and the tax rate was more than ten times that of inland provinces. In addition to revenge against Chen Youliang's forces, the most important thing is that places like Suzhou and Hangzhou are indeed extremely rich.
Of course Liu Zhaosun would not be as short-sighted and narrow-minded as Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.
In the Taishanghuang plan, major southeastern cities (Taicang, Suzhou, Songjiang) will become international trade centers in the future.
The southeastern city agglomeration is similar to the position of London in the United Kingdom before and after the industrial revolution (the scale of the Eastern Qi is far larger than that of the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets, so there must be a city agglomeration to undertake the empire's global trade business, and no single city can afford it).
The caravans from various provinces in Daqi gathered in these cities a steady stream of "legally obtained" raw materials from all over the world. After processing, they were sold to the vast inland provinces, including the Japanese state of Annan...
In short, the Jiangnan urban agglomeration will be based on industry and commerce and radiate throughout Asia, instead of being used as a dynasty's cows to be harvested again and again for thousands of years.
The ideals are lofty and the reality is skinny.
At least at the end of the first year of Guangde, the economic situation of the empire was not optimistic at all.
When the New Year was approaching, the Supreme Emperor ordered that during the Spring Festival, the banquets in the palace should be simple and the Lantern Festival lights should be dispensed with, in the name of the fact that there were still hungry people in the north and south.
The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is the small year of the lunar calendar.
The Supreme Emperor went to the Qianqing Palace early in the morning and announced to the ministers of Qi:
"Being frugal and considerate of your subjects are the virtues of a ruler. When Da Qi was founded, it should be based on rest and recuperation. Starting from next year (the second year of Guangde), the regular lantern festival in the Forbidden City on Lantern Festival will not be allowed. Annan, Korea, Ryukyu, Burma, Siam (Thailand) and other vassal states will again pay tribute to the Celestial Empire and stop pearl fishing in Lianzhou, Guangdong (Note 1). I am not good at pearls and jade, but only love food. If anyone dares to use pearl fishing to cause trouble and harm Guangdong again, The common people will be skinned and exposed to the public!"
On the same day, Liu Zhaosun also ordered that all the former Ming palace maids in the Forbidden City in Nanjing who had not been dispatched should be dismissed, together with the dismissed eunuchs from various bureaus, a total of more than 1,300 people...
The Supreme Emperor wrote a poem, which said:
The fine wine in the golden bottle is worth the blood of thousands of people, and the delicacies on the jade plate are worth the blood of thousands of people.
When the candles fall, the people shed tears, and where the songs are loud, the voices of complaint are loud.
All the officials were shocked when they heard this. The great scholar Zhang Pu fell to the ground and cried bitterly:
"Your Majesty! There are only 3,000 maids in the palace in Nandu now. These people serve two palaces and serve in six bureaus, which is not enough. My emperor can only eat five kinds of food at each meal, and can only take three sets of clothes in four seasons. He is so diligent and frugal, and now he has to dismiss the maids. , How can I have the dignity to enjoy my salary when I’m waiting for my corpse to have a plain meal!”
Zhang Pu's cry was so real that it quickly infected the officials in the palace, and the Qianqing Palace burst into tears.
Chief Instructor Senti took the lead:
"I am willing to donate a small amount of money and reduce my salary to overcome the difficulties together and share the worries of our emperor!"
Dongguan Tsai immediately offered to donate 5,000 taels of silver - which was his savings for many years - and asked the Supreme Emperor to halve his monthly salary of 500 taels. If he did not agree, he would not be able to afford it.
The Supreme Emperor was moved by him and shed tears of emotion.
Liu Zhaosun said that he could accept one thousand taels of silver and the other taels would be returned to Senti, and his salary would remain unchanged in the future.
With Sen Ti taking the lead, the ministers followed suit and generously donated money and materials to the court.
Qiao Yiqi donated 8,000 taels of silver; Lu Xiangsheng donated 1,000 taels; Wang Huazhen donated 10,000 taels of silver; Qian Qianyi donated 20,000 taels... Wang Yingxiong, Du Yinxi, Chen Zizhuang, Jiang Dejing and others also donated.
Liu Zhaosun only collected one-third of the donations from each person, and strictly ordered officials below the second rank not to donate, and those who violated the rules would be dismissed from office.
It was not that the Supreme Emperor was kind-hearted. He knew very well that once the edict left Nanjing, it would quickly lose its shape, and just like the donations of later generations, it would become a local apportionment.
In the end, ordinary farmers will be forced to donate, which defeats the original purpose.
~~
In view of Zhu Yuanzhang's harsh rule, Liu Zhaosun established the honest silver system in Daqi.
Officials at all levels in Da Qi received their salaries in a mixture of rice and banknotes.
The first and second grades have four branches of rice and six branches of banknotes; the third and fourth grades of rice have half and half banknotes; the fifth and sixth grades of rice have six banknotes and four; the seventh and eighth grades of rice have eight banknotes and two.
In addition to enjoying basic salaries, imperial officials also received rewards for their outstanding political achievements, which is what later generations called work performance.
Generally, rewards such as South Sea pepper, hematoxylin, Western mechanical watches, whale oil, antique calligraphy and painting, etc. are not given for performance, but are of collection and liquidation value.
The salary level of imperial officials was several times that of the previous Ming Dynasty.
Taking the prefect as an example, in the former Ming Dynasty, the fourth-rank official received twenty-four dan, but in Daqi, the salary of a tongzhi (an official subordinate to the prefect) reached 80 dan.
Although the amount of salary is not a key factor in determining official governance, if we want to keep the officialdom clean, we must at least allow officials to use their salary to support their families and maintain a minimum dignity of life.
Simply put, if you want a horse to run, you must feed it.
Otherwise, corruption will just become an instinct.
There are not many officials who are still loyal to the emperor even if they are about to starve to death.
In more than two hundred years of Ming Dynasty, Hai Rui was born.
I would like to add that there is no corruption in Daqi.
According to imperial decrees, from the central to the local level, officials are prohibited from purchasing in ordinary markets. Official procurement is undertaken by a specialized chamber of commerce. The general person in charge of this chamber of commerce is the Supreme Emperor.
~~~~~
On the night of New Year's Eve, the palace gate changed its door gods early, couplets, signs, and peach charms were added, giving it a completely new look.
As usual, the Supreme Emperor held a family banquet in the Qianqing Palace, feasting with his family members to welcome the New Year.
This habit has been maintained for almost twenty years.
This year's New Year's Eve family banquet in the Forbidden City was a huge drop in size compared to previous years. Many dishes were missing and there were far fewer guests.
Kang Yingqian is no longer here, King Qiao Yiqi, Huazhen Mao Yuanyi and Lao Songtou are seriously ill, Jin Yinghe, Jin Dajiu, Yang Tong and others are no longer here either. Other civil servants and generals are either stationed in other places or have lost the trust of the Supreme Emperor.
Those who attended the banquet that day, in addition to the family members of the Supreme Emperor, included military generals Deng Changxiong, Qi Jin, Zhao, Pei Dahu, Wu Xiao, Lin Yu, Wu Aheng, civil servants including Lu Xiangsheng, Qian Qianyi, Senti Lu, Demin, the high priest Dongfang Zhu, and Kang Yingqian’s nephew Kang Jingxiu... ·The number of people is more than double that of previous years.
There are rows of large bright-angle lanterns at the palace gate. They will not be hung up this year because of the waste of fuel.
In previous years, the scenes of blooming flowers, noisy people, chatter and laughter, and firecrackers and fireworks have disappeared.
Soups, side dishes, snacks, fruit cups, cakes, and abalone were all removed.
Not to mention 40 items of cold meals, hot meals, group meals, 20 items each of wine and tea meals, and 108 items of pastries, side dishes, soups, porridges, and candied foods;
None.
Just the simplest of ordinary dishes.
The only dessert on the table is Saqima (Shaqima) which Jin Yuji Yang Qing'er loved to eat during the Kaiyuan era.
Saqima is a specialty snack of Jianzhou Jurchens. It is quite popular in Liaodong. Both queen mothers are foodies. Saqima is simple to make. It is not as complicated and expensive as Jiangnan pastries. It only uses rock sugar, cream and white flour. In other words, it is shaped like glutinous rice and can be cooked in the oven.
Everyone talked about old things in Liaodong and laughed when they talked about interesting things.
The Supreme Emperor glanced at everyone and his eyes fell on Liu Kan.
Liu Kan is growing up day by day and had his hair tied last year.
It is said that after the hair is tied, it is time to get married.
It's just that this year the Emperor is on an expedition to the south of the Yangtze River and has no time to interfere with the matter, so he has to let the Queen Mothers of the two palaces make preparations.
In the summer and autumn of this year, Liu Kan's two queen mothers, the Cisheng Empress Dowager Jin Yuji and the Eastern Empress Dowager Yang Qing'er, secretly began to choose a marriage for the young emperor, that is, to choose a queen.
The Empress Dowager Cisheng selected the eldest daughter of Pei Dahu, the commander of the Imperial Guard, as the queen, and the Empress Dowager Dong selected the daughter of Wu Aheng, the chief officer of the Imperial Navy, as the queen.
On the sixth day of August in the first year of Guangde, when the Qin Tianjian had already begun to choose an auspicious date for the wedding (the eighth day of October in the first year of Guangde), and was just waiting for the Supreme Emperor to finally finalize the candidate for the queen, Liu Zhaosun learned about it on the Jiangnan front line and immediately All preparations were stopped.
The reason given by High Priest Francisco is:
(Emperor's wedding) Within a year, only the seventh month is beneficial, and the remaining months are not suitable.
In other words, the Supreme Emperor postponed his son's wedding for at least a year.
The Supreme Emperor didn't believe much in the changing of solar terms, so the words of the high priest were, of course, just excuses.
After occupying Jiangnan, Liu Zhaosun's ambitions became even greater. He wanted to marry Emperor Guangde to Europe. The specific princess is not yet known.
The Supreme Emperor issued this fatal order to his European ministers:
The Queen of Daqi must be born among the princesses from various European countries. If not, then find one.
"Kan'er, your two queen mothers and I have announced to the Ministry of Etiquette to prepare for your wedding. The candidates have been decided."
The Supreme Emperor looked at Liu Kan with bright eyes.
Liu Kan quickly stood up, raised his hands and said to the Supreme Emperor:
"My sons and ministers are busy with preparations for the reform, marriage matters, parents' orders and matchmaker advice, but they are left to the arrangements of their father and mother."
The Supreme Emperor smiled and said: "Reform is important, Emperor Guangde's marriage is even more important!"
"This woman is fourteen years old. She has a dignified and quiet nature. She likes to read and practice calligraphy. She has a plump and broad forehead. She has a pleasant figure. She has a white and long neck, round and upright shoulders, and a thick back... In short, she is a beauty. She has the posture of a fish sinking into a swan. , and the most important thing is to be able to navigate the battlefield and be proficient in bow and horse..."
Hearing that the bow and horse were skillful, Jin Yuji coughed lightly and turned slightly red.
All the civil servants and generals looked over curiously, especially Deng Changxiong, Pei Dahu, Wu Aheng, and Xie Yang. Their daughters were waiting to be married. Daqi learned from the previous Ming Dynasty's experience of weak relatives, and the queen did not have to be selected from the families of ordinary people. Ministers could also contribute.
Under the investigation and analysis of Francesco, Jinnige and others.
The current King of Sweden, the seventh monarch of the Vasa Dynasty, the eldest son of King Carl IX of Sweden, an outstanding European military strategist and military reformer, and the daughter of Gustav II Adolf (English: Gustav II Adolf), entered their vision.
"Princess Christina of the Kingdom of Sweden is the only surviving legal heir born to Gustav II and the Queen. This daughter may be worthy of Kan'er. She will be the Queen of Daqi."
The teacup fell from Liu Kan's hand.
"My son, there is no need to be excited. Half a year ago, I sent a mission to Sweden to propose marriage to Mr. Gu. I thought it would be here soon."
Note:
1. Pearl fishing in Guangdong refers to the use of seawater pearls, a specialty of Hepu County. In the Ming Dynasty, Hepu County was affiliated to Lianzhou under the jurisdiction of the Chief Envoy of Guangdong. Hepu pearls have been famous since ancient times and have always been favored by the royal family... On May 18th, the eighth year of Jiajing reign, Emperor Shizong issued an edict to collect pearls, and the local government officially started mining on August 28th. It coincides with the flood season, "when the tide rises, the storm is inconvenient." By mid-December, more than 300 boatmen had died of illness, more than 280 had drowned, 76 boats of different sizes had been damaged by wind and waves, and 30 boats had drifted without people.
Lewen
