Western calendar, 1685, early morning on February 27, Constantinople.
When the melodious bells of Hagia Sophia rang, the melee in the city of Constantinople had completely ended. The whole city was now as silent as death, so that the not loud bells could be heard in this place where the smoke had not yet cleared. The early morning wafts over the city.
Most of the originally bustling streets were in ruins after seven days of urban street fighting. There are traces of smoke and fire everywhere, corpses scattered everywhere and walls that have been beaten like honeycombs. Some forcibly mobilized Fanar people, Armenians, and Jews were carrying corpses and breaking closed doors from house to house under the supervision of Rakshasa soldiers, driving out the shivering residents of the Tianfang Sect inside.
The fate that awaited the city's former ruling people was, of course, not ruthless killing but relatively mild deportation. This is not because Chang Ning, Ba Hai, and Guanyin Bao are so kind, but because they are the optimal solution after careful calculation.
There are hundreds of thousands of Tianfang believers in this city, most of whom are women, children and the elderly. They are the family members of the officers and soldiers of Chenieri and the bureaucrats born in Chenieri, the "coated group" of the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
Killing them all may relieve their anger, but it is very irrational, because it will completely anger the Chenieri soldiers of Sudan, and at the same time change them back to the state of "taking the military camp as their home and Sudan as their father". It is better to kill them all. They expel. But instead of driving them across the strait and bombarding Asia Minor, they were driven westward and allowed to join the Sudanese army that had withdrawn from the front line in Vienna.
In this way, the mourning teacher who was originally eager to return to the army to avenge his family suddenly became a "teacher of benevolence and righteousness" who "marched with the people". It was impossible for Muhammad IV to ignore these military relatives who escaped from Constantiniya. He had to properly settle these people before considering counterattacking Constantiniya.
With such a delay, the Rakshasa Kingdom would have a chance to gain a foothold in Constantinople.
Because the "recovery" of Constantinople by the Rakshasa will definitely trigger turmoil in the Balkans, and the Holy Roman Empire and Poland will also be inspired by the success of the Rakshasa! Therefore, they will definitely work hard to defeat the lost dog of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. If Muhammad IV could not immediately organize a major counterattack to recapture Constantinople, he might be entangled by the Catholic and Orthodox princes in the HRE, Poland and the Balkans who were forced to surrender to the Ottoman Empire.
With such entanglement, it is uncertain whether Mohammed IV can return to Adrianople alive (near Constantinople, once the capital of the Ottoman Empire). Even if he is lucky, he can return from the HRE, Poland and other countries. If you try to escape with your hands, your vitality will definitely be severely damaged.
At that time, the Rakshasa Kingdom's situation in Constantinople will be stable. Not only will it be able to firmly control the city of Constantinople, but it will also be able to seize the territory on both sides of the Bosporus to open up the The connection between King's Castle and the Black Sea. In this way, King's Castle can be really captured!
With the land of Constantinople, the Aisingioro family can be considered a small piece of land to live and settle down. Although this land looks similar to the end of the Eastern Roman Empire, which is about to end in history, it is only such a precarious situation. , only then could the Aixinjueluo family actually control the castle.
Otherwise, the Tsar of the Rakshasa Kingdom should come to the Castle to ascend the throne and become the Emperor of the Roman Empire.
Standing on the wall of the second military gate of Constantinople, looking at the groups of Tianfang believers below, dragging their children with them, supporting the elderly and the young, who were expelled from this castle that was extremely easy to defend and difficult to attack. , Chang Ning let out a long breath, then turned to look at the east and murmured: "Third brother, did you see it? Second brother and I finally secured another piece of territory for the Aixinjueluo family in the west! In the future, when my second brother and I are established in Constantinople, we will also bring over all the Manchu descendants scattered around, especially those from the Aisin Gioro family. As a family, we should stay together."
Thinking of this, he turned to Bahai beside him and said: "Bahai, send someone to deliver a message to my second brother and my sister-in-law, telling them that the eagle flag of Rome is already flying over the Saint Sophia Cathedral!"
In the winter of the twelfth year of the Republic of Ming Dynasty, Nanjing, the General's Mansion.
When the news of the "Constantinople Incident" came back to the Ming Dynasty, Li Zhongshan had already returned to Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, for several months. It had been two full years since the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition was a complete victory. .
Two years seems to be a long time, but if you want to heal the "war wounds" between the Huanghuai River and the Yellow River (controlling the overflowing Yellow River), and digest the fruits of victory of the last Northern Expedition, it will include Shandong, Shanxi, Beizhili, Liaodong, and Jilin , Heilongjiang, Monan Mongolia, eastern and central Henan and other territories were all included in his pocket. For General Li Zhongshan who still wanted to prepare for the next round of Western Expedition, it was too short-lived. Almost in the blink of an eye, two years passed!
Fortunately, General Li has accomplished a lot in the past two years.
First, with his support, the governor of the river, Jin Fu, finally controlled the overflowing Yellow River. The water of the Yellow River once again "obediently" rushed into the sea and never returned.
Secondly, Li Zhongshan successfully presided over the "republican reform" of eight northern provinces in Beijing - Shandong Province, Shanxi Province, North Zhili Province, Liaodong Province, Jilin Province, Heilongjiang Province, Monan Province, and Henan Province!
The main reform contents are: 1. Establish governor-general offices with great authority in these eight provinces, set up provincial people's councils, and appoint the following state and county officials by the governor-general and the provincial people's council.
2. We began to count the land and population in eight provinces, and formulated the "Measures for Land Equalization and Land Restriction in the Eight Northern Provinces" based on the "Chinese Land Acquisition System", and began to trial this method in a few counties that had completed land clearing and household surveys.
3. Designate Chinese nationals and scholars from the eight northern provinces, and select local officials from among them - the selection methods are mainly examinations, recruitment, recruitment, etc.
4. Allocate part of the wasteland and the confiscated "inverse property" in the eight northern provinces to the meritorious officials of the Ming Dynasty - the meritorious officials of the Ming Dynasty, including Li Zhongshan himself, should receive corresponding honors and titles according to their merits. field. However, the southeastern provinces controlled before the Ming Dynasty were relatively small and populated, so land was only allocated to the middle and lower-level meritorious officers who had no land and little land. As for the upper-level or middle-level meritorious officers who already owned more land, they did not receive sufficient land.
This time, we have taken over the eight northern provinces with few people and vast land, and we can finally cash in on the noble land! In addition, 800,000 people will participate in this Northern Expedition. After the battle, there will be more than 400,000 more Chinese people! So many Chinese people all have their own land!
Don’t underestimate this wave of land division. If this division is completed, Ming Dynasty will have a foothold in the eight northern provinces!
The third major event Li Yat-sen accomplished in the past two years was presiding over the "Beijing Peace Conference." The Beijing Peace Conference was further divided into two parts: the Peace Conference with Japan and the Peace Conference with Britain and Spain. Among them, the Peace Conference with Japan was the "Eight Articles on Japan", which determined the Ming Dynasty's "principle of limited interference" in Japan's internal affairs - that is, interference, but not It would be enough to intervene deeply to ensure that there would be a confrontation between the Kyoto court and the Edo shogunate in Japan, as well as a separatist regime among the princes.
The Anglo-Dutch-Spanish Peace Conference involved fighting and talking at the same time!
After the Battle of Danang, the Spanish Armada lost its ability to continue to compete with the Ming Dynasty in the Western Pacific and had to retreat to the Indian Ocean.
Later, due to the Ottoman Turkish Empire's march to Vienna and the recovery of southern New Spain by the Aztec Republic, Spain had to withdraw from the war and asked France and the Ming Dynasty for peace with the Aztec Republic, recognizing the "Western American Empire" supported by the Ming Dynasty. The possession of California and other areas in northern New Spain also recognized the Aztecs' recovery of southern New Spain, and the Ming Dynasty's recovery of Spain's Philippine colonies!
The negotiations with the Netherlands and England (the two countries now share the same leader) were carried out at the same time as the Ming Dynasty's conquest of the Dutch East Indies and Malacca!
After the Spanish Armada (actually the Anglo-Dutch Combined Fleet) suffered heavy losses, the Dutch East India Company was no longer able to fight against the Ming Dynasty in the Western Pacific. In early 1685, it had to abandon its strongholds such as the Spice Islands, Batavia and Malacca and withdraw to Sicily. Orchid Island is going all out to operate the Indian Ocean!
Since the Dutch East India Company withdrew from the Nanyang region, there were no irreconcilable conflicts between the Ming Dynasty and the British and Dutch.
After all, Li Zhongshan had no interest in enslaving the Indian people - his Ming Dynasty did not need the Indian market at all. As long as there was gold and silver from the New World and Oceania, the Ming Dynasty would have a vast enough market.
India's population is simply dispensable.
Of course, even if he wanted to take India now, he didn't have the energy to spare... If Wu Yingqi was interested in India, he would be happy to see it happen.
In order to encourage Wu Yingqi to develop westward, the fourth major thing Li Zhongshan carried out in the past two years was to prepare for a western expedition aimed at unifying China!
Although when the Ming Dynasty won the Northern Expedition, Li Zhongshan and Wu Yingqi had reached a tacit agreement - the Ming Dynasty marched westward, and Wu Zhou moved westward. At the same time, Wu Zhou left a group of aristocratic children as surrenderers, and the Ming Dynasty would grant them marquisships. Uncle, let them "come ashore".
But this was just a tacit understanding, and Wu Yingqi verbally agreed very well, but when the Ming Dynasty's hundreds of thousands of troops marched past, no one seemed to know whether he would change his mind and try to resist the heavenly soldiers.
Therefore, Li Zhongshan was still ready to fight in the northwest.
However, Wu Yingqi has indeed been preparing to run away in the past two years. First, he created a large number of princes in Shaanxi and Gansu - this is to "divide the families" of his subordinates, keep some and leave others, so that no one will suffer any loss. !
At the same time, in the name of conquering the remnants of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, he launched a large-scale conquest of the land in the river! They also ate Taiping Valley and Tianjing City, which Kangxi had worked so hard to manage.
He also took the Qing survivors he brought out from Shanxi, Beijing, and Shangjing to the river and filled the Taiping Valley.
It is said that the number of survivors from the Central Plains and the Western Regions (people of Sima Yihan's tribe) in Hezhong now exceeds 2 million... accounting for almost one-third of the population of all ethnic groups in Hezhong and the Mughal grasslands.
If more people could migrate there, it would be possible for immigrants from the Central Plains and the Western Regions to account for half of the population in Hezhong and the Mughal Grasslands!
By then Wu Zhou would probably be able to occupy several million square kilometers of land in Central Asia.
Those piles of Stans will probably turn into a big Western Zhou Dynasty!
Seeing that Wu Yingqi was running quite actively, Li Zhongshan planned to "help" him a few more times!
On the one hand, it issued loans to Wu Yingqi's Zhou Dynasty and provided armaments through the Mongolian East India Trading Company; on the other hand, it actively prepared for a Western Expedition involving 400,000 people!
Even if they are sent away and driven away, at least one million more immigrants must be sent to the river...
Just when preparations for the Western Expedition were about to be completed, news came that Fu Quan and Chang Ning had occupied Constantinople.
This is really surprising...they can run so well!
And the energy is still not exhausted...
"Could it be that the spirit of the Qing Dynasty was brought to the Rakshasa Kingdom by Fu Quan and Chang Ning?" Li Zhongshan took over the report sent by Jia Guozhu, the Ming Dynasty ambassador to European countries, from Yao Qisheng. After reading it, he couldn't help but sigh. He mumbled loudly.
"General," Yao Qisheng, the leader of the Jinyi Guards, said with a smile, "How much more powerful can the Qing Dynasty be?
The so-called Hu has no luck for a hundred years... It has been more than fifty years since the Qing Dynasty was reorganized from Huang Taiji and proclaimed emperor. It is almost over. "
almost?
Li Zhongshan looked at the old man Yao Qisheng and thought to himself: Without me, you would still be a slave of the Qing Dynasty!
Yao Qisheng now holds the title of Duke!
When he and Li Zhongshan come back from the west (he will serve as the military advisor for the Western Expedition), they will be able to rule the country!
"Xizhi," Li Zhongshan pulled his thoughts back, "Has the summary of the Western Expedition Plan been prepared?"
"Okay, everything is healed." Yao Qisheng said, "Would you like to enter the palace to meet the saint now?"
The Western Expedition was a major expedition involving hundreds of thousands of troops, and its success or failure was directly related to the unity of the world!
According to Li Zhongshan’s plan, in this western expedition, the Ming Dynasty would fight westward until it reached the banks of the Ili River before stopping!
Not only must we recover Shaanxi, Sichuan, Gansu, Yunnan, Guizhou and western Henan, we must also recover the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains and the snow-covered plateau!
Therefore, the scale of dispatching troops was very large and the period of use of troops was also very long.
After this great conquest, the territory of Ming Dynasty was basically established.
There should be no large-scale conquests for a long time to come.
Therefore, the entire Ming Dynasty paid special attention to this Western Expedition. Not only the General's Office, the Ministry of Secretariat and the National People's Congress regarded this matter as a top priority.
Even Zhu Cijiong, who ruled from the top down, was very concerned about this matter and sent people to invite Li Zhongshan to the palace every now and then to inquire about the progress.
"Then let's go!" Li Zhongshan nodded, "Bring Jia Guozhu's report with you... This can be considered an anecdote. It's quite boring for the emperor to stay in the palace all day. Let him know a little about the outside world." Things are good too.”
"The general is still thoughtful." Yao Qisheng replied with a smile, "General, when this battle is over... the world will be at peace, right?"
Li Zhongshan turned his head and looked at a globe in his palace. After looking at it for a while, he pointed at the globe and said, "Xizhi, that is the real world!
Even if we can successfully complete the Western Expedition strategy, we will only capture half of the Divine Continent. How dare you say that the world is peaceful? This world... I'm afraid it won't be peaceful for another hundred years! "
Having said this, he suddenly stood up from his chair and waved to Yao Qisheng: "Let's go... let's go into the palace together and talk to Emperor Zhu about how to divide the world after the victory of the Western Expedition..."
(End of chapter)
