Charles II trembled and knelt at the gate of Huangji, listening to the interrogation of him by officials from the Three Justice Departments of the Ming Dynasty.
How could he have imagined that one day, he would be as miserable as his father.
His father, Charles I, was put on trial by the domestic bourgeoisie and sent to the guillotine.
And he himself is now being judged by the Orientals.
"Charlie II, you have lost your conscience and been greedy for profit. You have blatantly supported the profiteers of your country to smuggle and sell black incense that is irreversibly harmful to people to our Ming Dynasty. As a result, 3,409 citizens of our Ming Dynasty have been tortured, and even their families have been destroyed!" One hundred and fifty-eight Jinyi guards were injured or sacrificed because of the ban on Wu Xiang, can you plead guilty?!"
Fang Yuegong, the Minister of Punishment, loudly asked about Charles II.
Charles II replied in despair: "Pleas guilty!"
But Charles II couldn't help shouting in English: "Can you forgive my sin!"
Fang Yuegong couldn't understand what Charles II was saying, but he seemed to guess that Charles II was begging for mercy, so he kindly whispered: "In the next life, remember to learn to speak Chinese first, so that your majesty can hear you when you beg for mercy." I understand your plea for mercy!”
After saying that, Fang Yuegong stood up and said to the superior Ming Emperor Zhu Youxiao: "Your Majesty! Charles II is willing to plead guilty. According to the latest revision of the Ming Dynasty's "Ming Dynasty Regulations", I rule that Charles II has He has committed a crime of harming the people of our Ming Dynasty, and it is a serious crime, so he should be dealt with severely and be punished with immediate death in half. Please allow it, Your Majesty!"
"Accurate! He will be held in front of the tombs of the loyal soldiers who were killed because of the ban on Wuxiang, and in front of the people of the Ming Dynasty who were harmed by Wuxiang, and he will be tortured on his knees! Let the foreign ministers in Beijing watch the execution."
Zhu Youxiao replied.
"yes!"
Next, Charles II was dragged off.
And was dragged to the Martyrs Cemetery of the Ming Dynasty. At this time, a group of Han citizens from the capital who were forced to detoxify were also brought here.
"Kneel down!"
But when Charles II was asked to kneel down to the Han people in the capital who had become emaciated due to Wu Xiang’s harm, Charles II was rather reluctant and said: “Why, why do you want me to kneel down to these Han people! "
The officer from the Ministry of Punishment who was holding him kicked him in the knee, but he still knelt down after saying "ah".
Fang Yuegong shouted to the civilians of the Ming Dynasty who were harmed by this black fragrance: "He is the chief culprit who caused you to become like this!"
Then, Fang Yuegong ordered: "Execution!"
Click!
Not long after, Charles II was executed.
When the French envoy Colbert saw this, his face turned pale with fright.
He suddenly felt even more afraid of the Ming Emperor sitting in the middle, and he couldn't help but said to Elleken: "Kill foreign kings at will! This Ming Emperor is really untouchable!"
"They have such arrogant confidence. I really hope that France will be like this one day."
Elleken couldn't help but reply at this time.
Colbert sneered: "Tell me, will there ever be a day when such severe punishments are imposed? For those of us with noble blood, a country with such severe punishments is not a good country! Nobles should have A more elegant way to deal with it! This may be the reason why Duke Philip advocates using Western learning as the body and Eastern learning as the application. We cannot learn from them. We only need to find ways to learn their advanced scientific and technological knowledge and how to control it. Just the knowledge of the people.”
"You're right!"
Elleken replied with a smile.
The execution of Charles II was equivalent to a complete victory for the entire anti-smoking campaign for the Ming Emperor Zhu Youxiao. Even the kings of the countries who smuggled black incense had been punished, which naturally demonstrated the determination of the Ming Dynasty. .
As a result, Wuxiang smoking in the Ming Dynasty almost completely disappeared.
However, in this world, there are always people who choose to take desperate risks because of doubts about huge profits.
Zhu Youxiao did not expect to completely eliminate the harm of Wu Xiang, he just did not want Ming Dynasty to relax in controlling Wu Xiang.
The development of natural science is a double-edged sword. For example, in the research of chemistry, the emergence of various new drugs is also accompanied by the emergence of various poisons.
Wuxiang's appearance is inevitable.
"With the head of Charles II, we can undoubtedly curb the spread of Wuxiang. Next, we need to continue to focus on global expansion. Now, the Ming Dynasty is strong, so we can grab more for future generations. Resources, so the Han people’s population and fertility must continue to be encouraged. Especially now that the internal combustion engine has appeared, there will undoubtedly be greater progress in productivity in the future, and it can feed more people in the world, but I hope that more people will be able to do so. Mainly Han people, there are more Han people to dilute or even assimilate the native people from various places."
After Zhu Youxiao executed Charles II, he left his ministers alone and discussed the major political affairs to be done at present.
"Confucianism has been promoted quite smoothly in countries such as England and France. Their kings are also very willing to cultivate their people into obedient people through Confucianism. However, countries that are really willing to uphold the concept of working people as the first to carry out national affairs are currently still I don’t see it, they find it hard to accept Ming Dynasty’s current behavior of allocating the growing wealth mainly to producers, so countries like England and France have not done this.”
Zhang Tongchang, who is responsible for analyzing the external situation, couldn't help but say something.
"No one in power will take the initiative to make their country strong by making real ordinary people rich, even those who often shout that they will benefit the people. I and you people from the Zhongming Society are exceptions! "
When Zhu Youxiao said this, he thought of Louis XIV and said: "Louis XIV is also an exception, but he fell into the water and got sick not long after doing this. It can be seen that this road is not easy to walk. Those who are not willing to do this Those who do it may not know that this path is the only way to strengthen the country, but they know that there are high risks involved, so it can be said that they may still be smarter people."
Wen Tiren nodded slightly at this time and said: "Your Majesty, from my perspective, this can be regarded as a kind of lazy behavior. Once anything is done, there will be feedback. Even if it is not done, there will be feedback, and the effect may even be the same. Change the existing unreasonable situation and don’t do what people want!”
"It's just that if you just go along with it by doing nothing, the price may be higher. For example, in the case of annexation, if the monarch does nothing and allows it to develop, the people will turn against it if they have no way out, and the world will be in chaos, and then the fields will be divided again and annexed. The matter will be solved; if the monarch has something to do and does not allow it to develop and restrict it, although it is easy for the king to offend the people of the world, it can prevent the world from being harmed. 'This is the way to solve it."
At this time, Wen Tiren elaborated a few words of his own views. Although he was an ancient, as an elite of this era, he had his own unique views on many social phenomena, and he did not necessarily need Emperor Zhu Youxiao to make suggestions.
At this time, Wen Tiren said again: "It can only be lamented that many of the vassal states in the Ming Dynasty have been enfeoffed, and their domestic monarchs are lazy and do nothing because of this. Sooner or later, there will be great turmoil!"
"In the system of enfeoffment, the Zhou system is to enfeoff and ignore it, but this dynasty cannot do this. It must not only enfeoff, but also manage! However, the salary for this management cannot be provided by the central court, but must be provided by these vassal states!"
Zhu Youxiao put forward his own opinion. He had no intention that after unifying the world, he, the emperor of the central court, would really be indifferent to the internal affairs of the princes and countries like the emperor of Zhou.
"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"
Wen Tiren and other assistant ministers replied in agreement.
"However, the most important thing right now is to unify the world and destroy all countries that are not China! The establishment of global order will have to wait until this major event is completed."
Zhu Youxiao continued.
Therefore, Lu Xiangsheng said: "English has been taught a lesson now, but there is no need to use troops against it for the time being. France is also sensible, and there is no need to spend a lot of effort to send troops to destroy him. What's more, they also need to obtain maritime trade through them. Therefore, in my opinion, the main focus on unification should be expansion from land, while profit from trade should be the main focus at sea."
"This is a good insight. In terms of military affairs, the biggest opponents of the empire are actually the Ottomans and the Polish countries. They are the stronger countries in the west at the moment, and they have a tendency to unite to fight against the Ming Dynasty's westward expansion. We must We must be prepared to deal with the joint obstruction of the entire West at the same time. They have noticed our ambition to unify the world, so they have become more and more united."
Zhang Tongchang said at this time.
Zhu Youxiao nodded. He remembered that in the same period of history more than ten years later, the Ottoman Empire would launch its last large-scale military deployment in Europe, known as the Battle of Vienna in history. However, in the end the Ottoman Empire was defeated and suffered heavy losses, and it has since stopped. The pace of expansion in Europe, and this as a starting point, marked the arrival of the era when European civilization began to suppress the Ottoman civilization.
However, after listening to Zhang Tongchang's statement, Zhu Youxiao discovered that the global situation in this world has changed a lot because the Ming Empire has not declined but has become stronger and expanded crazily.
The main threat to the Ottoman Empire was no longer European civilization, but China from the east.
The same goes for the countries on the European continent. With the destruction of the Rakshasa Kingdom, they could not help but realize that the Ming Empire's westward advance had become their biggest threat.
And this also caused the two major civilizations that were originally feuding to have to unite to fight against the Ming Dynasty.
History is rewritten again at this moment!
The Battle of Vienna seemed unlikely to happen again.
"From what I see, my Ming Dynasty's troops on land should be proactively attacking in the north. It will be difficult first and then easy!"
"Poland and other European countries are in a period of rising military strength, while the Ottoman Empire appears to be huge, but in fact its internal decline is already obvious! For example, many powerful vassal bureaucrats in the Arabian Peninsula have not obeyed the king's orders very much, unlike Poland and other countries. The European countries have awakened their national consciousness due to the decline in the control of the Holy See, which is what Your Majesty said. They have begun to have enlightenment, so the whole country can work as one, and if they really encounter foreign enemies, they can organize a very powerful force!"
"Therefore, the imperial court should focus on defense in the Ottoman Empire, focusing on instigating local vassal bureaucracy, and obtaining its oil through trade and other methods. The next resource the imperial court needs is mainly oil, so it can completely use oil trade. The benefits generated will induce the local people to cause trouble for the Ottoman Empire, and then the court can concentrate on dealing with European countries! First sweep to the Balkan Peninsula, form a situation of surrounding the Ottoman Empire, and then destroy the country!"
At this time, Zhang Tongchang put forward his own conception of the overall military strategy of the empire.
The Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty were responsible for many things, including intelligence collection, diplomacy, theft hunting, security maintenance, cultural control, economic and trade supervision, smoking ban, etc. In addition, because of the rapid development of industrialization in the Ming Dynasty, the demand for ore energy increased. Later in life, Jin Yiwei was also responsible for mineral exploration. There was Jin Yiwei who was responsible for global prospecting after graduating from the mining school.
Although the internal combustion engine had just come out in the Ming Dynasty, oil had already been used on a large scale in the chemical industry of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, Zhu Youxiao had long asked Jin Yiwei to pay attention to this matter and go to the Persian Gulf and Caucasus regions to explore for oil.
Therefore, Zhang Tongchang, as an assistant minister, knew that the Arabian Peninsula in the Persian Gulf was rich in oil, so he proposed the strategy of going north first and then south.
"You discuss it with the ministers in the Privy Council, and then ask the Privy Council to write a proposal. After my approval, it will be used as a strategy for further use of troops. At that time, the mobilization of officials, troops, materials, and transportation construction in various places will be carried out. Castle construction, diplomatic construction, and cultural construction are all implemented in accordance with this strategy!"
Zhu Youxiao therefore ordered.
"According to the order!"
"Of all the things, the most important thing is the population. Defeating these countries militarily is not a problem!
Our glorious Ming Dynasty has inherited the heritage of five thousand years of civilization and inherited the technological advantages of several generations. How can we be defeated by the barbarians?
However, if there is really going to be a defeat, there is only one possibility, and that can only be because there are not enough Han people in the newly opened territory, coupled with the greed of local officials, and the Chinese culture has not yet been rooted in the local area, so the local people surrender. The local people may change due to oppression, and then seek independence and overthrow the local rule of our Ming Dynasty! It even reduced the military glory of this dynasty to ashes. This has happened before, with many examples. "
Wen Tiren couldn't help but put forward his own opinion, and turned to Zhu Youxiao and said: "Your Majesty, I believe that the huge profits brought by the sale of arms and the current compensation from England should be used to promote the population of our Han family. Breeding! Officials in various places must ensure that local men of appropriate age have at least one fertile wife! In addition, elderly people should be prohibited from marrying young women, because most of them are infertile and waste their uteruses!"
"The pear blossoms cannot overwhelm the begonias!"
Zhu Youxiao laughed after hearing this, and then said: "According to what he said, there will be more policies to encourage Han people to breed."
"In this case, Neo-Confucianism needs to be further criticized by people from Chongwen Temple and Hanlin Academy. Not only can widows' observances be no longer promoted, but they must also be devalued. Moreover, it is best to not only erect memorial arches for women who have many children, but also give them to them. In addition to subsidies, they should also be given titles or even official titles in recognition of their contributions to the nation and the country! The custom of having more children and more blessings must continue to be carried forward."
Lu Xiangsheng followed at this time.
Zhu Youxiao nodded, thinking that in this era, he didn't have to worry about boxing, he didn't have to pay too much attention to women's reproductive functions, and he didn't have to worry about attracting too much criticism. Why did he need the number of Han people in the Ming Dynasty today?
Based on his own experience in later generations, Zhu Youxiao also knew that encouraging childbirth and increasing the number of Han people at this time was indeed a forward-looking move.
Because today's world has begun to usher in an era of great productivity explosion, the world's population will undoubtedly show an exponential surge. You know, in history, even the Qing Dynasty, which relied on sweet potatoes to maintain stability, ushered in a population explosion. In the end, it directly Rush to 400 million!
If the Ming Dynasty encourages Han people to have children at this time, it will undoubtedly make the majority of the increased population of mankind Han people, which will undoubtedly stabilize the status of Han civilization in the world.
After Wen Tiren consolidated the current financial situation of the Ming Dynasty, he also introduced that if a woman becomes pregnant, she and her husband will be subsidized by the court, and the subsidy standard requires the governor-general of each province to set it at no less than the husband and wife according to the situation of the province. twice the income standard.
This will undoubtedly be a huge expense.
But who made Ming Dynasty so rich now?
Mainly because the Ming court was extremely wealthy.
The wealth of the world is concentrated in Ming Dynasty.
And this wealth is not like the Ming Dynasty when global trade first appeared in history. The global wealth flowing into the Ming Dynasty only went to the hands of the powerful bureaucrats and gentry. Now most of it is in the hands of the imperial court and has entered the national treasury.
It is not like the world hegemons of later generations, where all the money from around the world flows into the hands of capital predators, while their own governments are still heavily in debt.
Therefore, Wen Tiren, the chief minister of the cabinet, can spend money arbitrarily to promote fertility.
Anyway, the money left in the treasury is just metal, which does not reflect the value of currency and is easily lost and stolen. It is better to spread it out in this way to promote fertility and domestic consumption.
…
With the sound of crackling firecrackers.
Renqing Lane in Changmen, Suzhou ushered in the busiest moment of her day.
A magnificent archway was officially declared completed.
This archway was erected by local officials on orders from Ge, who had given birth to ten children in the lane.
And because of this, Ge was granted the title of First Grade Imperial Order by the emperor, and the local officials treated him favorably.
At this time, Li Huming, the governor of Jiangsu Province, followed Ge family here very humbly and said with a smile: "Mrs. Ge, you see, this is the archway built for you. From now on, officials below the count will come here." You all have to dismount!”
Geshi clasped his hands in front of his chest: "Amitabha, this is all the kindness of the emperor!"
"That's right. As the saying goes, more children bring more blessings. The greatest contribution in this world is to have children!"
Li Huming naturally said this to the women who came with Ge.
These women all looked at the men of their own families.
Most of these men looked embarrassed because of this. Although having children was a woman's business, because of the court's actions, the pressure on them from their parents and wives at home was also a bit high.
They originally thought that if they did not join the army or work, they could live at home leisurely, but they did not expect that they would also have "production tasks" at home.
"Spread the happy money."
At this time, Ge said that according to the current custom, after the archway was built, her newly-appointed high-ranking imperial edict would be spent on weddings.
"Why!"
So his brothers and uncles ordered the hired workers to carry several baskets of small-denomination silver coins and scatter them on the street outside the archway.
Due to the affluence of the people, this kind of small-denomination happy money is mostly snatched by children to buy snacks, but adults disdain to snatch it. This is exactly how to create a scene with many children.
At this time, children on both sides of the street who had been prepared immediately ran to pick up the lucky money.
There was such a large group that I couldn’t even count them.
Not long after Zhu Youxiao came to the throne, he issued a decree to encourage childbirth, and such decrees were issued one after another. Coupled with the improvement of people's living standards, now, there are many children in every family, and most families have six. seven children.
Therefore, it is not unusual for there to be so many children in Renqing Lane today.
The chirping sounds of children picking up lucky coins echoed with the sound of silver coins falling to the ground.
Adults such as Ge Shi and Li Huming laughed at this.
The scene of the prosperous age should be like this.
The emperor's eldest son Zhu Ciwei, who happened to be passing by on an imperial tour of the country, also saw this scene.
He had to admit that his father's generous encouragement of births had caused the population of the Ming and Han Dynasties to increase crazily. According to this trend, future generations would probably have to continue his father's expansion policy due to population pressure.
Although the current large increase in the number of Han people will indeed cause big problems in the future when productivity stops progressing and resources cannot be increased.
But now, the large increase in the number of Han people is indeed conducive to the Ming Dynasty's external expansion. Emperor Zhu Youxiao and his ministers are not spending money indiscriminately. Encouraging childbearing is indeed the most important internal matter at the moment.
Because there are so many new Han people now, there is a steady stream of younger generations of Han men and women heading north or south.
"Answer His Majesty's call and go to the hometown of snow! Go to the end of the sea! There is a vast world where we can realize our ideals!"
"The glorious China has lasted for five thousand years. How can the young people of our clan be imprisoned in the teachings of the Old Master? We should shed our sweat on new battlefields and write our legends!"
"What is the great road? We should make everything under the sky the soil of the Han family! We are all Chinese people! Then we should know etiquette and become kings! This is the responsibility of our youth! The glaciers in the north are waiting for you to smash, and the glaciers in the south are waiting for you to break. The wilderness is waiting for you to open up, so that Chinese civilization can cleanse all the ignorance and backwardness in this place!"
…
In Tongguan.
Meng Ziqiang, the Guanzheng Jinshi in charge of missionary work, and other Guanzheng Jinshis in charge of missionary work, were shouting slogans excitedly to the large number of young people who were going north and south at the call of the imperial court.
Therefore, these Ming Dynasty young people in their prime were carrying bags, bedding and basins in and out of Tongguan with smiles on their faces.
Whether looking from the east or the west, it seems that there is no end to the flow of people.
And these flows of people are like the flowing Yellow River, divided into countless tributaries, flowing to the borders of the Ming Empire.
Even on the far-off Baltic coast, in the Vyborg area, a large number of young Han people gathered here as soldiers or local officials, as well as technicians and cultural teachers.
"In the Rakshasa Kingdom, the number of Easterners is still increasing, and they seem to never lack people!"
"Now it seems that if there is really one country in this world that can unify the entire world, then it is really the Ming Kingdom from the east. Their population base is really unimaginable to us. Therefore, Your Majesty, we must Before more Han people moved to the Baltic Sea area, they quickly expanded their army and took the initiative to send troops to stop the expansion of the Orientals. Otherwise, the destruction of our nation will only become a foregone conclusion!"
Historically, the famous Polish general Sobieski, who had defeated the Ottoman army several times, raised his concerns to the Polish King Ovitski on this day and suggested that the Polish King expand his army.
