Regarding European issues, Zhao Xin's idea is to muddy the waters. Compared with the life and death of Louis XVI, he was more concerned about not allowing the British to dominate the South Asian subcontinent. Let the Manchus annex the Gorkhas, force them to enter the South Asian subcontinent, and provide support to the French East India Company. The essence was to create obstacles for the British.
Since 1785, the British East India Company has achieved actual rule in Bengal. It is no longer an ordinary commercial company, but has become a ruling institution with a vast territory and powerful power in India.
You must know that the period from the 18th to the 19th century was an adventurous, radical and violent era. The British were never willing to share India with the French. Their goal was to dominate the Indian economy and dominate the Kingdom of Mysore and the Maratha people. All the wars are proof. In this situation, the request for help in local governance gave Beihai Town the best excuse to intervene.
Zhao Xin's intervention in India is to make Europeans understand that there can only be one common master in the entire East and South Asia. To hell with your God!
Incidentally, the term "Southeast Asia" did not exist until the late nineteenth century. At this time, Europeans collectively referred to Southeast Asia and East Asia as the "East", and countries such as Siam and Burma were collectively referred to as Outer India. In order to colonize Southeast Asia for a long time, European colonists began to write a large number of "research works" since the early 19th century. In these books, they certainly describe geography, climate, customs, products, language, etc., but the most critical thing is that they distort or erase the ancient history of Southeast Asia. The indigenous cultures of Southeast Asia and the cultures deeply influenced by Chinese civilization are described as imbecile, naive and incompetent, while the colonization of white people here is touted as a moral responsibility - the so-called "white man's burden".
When Zhao Xin met with Peter, he told him that the number of troops dispatched from Beihai Town would be 1,500, of which 1,000 would stay locally to govern and 500 would go to France with the ship. This news was really disturbing. Peter had mixed feelings. The good news is that with the help of the Seris people, the defense of local governance will definitely be impregnable; the worry is what kind of future the arrival of the Seris people will bring to French India and the East Indies.
What surprised Peter was that Zhao Xin knew the situation in India very well.
He told Peter that it was precisely because France did not provide enough support to the Kingdom of Mysore, and was not as good as the British in terms of weapons and training, and was always playing "volunteers", that led to Tipu Sultan's defeat. And once Tipu Sultan is finished, the descendants of those Hindu princes will raise their heads, and no one will resolutely resist the British East India Company. The current problem of the French is not only the lack of land power, but also the inability of the navy to compete with the British.
Peter was convinced of Zhao Xin's insights, but he was also helpless. As far as he knew personally, Louis XVI's policies towards the French East India Company changed and changed, resulting in good and bad trade income. In addition, the French only wanted to do trade in India and levied land taxes and land taxes. It is not enthusiastic, and its fiscal revenue cannot support large-scale military operations.
In a word, to hire indigenous people to train, arm them, and launch wars, you must have enough military expenditures. But the king has invested all his money in the North American continent, and he has no time to care about India.
After that, the two talked about the situation in France and the safety of the king. Zhao Xin no longer dared to be a stickman on this issue. In fact, even if he said it, others would not believe it. Peter told Zhao Xin affectionately how noble and approachable His Majesty the King and the Queen were, and said that if His Majesty King Zhao and His Majesty the King were lucky enough to meet each other, they would definitely become mutual friends.
Zhao Xinxin talks about ghost confidant! Louis XVI had no idea what evil he had done in his previous life, marrying Marie Antoinette. You just have to say that she has Cixi's skills. She is obviously a novice in politics, but she still likes to interfere in national affairs.
Originally, the National Assembly only placed their family under house arrest in the Tuileries Palace. Apart from being unable to leave, other treatments remained the same and they were not deposed. But Antoinette, who didn't know she was dead, was eager for restoration. When she saw that her nephew had become the king of Austria and declared war on France, she passed relevant information about France to Austria. In order to realize his "republican" ideal, Robespierre had long wanted to take action against the king's family, which just gave him an excuse.
Zhao Xin told Peter that the fleet from Beihai Town planned to set off in late March 1792, stay in the local area for up to a month, and would arrive in France by the end of July at the latest. When Peter heard this, he was overjoyed and expressed his gratitude with tears in his eyes.
Before sending away the traveling people who were going home for the New Year, Zhao Xin, as usual, wanted to meet with Liu Zheng and He Taiping, who had returned from the island country to report on their work, and learn more about the situation in the island country this year. So when a fat, white man weighing more than 180 kilograms came into the room panting, Zhao Xin was stunned for several seconds before he realized what he was doing.
"I'll wipe it! Why are you so fat?"
"Ouch! Boss Zhao's style has not diminished, but I see why you have turned a bit darker?"
"Bah! I stayed with the army in Outer Mongolia for several months before I came back." Zhao Xin pointed at his face that was blackened by the wind and said: "You think everyone is like you. You are arrogant and extravagant all day long, and you can tell at first glance that you lack exercise."
"The conscience of heaven and earth! I have been running back and forth between Edo and Sendai this year, and I have even gone to Hisigaru twice. How easy is it for me!"
"You've gained weight twice just by running like this. If you hadn't sent a telegram every time to report your itinerary, no one would have believed it. It seems like you haven't eaten enough eels."
"Hehe, I really let you talk! Guess what, Katsuyama Densan gave me a cook, and the grilled eel is gone!"
Zhao Xin shook his head and said, "That thing has a lot of calories, so be careful if you eat too much."
The two chatted for a while and then started talking about business. Liu Zheng first talked about the situation of the island country this year. Basically, the three years of Kanzhi have gone by fairly smoothly. The impact of the "Tianmei Famine" has finally ended. Both the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Sendai Clan Alliance are busy restoring agricultural production. Last year, the annual tribute income of the shogunate increased from 1.3 million shi in the early years of Kanzheng to 1.8 million shi. A large part of the reason was the use of various new agricultural tools from Beihai Town.
In recent years, both the shogunate and the Sendai Domain have exported a large number of laborers to Beihai Town. The domestic labor force has decreased, and a large number of women at home have gone to work in the fields. However, some areas of Beihai Town use manual seeders, manual double-row rice transplanters, and foot-operated threshers. Machinery was also introduced to the island country with the return of workers. After the shrewd island craftsmen studied the internal structure of these new agricultural tools, they quickly imitated them. Some wealthy landowners and famous people began to use them one after another, and the results were surprisingly good.
For example, the threshing machine before the island country was just a wooden board with dense iron teeth arranged on it. There was a bucket for collecting rice grains below. The peasant women would take a handful of rice and beat it on it when threshing. In fact, not only in island countries, but also in the south of the Yangtze River, the people call this kind of threshing machine that relies on human power "beating bucket".
The "pedal threshing machine" in Beihai Town is a domestic invention originating from another time and space in the 1970s of the last century. It adopts a gear transmission structure; except for a few iron gears, everything else is made of wood. Whether it is rice or wheat, two regular workers and three or four weak workers can harvest more than three acres per day, greatly reducing the labor intensity; if an electric motor or diesel engine is installed, more than ten acres can be harvested in a day.
Since almost two years ago, the Beihai Town Trade Department has been selling threshing machines along the canal through people from Songjiang Caobang. Each machine sells for 600 yuan, and Caobang can get a commission of 50 yuan for each machine sold.
Liu Zheng told Zhao Xin that although Matsudaira Sadanobu had issued a "Lanzheng Foreign Studies Ban" and strongly promoted Zhu Xi's theory, in fact, this person had a strong interest in foreign knowledge-especially the cultural research in Beihai Town, and paid great attention to military affairs. relevant knowledge. He even asked people to collect information on previous battles in Beihai Town and compile a "Book of Beihai Navy".
After that, he took out a thread-bound book from the bag he carried with him, handed it to Zhao Xin, and said: "I'm really not used to reading ancient books. I basically feel sleepy after reading two pages. I usually use them as hypnosis if I have nothing to do." .”
Zhao Xin opened the book and flipped through it, and found that it described all the wars in Beihai Town from 1784 to 1790 according to year, with a detailed analysis of the number of troops sent by both sides, tactics, and results. However, some of the numbers were wrong at first glance. Zhao Xin estimated that they either came from folk rumors or were inquired by orchid scholars from the island countries.
As for Liu Zheng himself, he lived a very good life as a child. The two women Ishikawa Murafumi gave him have already given birth to a son and a daughter. Considering that the medical conditions in the island country are so poor, he brought them all back this time.
After hearing this, Zhao Xin nodded with satisfaction and said, "Well done! Liu, the organization has decided to give you a difficult task."
When Liu Zheng heard Zhao Xin's tone, he immediately got excited and thought, is he planning to let me change my territory? His mind turned around a few times quickly, and then he said with a nonchalant expression: "Brother Zhao, do you want me to go to Nanyang or Annan? We must obey the organization's arrangements."
"You are very enlightened!" Zhao Xin showed his habitual treacherous smile and said: "Congratulations on your wrong guess, go to Culun!"
"What?! Mongolia!"
"Yes! No matter how noisy the island country is, that's it. We still have to put our focus back. How about going to Khalkha to be the governor for a few years? Stop eating eels all day long and have a change of taste."
"No, Brother Zhao, Boss Zhao!" Liu Zheng said with a wry smile: "I admit that we have been a bit arrogant and extravagant in the past two years, but this is not the reason for sending me away, right? Let Zhang Jingxuan go, he has been staying in Eastern Siberia. It’s been two years and I have a lot of experience.”
"You're thinking too much," Zhao Xinhe looked up and looked outside the room, and then explained softly: "Zhang Jingxuan can be a deputy. I'm afraid he will have to practice for a few more years to become a chief officer. I asked him to go to Irkut before. Ci Ke is just a general out of thin air, if I let him go to Khalkha again, I guess there will be no bones left that can be eaten by those group of lamas and princes."
"Then where do you plan to transfer him?"
"Let him come back and serve as Lao Chen's deputy."
Letting Liu Zheng go to Khalkha was the result of Zhao Xin's careful consideration in the past two months. Khalkha Mongolia is too big and the transportation conditions are poor. Liu Sheng and Fan Tong can manage the Sanyin Nuoyan, Zhasak Tuhan and Tangnu Ulianghai tribes well. As for Cullen, because of its importance, it is not far from Kyaktu, so a heavyweight must be sent there.
In other words, Liu Sheng's status is like the "Deputy General of the Left Side of Dingbian" of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, commanding the entire Mobei; Fan Tong is like the "Minister of Affairs of Kobdo", managing Kobdo and Tangnu Ulianghai; and Liu Zheng is "Kulun Minister of Affairs" manages the entire eastern part of Khalkha Mongolia.
From Zhao Xin's selfish point of view, the reason why he did this also played the role of "separation of three powers". No one can think of one family being dominant.
Compared with Liu Sheng's iron hand and Fan Tong's soft knife, the people who sit in Kulun must first be good at communication and be able to deal with the intricate political relationships among the Khan tribes, Zhasaks and Lama banners. The various Mongolian tribes that came to the Manchu regime once again assimilated into the regime of Beihai Town and turned their allegiance to Beihai Town.
In the past two years in the island country, Liu Zheng had been able to navigate between the two major samurai groups, the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Sendai Domain Alliance, and even interacted with ministers in Kyoto. Such experience was almost rare in Beihai Town.
In addition, Beihai Town is different from the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. The Manchu and Qing Dynasties need to let Outer Mongolia stick to its borders as a shield for the Qing Empire and Tsarist Russia. But now the entire Eastern Siberia has fallen into the hands of Beihai Town. Except for the Tangnu Ulianghai and Khovd regions in the west, other areas have lost their role as barriers. In this way, the military system of "integrating soldiers and civilians" can come to an end.
As mentioned before, there were many types of military service performed by the four Khalkha Mongolian tribes for the Manchu Qing Dynasty. They were forced to be apportioned according to the number of arrows. Their nature was similar to the historical service and tax. But without the oppression of various Zasak lords and lama banners, the life of the herdsmen would not be so miserable.
You must know that after the Qing government pacified the Junggars, the biggest beneficiaries were the princes, nobles and upper-level lamas of Khalkha; most directly, all the pastures of the Junggar tribe were divided up by the Khalkha nobles and various Hutuktu families.
This was also the main reason why Qianlong wanted to kill Erlinqin Dorji during the "Removal of Yi Incident". After giving you such great benefits, you actually want to collude with Amursana!
Therefore, Liu Zheng's task is not only to deal with the nobles and lamas, but also to mobilize the masses through a large number of work teams, fight against the local tyrants, and let the grassroots herdsmen change their way of life. You must know that these people are the powerful pillars of the Beihai Town regime. As for those work teams, they will all be the cadre team accumulated by Beihai Town for going south.
After listening to Zhao Xin's explanation, Liu Zheng suddenly realized and finally felt relieved. I thought that Boss Zhao still regarded me as a brother. After all, we were also the founders of Beihai Town!
Zhao Xin's final advice to Liu Zheng was to unite the middle and lower classes among the princes, nobles and the six lama banners, weaken the upper classes, and attack the die-hards. In short, in one sentence, Khalkha belongs to Beihai Town, not to any lord or great lama!
"Then who among the four Khalkha tribes do you think should be suppressed and who should be united?"
"You need to analyze this yourself." Zhao Xin didn't want to tell Liu Zheng the answer directly, but he still added: "Whoever has the biggest pasture and has the most disputes with various ministries, you will do it to him!"
Before leaving, Liu Zheng walked to the door and hesitated for a moment, then turned to Zhao Xin and said: "There is something...forget it, maybe I am too worried."
"If you have something to say, just say it."
"Before I boarded the ship from Ishinomaki Port, I met the boss of Murataya on the pier. He told me that one of his men had accidentally seen Heita and Katsuyama Denzo in Gion Kobe, Kyoto more than two months ago. There was also a relative of the Konoe family who was drinking at the Iwasaki Geisha House and even called an oiran.”
Zhao Xin frowned for a moment, then opened it again, nodded and said: "Okay, I understand."
Half an hour later, Pingtai sat respectfully opposite Zhao Xin and began to report on the progress of the past year.
Since the fire in Kyoto, the Manshi clan has suffered heavy casualties, but those who were lucky enough to survive seemed to be aware of something. Basically, their doors were closed and they rarely went out. Xianyuan Gong Dianren took in several side rooms in one breath, and the main task every day was to make little people.
As for Emperor Kokaku, he continued to compete with Edo with the support of the Sendai clan, and it was still about giving his biological father a title. Since this person didn't show up at all and was focused on holding ceremonies in the palace, it was difficult to have any chance to make a move.
Zhao Xin was noncommittal after hearing this. He knew that this kind of thing could not be rushed. It would be great if it could be completed in 5, 6, 7 or 8. Sometimes the opportunity comes in an instant. If you miss it, you don't know when the next time will be.
After talking about the business, he chatted with Tai Heping for a while. He pretended not to care and said casually: "After the fire at dawn, Gion was not affected, right?"
"Fortunately, it recovered after a year."
"Hey, I really want to go there and drink flower wine if I have the chance."
Pingtai looked fascinated, bowed and said: "That's great. Although I have been to a humble job, I don't dare to spend money randomly. At most, I just find a husband. It is said that the oirans there are all stunners in the world."
Zhao Xin laughed and said: "Okay! When we are not busy after the New Year, we will find an opportunity to go to Kyoto to see things together."
But when Zhao Xin laughed and watched Pingtai walk out of the courtyard, he returned to his seat with a gloomy expression on his face. After thinking for a while, he called in Xu Funan, who was the confidential secretary.
"Activate the secret line of Ishinomaki Port and let them thoroughly understand the situation of Heita and Katsuyama Denzo in the past two years!"
"yes!"
