The news of Zheng Shou's misfortune shocked the government and the public. No one else came home, and the boy and coachman who followed him were nowhere to be seen. Outside the gate of the house were the pterodactyl captain in brocade clothes and the guards patrolling back and forth with muskets with bayonets on their backs. division soldiers.
Only the imperial censor and finance department officials were allowed in and out, and it seemed like they had to show special cards before they could be let through.
Fortunately, people's attention is gradually attracted by the big news of the split between the two provinces. Compared with hundreds of new positions, a bad cabinet minister is not more tempting to people.
All kinds of news are circulating in the streets and alleys, and candidate officials are rushing around after hearing the news. They are busy looking for the most ideal position for themselves.
The biggest news in Shangjing was the "Imperial News" published by the Postal Department of the Ministry of Communications and the "Shangjing News" issued by Guide Mansion a few days later. This was officially released after Li Dan published the "Shaanxi-Gan News" in Shaanxi. Two weighty newspapers.
The former is delivered to the whole country. Of course, the farthest destination, Kunming, Yunnan, cannot be seen until twenty days later.
The content includes the important affairs of the imperial government, the speeches and attitudes of the cabinet and ministries, news from surrounding countries, as well as the issuance and interpretation of new policies and laws, etc. The readers are mostly officials and generals, businessmen and gentry who care about military affairs.
The latter's publication covers the entire Zhili region, including Shang and Beijing folk customs, government initiatives, prices and circulation conditions, scholars' works, stories, famous store introductions and advertisements, etc. It is more down-to-earth and is loved by all classes.
In order to publish the newspaper, Liu Cunwu, Minister of Communications, led a team to Xi'an to visit and learn from the experience. Five preparatory staff from the two newspapers were left to study at the "Shaanxi-Gansu News" newspaper office for three months.
"Empire News" was created
The publication is set to be a weekly newspaper and special issues are published from time to time.
As a result, the first issue published the full text of the decree on the separation of the two provinces, as well as interviews with the cabinet and ministers and policy interpretations. Of the 10,000 printed copies, 60% of the expected sales in Shangjing were quickly sold out.
A month later, its first special issue also published news about the interrogation of the Zodiac Shaotian Master Baorui, the disclosure of the Zheng Shou case, and the deposition of Prince Teng. Prince Teng and his direct children were all arrested and brought to Beijing. An unprecedented number of sixty-seven thousand copies!
"Empire News" immediately announced the opening of three branches in Nanjing, Xi'an, and Peiping, and absorbed "Shangjing News" as one of its branches.
The weekly "Empire News" is made into four editions by the head office and sent to each branch for printing and sales. Each branch can attach a copy of a local newspaper for sale.
Therefore, the "Shaanxi-Gansu News" and the newly founded "Jiangnan News", "Northern News" and "Shangjing News" jointly pushed the sales volume of "Imperial News" to forty-three in the New Year of the 13th year of Jingwu's reign. The new peak of 10,000 copies makes it the “No. 1 newspaper in the world” without any doubt.
The embassies and consulates of various countries are also busy ordering newspapers in order to allow their monarchs and nobles to see what is happening in Japan in a timely manner and learn from His Majesty the Emperor's successful experience in governance.
Emperor Zhao Tuo's prestige reached unprecedented heights. After removing Zheng Shou from the court, he conferred Yao Qing, the former chief envoy of Liaoning, as a bachelor of Tongshan Pavilion. He returned to Beijing to take over as Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War, and Yang Shi'an joined the cabinet as assistant prime minister.
As soon as it was announced in the newspapers that the Yang brothers were prime ministers, everyone in the world was amazed and envious.
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After the New Year, Shangyi's army defended flexibly under the command of Gao Maichen and defeated Jin.
The rebels who committed the crime, Tu Geli, were killed in battle, and Wang Jinlong took his adopted son An Tong as the chief leader. When the news came, everyone celebrated.
Li Dan gave priority to the first batch of 2,200 "Xi-made three-and-two-centimeter self-produced muskets (about one centimeter caliber)" manufactured by Xijing Ordnance to the high department to establish the reorganized and independent 17th brigade. This battle He exerted great power in the battle, beating the rebels to the point of flying into the sky, and became famous in one battle with his own gun!
Zhao Tuo also strengthened his determination to reorganize and train the army. Taking advantage of the situation, he ordered the reorganization of 20 divisions and 15 cavalry or artillery brigades totaling 400,000 troops within three years. To this end, Zhao Tuo pledged the tea rights in Hunan and the salt wells in Guizhou as pledges. Issued an additional 6 million treasury bonds.
Since Shaanxi and Gansu successfully paid taxes and offered to freeze the state treasury's allocation to Shaanxi and Gansu within three years, the Ministry of Finance was able to repay most of the Liao debt. The cabinet breathed a sigh of relief and saw the benefits of national debt, so it successfully approved the plan for new national debt. Approved for issuance.
"Shangjing News" released this huge positive information in advance.
On the day when the national debt was issued, Zhili people who had tasted the sweetness of the Liao debt flocked to the 27 sales points in various counties. It only took one day for the national debt to be sold out by enthusiastic subscribers. Those who did not buy it sighed and swore secretly. Be sure to be first next time.
Subscribers who came from Henan, Huaisi, Hebei, and Shandong immediately called the Ministry of Finance and demanded that the national debt must be distributed to the surrounding areas in a certain share in the future, which surprised Anzai Shangshu.
At this time, Li Dan also encountered almost the same problem in Shaanxi-Gansu. The first phase of Shaanxi-Gansu construction bonds was sold out in Xi'an Prefecture. Hanzhong, Tianshui, Lanzhou, Yan'an, and Yinchuan prefectures quickly submitted letters to the governor's office, requesting that local
Branches of banks are established and allotted a certain share of bonds.
The interests are shared equally, this is what everyone expects. Li Dan had no choice but to find Wen He and ask him to establish branches in each government within three months at any cost. He reported the situation to Zhao Tuo in his letter and concluded:
"It seems that the construction of bank branches can be carried out faster. I did not expect that the people have been suffering from the harm of money for a long time. Looking forward to the great improvement of the imperial court is like looking forward to the rain. What the people hope for, I believe that the people's wishes have to be done!"
The following month, the Imperial Bank Preparatory Order was announced. The emperor ordered that the confiscated eastern building complex of the original Xiangteng Prince's Palace be demolished and renovated on the spot, and 40 acres of frontage land were set aside for the construction of the Imperial Bank headquarters and the Zhili branch headquarters.
Six branches in Guide, Chenzhou, Yanxi, Xuzhou, Suzhou and Yingzhou also started construction at the same time. More than 60 acres of land were allocated behind the bank headquarters as the site of the Imperial College of Finance and Economics.
As a training institution for financial talents, the school began to recruit the first batch of 700 students, and the teachers came from banks in Liaoning and Shaanxi and Gansu and the Chief Secretary's House.
The first issue of Shaanxi-Gansu Construction Bonds totaled 3.2 million yuan (which was the previous 1.6 million taels). This was the first time the bonds were issued in yuan units.
Li Dan plans to use it mainly for the construction of two national highways, Lansu and Xixi (Xi'an to Xining and Lanzhou to Suzhou, the national highway standard is six lanes in opposite directions) and the construction of necessary bridges, stations and forts, with a small part used in Yan'an , Yulin and Ningxia water conservancy facility construction.
The pledge of the bond is the ten-year operation and contracting rights of the 5,000-acre planting base of Ganzhou Codonopsis, Angelicae, Rhubarb, Licorice and other medicines, the exploration rights of Yangshan Gold Mine and the seven-year operation rights of three horse farms.
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Don’t panic when you have money in hand. Li Dan and the emperor had secretly agreed long ago that once the bond issuance was successful, they would take action against the Ganzhou rebels to completely eliminate future troubles.
He has begun to recruit new troops from various armies and guards in Shaanxi, and has begun to establish two integrated infantry divisions, the 10th and 15th, a cavalry teaching brigade, and an artillery regiment based on some of the troops that performed well during the counterinsurgency. .
Lu Chengyuan serves as the chairman of the reorganization and reorganization committee, and Zhao Jingzi is the deputy. He also serves as the principal of Lintong Martial Arts School.
This martial arts school is divided into six departments: infantry, reconnaissance, cavalry, artillery, logistics, and suppression. The reconnaissance department includes the military intelligence training center originally set up by Crab King Wu (Xie Guiting) in Shangougou. The executive director of the martial arts school is Bai Shun.
The national highway from Xi'an to Tongchuan has been completed, and the next phase will be extended to Yijun, Huangling, Yan'an, and Yulin to deliver high-quality coal from Yulin to Fuping.
The road to Anding via Xianyang to Yangling, Fufeng, Chencang, Tianshui, and Longxi has been built as far as Mei County (six thousand Zodiac petty criminals worked in four labor camps along this line).
The purpose of opening this road is to allow the products of Gongchang Iron Works to be transported more smoothly to Fuping, because there are Fuping Iron Works and Xijing Ordnance Works in Yaozhou!
At present, the Xijing Ordnance Institute only relies on the iron produced in Hanzhong, which is smelted in Xunyi and used as a raw material for gun weapons. It uses the gap between paint and water to widely use hydraulic stamping, forging, cutting and grinding as a power source.
However, due to the shortage of iron materials and high-quality coal, its output was limited and could only be used as a supplement. The guns and weapons required for the reorganization of the Western Army still needed to be transferred from the Luoyang Ordnance Institute in Henan and even the Zhengding Ordnance Institute in Hebei.
Although the quantity is insufficient, due to the local production of nitrate, Ningxia Lingzhou production of sulfur, and Hanzhong production of high-quality charcoal, the quality and quantity of gunpowder produced by Xijing Ordnance ranks first among the northern militaries.
Ranked among the best among mechanical institutes.
This is also the main resource that it can use to exchange materials with other major ordnance exchanges. Others include sheepskin thermal equipment, cowhide products (such as leather belts, waterproof ammunition boxes, copper, tin, iron products, boots and hats, etc.).
In exchange for items, the Xijing Ordnance Department obtained 60,000 muskets, 300 two-inch and three-and-a-half-inch artillery pieces, and a large amount of ammunition from various places for the Western Army within half a year. Li Dan relied on these to organize and train a new army.
The New Army's 9th, 10th, 11th, 15th, and 20th divisions, five cavalry brigades, and four artillery regiments were all exchanged weapons and equipment. Only the independent 17th and 18th brigades (stationed in Yongchang Wei, Liangzhou Wei) really used Xijing to make equipment.
For the Western Expedition, Li Dan began to purchase a large number of heavy trucks and draft horses, and prepared alfalfa, wheat bran, soybean feed and salt for feed, as well as dry food and clothing needed by the army.
He requested that 100,000 troops for the Western Expedition be prepared based on 200,000 troops per year, and the bank was also ready to issue "Dingxi Campaign Savings Local Bonds."
But he hadn't prepared all the supplies yet, and people had already seen that something was wrong.
Wang Jinlong knew that Xi'an would attack him sooner or later, so when he learned that the 10th Division was stationed in Lanzhou, he began to have close contacts with surrounding ministries, including Tubo, Zhu Qiang, Yeerjiang, Dangxiang and even Yilibuli. , asking them for support.
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Before and after Li Dan took office, one of the tasks of Liu Qi and Li Tiedao was to understand the actual current situation in the west
. In the end, he discovered that the Ming Dynasty was very different from the same period he knew in his previous life.
Let’s start with Yilibeli, the most powerful city in the region. It was formed by the two divisions of the Timurid Empire.
The "Scholar Emperor" Urub was forced to move the capital to Herat (the capital of Herat Province, Afghanistan) by his son Radib and was killed the following year. Radib was killed in a vendetta by Urub's subordinates.
At the end of last year, Urub's third uncle's son's cousin Busain occupied the river and succeeded to the throne in Samarkand (the capital of Uzbekistan), while his second uncle's son Baikal had been elected by his subordinates in Herat to call himself Sultan. The empire split into two parts.
Now is the time when Pusain has succeeded to the throne and is facing a quarrel with Baikal over orthodox issues.
The emir (local chief executive) of Yilibuli (i.e. Ili City), Bashba, has no interest in things far away in the east, because he has two provinces to the east and south: Turpan (the emir is Jalemi) and Kashgar. Tur (the emir is Dohe) are all left by the old sultan. Whether they recognize themselves as the emir appointed by the new sultan is still a big question!
Why is Bashiba so worried about Turpan and Kashgar? Because they are from the same family, and they are all descendants of the Eastern Kipchak Khanate.
Eighty years ago, the Eastern Kipchak Khanate took advantage of the situation and invaded Samarkand. After being expelled, the Timurid Empire directly sent troops to occupy Yilibeli. The Kipchak Khanate had to surrender and was divided into Turpan, Kashgar and Tarim. Province.
Nominally, this area is under the jurisdiction of Yili Buri, and he is responsible for supervising those three companies, but this is not decades ago!
Tarim is sparsely populated and there is a desert barrier between it and Yilibali.
It doesn't matter if they are separated, the two of them are both vast and powerful. Ba Shiba himself is still worried all day long, how can he care about the messy things in the Han world?
But this is his own perspective. For the Han people, Tarim is Yeerjiang, and this Yeerjiang is different from Turpan and Kashgar. why?
The origin of Yeerjiang is the Yebi'e tribe of the Egu people. As the defenders of the western part of the empire, they came to the southern edge of the desert. At the beginning, their capital was Yergan City. After the collapse of the empire, they were afraid of the invasion of Kashgar, so they moved the Khan City to Khotan. .
They later also professed vassalage to the Eastern Kipchak Khanate. When the Timur Empire came, they professed vassalage to the new power and accepted the arrangement of becoming a province. However, they called themselves Emirs externally, and still called Yeerjiang Khan internally. They considered themselves Emirs. Descendants of the ancient empire.
Unlike Turpan, which was willing to maintain friendly and commercial relations with the Han people, Yeerjiang always remained hostile to the Han people and often invaded the areas east of the Kunlun Mountains and west of Jiayuguan.
The so-called leaf bandits refer to them. They are the biggest obstacle to cutting off the trade routes in the Western Regions.
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To the southeast of them, there lives a force in the southern part of the Qaidanmu Basin. They are the remnants of the Xixia Dangxiang, and their remains have crossed the Qilian Mountains to this day.
These people have adopted the clothes and clothes of the Tubo people, but they have different customs, habits and language from them, and most of them can even speak Chinese.
This tribe is called the Xihut people. They are famous for their toughness, good riding and shooting, and their number is about 20,000. Their leader is called Wei, and he has the control of the left and right compartments, and the subordinate is the commander.
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It completely retains the style of two hundred years ago. They were also the most friendly group to the Han people who had expelled the Egu regime.
Further south, Qing
The Haihuxi area is home to the Terel tribe, a small tribe of Egu people. They moved here after many twists and turns after the empire fell apart, and their number is not as large as the party members.
Originally, he and Dangxiang could not urinate in the same pot, but they were resented by the Tubo people for refusing to accept yellow religion, and formed a tacit understanding with Dangxiang to stick together for warmth.
They have doubts about their old enemies and remain vigilant even when making deals with the Han people. They will disappear without a trace at the slightest sign of trouble.
There are also Qiang people in the southeastern foothills of Kunlun Mountains. After the change of dynasties, Taizu sent General Ming Zhao (the adopted son of Ming Yuzhen) to conduct a military expedition to Gannan.
Ming Zhao adopted a strategy of supporting the Qiang people against the Tibetans and established three thousand households, Dulan, Tongde and Xinghai, west of Manglachuan, to support the three tribes of the Qiang people respectively. Later, they were called respectively because of the colors of their flags. Black-headed Qiang, Red-headed Qiang and White-headed Qiang.
Over the past few decades, these three tribes have reached a population of 10,000 people, have a high rate of intermarriage with Han people, and have a relatively high degree of Chineseization.
But Tubo was not willing to be blocked on the west side of the Kunlun Mountains, and they often came out to struggle. Unfortunately, in the second year after the death of Emperor Xuanzong, the Dharma Protector also passed away. He has no direct descendants, so who will inherit becomes a question.
Emperor Jingwu was still young at that time and the Empress Dowager was in court, so it was difficult to judge the matter, so it was postponed.
Several relatives of the Dharma Protector King were dissatisfied with each other, and the kings had different opinions. This incident caused disunity within Tubo, but it made them unable to pose much threat to Ganqing.
After finally sorting out these clues, Li Dan finally came to the conclusion: Ye Erjiang is a big threat. Tubo, which originally seemed very powerful, seems not so scary, but a character that needs to be guarded against.
He instructed Li Tie
Dao tried to contact the Dangxiang people. Because of the use of troops on the plateau, I am afraid that these people can adapt to the climate and geography far easier than the Han soldiers!
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