1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 1016 An era is coming to an end
On November 1685, 2, Chang'an.

It has been half a month since the Spanish mission arrived in Chang'an. Apart from enjoying the garden-like capital city of Qi State accompanied by diplomats from Qi State, they have not witnessed any miracles.During this period, the special envoy, Count Pablo Alvarez, did not even meet the emperor and the prime minister of Qi, but only held a courtesy meeting with their foreign ministers.

Of course, Qi’s behavior is not arrogant, nor is it deliberately leaving the Spanish envoys alone, but their royal family and cabinet are busy arranging a grand funeral—the empress of the Great Qi Empire unfortunately died of illness last month up.

According to the funeral etiquette of the imperial family, on the day after the news of the funeral, members of the royal family and cabinet officials of Qi State all wore plain clothes to give condolences.It is said that it takes 27 days to take off the plain clothes.

From the fourth day of the Queen's death, officials (including military generals) and the female family members of nobles with titles cover their heads with linen, remove jewelry, wash the fat color, and wear linen shirts, skirts and hemp shoes to go to the Taiyi Palace (the Queen's lifetime). residence) condolences to the crying spirit.

The mourning clothes of officials in Hanzhou and overseas territories are the same as those in the capital. From the date of hearing the obituary, officials must wear plain clothes in the public hall and when they go out to show their mourning.

From the day of hearing the obituary, the capital Chang'an stopped music, entertainment, and sacrifices for 30 days.Officials and common people do not need to marry within one month.

Out of courtesy, the envoys from various countries who arrived in Chang'an also spontaneously participated in the most grand royal funeral since the founding of the Qi State.On the day of the funeral, they accompanied members of the royal family, officials in Beijing, and many princes and nobles in plainly decorated carriages, and slowly escorted the queen's coffin to Zhongliang Mountain (now Mount Tabletop, [-] kilometers southeast of Toowoomba, Australia) Royal Tombs.

Out of respect and love for the Daqi royal family, countless people stopped on both sides of the road for the queen's coffin, stretching for more than ten miles, wearing plain clothes and looking sad, to bid farewell to this amiable and respectable queen.

Nursing homes, nursery halls, and Kiwi societies built and established in the name of the royal family spread all over the country and overseas territories, benefiting countless helpless people, babies, and poor families.Chang'an Mansion, Qingyang Mansion (now Miles, Australia), Daxing Mansion, Yongchang Mansion (now Australia's Gold Coast), Shaoliang Mansion (now Australia's Sunshine Coast), Yingzhou Mansion (now Newcastle, Australia), Linzi Mansion (now Today's Sydney, Australia) and many other prefectures and counties, there are queens visiting and expressing their condolences everywhere.

Her grace, her kindness, and her good deeds are all loved and respected by the people of the country.Now that Her Royal Highness the Queen has passed away, how can the people of Qi not be mourned.

"Father, please mourn." Da Qi Crown Prince Qi Zixing walked into the palace, and found His Majesty the Emperor standing in front of several portraits of the empress in a daze, with endless sorrow on his face.

"In a blink of an eye, more than 40 years have passed." The emperor turned a deaf ear and murmured, "At that time, you were a gentle and elegant girl, and you traveled thousands of miles to this remote Hanzhou continent. At that time, you said Han The population of the continent is too small, riding a horse around, and there are few people living for tens of miles, makes people feel a kind of inexplicable loneliness....Now that you go alone, don't you feel even more lonely?"

"Father..." Crown Prince Qi Zixing had a sore nose, tears streaming down his face.

"Oh, the prince is here." The emperor turned around, looked at Qi Zixing carefully for a while, and suddenly asked, "Prince, how old are you?"

"Father, my son is already... 43 this year."

"How time flies!" The emperor nodded, looking at the stable and mature prince with a short beard, "At that time, your mother hugged you as a small ball, but she never thought that you It's all that big."

Hearing this, Qi Zixing couldn't help showing a wry smile. Last year, he was already a grandfather, yet he was still considered a child by his father!
"After the National Day ceremony in June, you can be the emperor." The emperor said softly, "I'm a little tired and don't want to do it."

"Ah?!..." Qi Zixing stared at his father with wide eyes.

To be honest, although the father is over 65 years old, he is still very healthy. He jogs and walks in the garden every day without showing any signs of aging. Going forward, it is even more far-sighted and extremely strategic.For the entire empire, the emperor is definitely a pinnacle of existence.

Why do you suddenly think of abdicating?

"It's nothing to make a fuss about." The emperor showed a hint of helplessness, and said softly: "I'm getting older, and I often lose energy, so I can't be the emperor to death, right? While I'm still awake, Passing this son on to you will also allow a smooth transition of power in this country."

"Father..." Qi Zixing seemed a little at a loss, and his mind was in a mess, not knowing how to respond to Father's words.

Should he resolutely refuse, or should he decline repeatedly and take over the throne?

It has been 40 years since he was established as the prince when he was three years old.Although, in the past ten years, the emperor has almost entrusted most of the political affairs to him, so that he has supreme power, almost the same as the emperor.

But he is a prince after all, and he has not really ascended to the throne. Although many affairs of the cabinet and the military are judged and disposed by him, he knows that the reason why those people are at ease to obey him is because they are in awe of the chair in the Palace of Absolute Beginning. The father behind him.

In many cases, he had also imagined countless times that when he sat on the throne of the emperor and ruled the world, countless people would prostrate at his feet as if they were in awe of his father; the vast Hanzhou mainland and overseas The territory and tens of thousands of people are all answered by him; countless warships and loyal soldiers, under the direction of his sword, go forward and conquer the world one after another.

However, when his father suddenly said that he would abdicate and help him succeed the emperor, he suddenly became flustered.

"An emperor with growing authority may not be good for the future inheritance and development of the country." The emperor walked out of the hall lightly, looked at the scene of flowers in the courtyard, and said leisurely: "Qin Huangxiong is a general planner. The country, which created the foundation of all generations, unfortunately died in the second generation; the power of Han Wu drove the Xiongnu tens of thousands of miles away, and demonstrated the glory of the Han family for hundreds of years, but in his later years, he appointed cruel officials, causing civil turmoil, all industries withered, and even worse. There is the danger of witchcraft, which threatens succession; the Great Emperor Hongwu of the previous Ming Dynasty expelled the Mongolian Yuan, resolved the downturn of China, and created the rule of Hongwu, but after that, there was also the battle of Jingnan."

"Father, it has been 50 years since Daqi was founded. The country is prosperous, the industry is prosperous, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. The cabinet ministries are dedicated to their duties and dedicated to their duties. The military generals are also loyal, brave and obedient, and take it as their duty to protect Daqi. In such a situation, my Daqi will definitely not happen to the things that the father is worried about. Therefore, the abdication, please, the father... think twice!"

"There's no need to worry about it anymore." The emperor waved his hand and said, "Last year, I accidentally fell and sprained my right arm. I will have to take care of it for several months, but it has not recovered to the original level. It is very difficult to even write with a pen. I knew it, I'm afraid I can no longer continue to be the emperor. Because, I am... old."

"Father..."

"In this world, the fairest thing is the aging of the years and the death of the body." The emperor looked up at the blue sky with a sad face, and his voice was empty and far away, "Over the years, I have watched one after another When familiar people pass away, I know that death is also my final destination. It will not make different arrangements just because my soul comes from... from some unknown world.... So be it. After all, this world , I have come, I have seen, I have conquered."

"I'm here, I've seen, I've conquered." These are almost words. Although the father said it lightly and in a gentle tone, the prince Qi Zixing could hear the smell of gold and iron horses, as well as a strong king. Prestige.

It seems that the father has made up his mind, and he really wants to abdicate.

Well, this world, I'm here too!
-
"Perhaps, a great era is coming to an end." Cabinet Prime Minister Wang Zhongyi was silent for a while, and then he let out a long sigh.

"His Royal Highness has passed away unfortunately, why did Your Majesty do this?" Chen Yu'an, Minister of the Household Department, looked back at the majestic Taichu Palace behind him, with a look of deep regret on his face, "If my Daqi did not have His Majesty at the helm, I will wait for the cabinet Liaochen really can't feel at ease! The achievements of decades of development all depend on His Majesty's guidance and guidance, so we can have the power of Daqi."

During this period, Qi's industrial products almost obtained a real monopoly position in the entire Southeast Asia region, the Malay Peninsula, India, Persia, Arabia, Egypt, Japan, and North Korea.When the Battle of Vienna was in full swing, Qi State, which had factories using steam, had already initially possessed a huge production capacity to supply the world, while other countries hardly knew what a steam engine was (at this time, Britain had imitated and produced a steam engine that could be used steam engine for pumping water in mines).

In terms of industrial production, Qi has been far ahead of other countries in the world. Thirty years ago, Qi State began to use steam engines in the textile industry. Up to now, steam engines have been widely used in Qi State's cotton textile industry.The application of the steam engine is a great leap in human production technology.As a power source, the steam engine is not restricted by geographical conditions, and can be widely used in various crafts.

The widespread application of the steam engine has promoted the mechanization of all industrial sectors.The cotton textile industry, which widely uses steam engines, has caused the price of cotton textiles produced in Qi to drop rapidly, so that it has a huge price advantage in the international market and is gaining a monopoly position in cotton textiles. In 1646, 100 counts of cotton yarn in Qi State cost two yuan and fifty cents per kilogram; In 1655 years, the cost of cotton yarn has been reduced by almost ten times.

As of 1683, Qi had nearly 35000 steam engines with a total power of 875000 horsepower, while Britain had only 260 steam engines (pumps) with a total power of less than 3000 horsepower, which was only 0.3% of the total power of Qi. France, oh, not yet, let alone other countries.

The widespread use of steam engines stimulated the development of coal production, and at the same time prompted more use of steam engines in coal production.Last year, according to the statistics of coal mines in various places, the output of coal in Qi State has exceeded 1600 million tons, reaching 1640 million tons.During this period, the coal output of the United Kingdom was about 220-250 million tons, and that of France was less than 30 tons.

As for the production of ferrous metallurgy, Qi is also far ahead in the world today. In 1682, the steel output exceeded 300 million tons, reaching 315 million tons, of which the steel output was 180 million tons.This scale is roughly equivalent to three times the total steel production of all countries in the world.

In metallurgical production, Qi State is not only in an absolute leading position in terms of output, but also far surpasses other countries in terms of production technology.More than 40 years ago, Qi State completely abandoned charcoal smelting of pig iron and used coke for smelting. In other countries, charcoal iron smelting still occupies a dominant position.

At the same time, Qi appeared and adopted many new technologies and inventions in iron and coal production.For example, in coal mining, drilling machines, tractors, steam pumps, safety lights, etc. are used; while coal or coke is used in ironmaking, blasting equipment is used to keep the furnace burning continuously, and the stirring method is invented. And rolling refining method, improve the efficiency and quality of ironmaking.

Textile, metallurgy, and coal became the three pillar industries established by Qi State during the industrial revolution, laying the foundation for driving the development of other sectors and making Qi State a future "world factory".

In addition, Qi's roads, railways and various other industrial constructions have also been greatly developed.From 1650 to 1682, Qi State built about 12000 kilometers of high-quality roads, basically connecting the prefectures and cities of various places.Now, more and more roads are leading to counties, rural towns and inland remote areas, improving the traffic conditions everywhere to the greatest extent.

In 1655, Qi State built the first operational railway from Jianye to Montenegro, with a length of only 8 kilometers. By 1684, the railway built by Qi State had reached [-] kilometers, double that of six years ago. .In the past few years, the surge of railway construction has not only realized the connection of the northern railway and the eastern coastal railway, but also completed the intersection and connection of the southwestern railway network and the southern railway network, thus effectively promoting the development of the eastern Hanzhou region and the southwestern railway network. Regional trade and personnel exchanges.

The wide application of the steam engine in Qi State further led to the invention and improvement of the working machine and the steam power machine, and also contributed to the emergence and development of the transmission machine connecting the two, forming a complete system consisting of the power machine, the transmission machine and the working machine. mechanical system.The steam engine drives the working machine to run through the transmission, forming a developed production system.

With the development of Qi State's machine manufacturing industry and the standardization of machine production, the steam engines, textile machines and steam locomotives produced by Qi State's machine manufacturing industry began to be selectively exported to foreign countries. In 1675, the state of Qi relaxed the trade ban on the export of some machines, and exported low-tech steam engines and other mechanical equipment to the vassal states in the Nanyang region, the Northern Ming Dynasty and the mainland, making the machine manufacturing industry one of the important export industries of the state of Qi. one.

During this period, the industrial productivity levels of countries in the world were still relatively low, and most of them still adopted manual or simple mechanical workshop production models. Compared with them, Qi’s machine manufacturing industry had a relatively high level of technology, so , Qi's machine manufacturing industry occupies an absolute monopoly position in the entire eastern market (the trade ban on Europe and other regions has not been lifted for the time being).

For more than 40 years, the development of Qi's foreign trade has also grown at a geometric rate.According to the official estimated export value, between 1640 and 1682, it increased from 200 million Hanzhou silver dollars to 2 million Hanzhou silver dollars, an increase of nearly 8000 times.According to a rough estimate, Qi accounts for about 140% of the world's total trade volume, which has exceeded the trade volume occupied by the Netherlands.

It can be said that during this period, Qi State was ahead of other countries in the world in terms of industry, trade, transportation, technology, etc., and with the increasing influence of Qi State, a great era belonging to Qi State is coming.

The establishment of this era, from the domestic point of view of Qi, is that steam engines are widely used in textiles, coal, steel, transportation, and machine-made machines and large-scale machine industries are used to replace handicraft industries. It is characterized by revolution; from an international perspective, it is based on Qi's monopoly position in the export of world industrial products and advanced technology.Specifically, Qi State will become the main supplier of industrial products, advanced technology and equipment for all countries in the world, while other countries will relatively become Qi State's raw material production area and cheap commodity sales place.

(End of this chapter)