I want to be emperor

In the forty-seventh year of Chengshun, on the twelfth day of the first lunar month, a passenger train was traveling in the wilderness of Jiangnan.

Although it was already the beginning of spring, the land south of the Yangtze River was still very cold, and some mountains on both sides of the railway could be vaguely covered with snow.

On the train, Andre looked outside through the glass window. His eyes were not on the wilderness, but on the towns outside.

Although there are occasionally hills and trees on the side of the railway that block the view, the railway embankment on which the train is running is relatively high at this time, and you can still see part of the city outside from a high vantage point.

He didn't know the name of the small city outside, but he knew that it was just one of many ordinary small towns in the Dachu Empire...

Looking from the train, the city on the side is not very big, with a radius of just a few kilometers. However, the urban planning and layout are very neat. There are many straight and intersecting roads between the cities, giving this small city a A grid of squares.

There were many carriages driving on the road, and people were constantly coming in and out of the buildings on both sides of the road.

Most of these buildings were commercial buildings with three or four floors, but he also saw a few obviously taller buildings, one of which was estimated to be thirty or forty meters high by visual inspection.

Just by looking at these streets and buildings, you can basically tell that this so-called small town is more prosperous than his hometown of London, and people live a richer life.

Thinking of this, Andre couldn't help but sigh in his heart... The gap between England and the Empire was really too big... so big that he even despaired!

If such a place was a big city in the Chu Empire... no, even if it was just a medium-sized city, it would be bigger and more prosperous than London, then he would accept it. After all, the Chu Empire was advanced and prosperous, and their It is natural that a medium-sized city is more prosperous than London.

But...it's not!

Although Andre didn't know the internal situation of the Da Chu Empire very clearly, he still knew that the small city in front of him was just a very ordinary small county town in the Da Chu Empire. A small county town like this was in the Da Chu Empire. There are thousands of people in the Chu Empire...

And those big cities in the Chu Empire didn't look like a city at all... He couldn't even think of a suitable adjective to sum up the Songjiang City he had seen before!

That huge city spanned dozens of kilometers, and there were countless high-rise buildings in the city... He even saw high-rise buildings hundreds of meters high in Songjiang City. He heard from the introduction of the Imperial Domain Affairs Department that people had to take a kind of ride to get up and down such high-rise buildings. Lift stuff.

The most important thing is that these high-rise buildings are not special-purpose buildings, and their height is not supported by the spire. They are actually hundreds of meters high, allowing people to work in tall buildings above 100 meters.

In addition to the huge urban areas and high-rise buildings, there is also the shocking Huangpu River Bridge!

Before he got off the boat, when he saw such a huge bridge in front of him, the shocking feeling was simply indescribable... No matter how rich his imagination was, he couldn't imagine how humans could build such a huge bridge?

This thing is even more shocking than those 100-meter-tall buildings!

The Huangpu River Bridge in Songjiang City is the first super-large cross-river bridge in the Chu Empire... and the first super-large reinforced concrete suspension bridge.

In order to build this bridge, the bridge engineers of the Dachu Empire had been studying and working hard for more than twenty years. They finally finalized the construction plan and started construction in the late 1930s. It took five years of construction before it was finally completed last spring.

When the bridge was completed, Luo Zhixue specially sent the prince to preside over the opening ceremony.

This bridge has created countless histories...one of which is the most noteworthy, which is the largest single span length and the highest navigation height.

In order to ensure that the navigation of ships is not affected, the clear navigation height of this bridge reaches 35 meters. This height is enough to navigate most of the existing 10,000-ton cargo ships, and it also leaves enough margin to meet the needs of the future. Passage of bigger and taller ships.

At the same time, the entire bridge has no piers in the river. Instead, it is designed to build piers on both sides of the river, and then use steel cables to directly lift the bridge deck, so that the clear navigation width of the entire bridge reaches more than 300 meters... In other words, the river channel is not occupied.

The reason for such an extreme design is because the navigation of the Huangpu River is so important.

You know, Songjiang City is currently the largest city in the empire. It can even be said to be the only super city and industrial city. Countless goods come in and out every day through various ships. Various large ships come from all over the world and go to the world!

At the same time, Songjiang City in the Chu Empire did not engage in any large-scale development of Pudong. Although it began to build a port along the Pudong coast... However, the port where ships with larger tonnage berthed was actually in the Wusong River Fortress area where the Huangpu River merges into the Yangtze River Estuary. , there is a large port there for super-large ships, and there are railways, urban trains and other transportation connections.

For now and even in the next ten years or so, Songjiang City will still have to rely on the Huangpu River to transport a large amount of goods in and out.

This has also resulted in the Huangpu River being the busiest and even the most congested waterway in the empire. Some large cargo ships even have to wait in line when entering or leaving. The river is always supervised by vessels and personnel from the Huangpu River Bureau. , guiding ships in and out.

The busyness and importance of the contemporary Huangpu River far exceed the importance of the Huangpu River in various periods in the original time and space.

Given that the navigation role of the Huangpu River is so important, it has always been very difficult to build a bridge on the Huangpu River. The biggest problem is how to increase the clear navigation height and clear width.

To meet these two requirements, the requirements for bridge design and construction technology are not generally large. Strictly speaking, to build a bridge with this technical specification, it would be almost as long as the technical level in the late 19th century. Extremely harsh.

Therefore, the design of ordinary bridges cannot be adopted at all... Even the bridge design proposed by bridge experts a few years ago with only two piers on the river and a clear navigation height of 15 meters has been criticized by all walks of life.

In the early years, Songjiang Prefecture was thinking about digging a tunnel across the Huangpu River in order to connect the two sides of the Huangpu River and develop the Pudong area... Unfortunately, the tunneling technology these days is not very reliable. , it is difficult to guarantee successful mining.

Finally, the bridge designers gritted their teeth and came up with this suspension bridge with a clear navigation width of more than 300 meters and a clear height of more than 30 meters. It has two floors, the lower floor is for trains, and the upper floor is for carriages and pedestrians.

The main bridge of this thing reaches more than 400 meters. Of course, this is not its entire length. In fact, there is a longer approach bridge. In order to increase the clear height of navigation, the bridge deck is 20 to 30 meters above the ground. , if you want trains and carriages to cross the bridge smoothly, you have to build a long approach bridge to reduce the slope of the upper and lower bridges, so you have to build such a long approach bridge.

The most eye-catching ones are the two huge bridge piers standing on both sides of the river. Each of these two bridge piers is an astonishing height of more than 90 meters. They are built with reinforced concrete and up to 100% special steel. The steel cables produced lifted the huge bridge deck, and the number of steel cables used reached tens of thousands.

The successful completion of this thing... to put it bluntly, is the ultimate embodiment of a series of advanced basic technologies of the Da Chu Empire.

Not to mention anything else, those steel cables alone are not simple things. The materials used are all specially developed steel, and then they go through many processes to produce steel cables with strong enough tensile strength... It is not that direct. Just get a steel bar and use it.

Then we have to consider construction issues, such as building a bridge pier nearly 100 meters high. This is not a simple task... This is not an ordinary building, which can directly use steel as the main body of the building, but a bridge pier that must withstand huge pressure. , all using solid reinforced concrete construction methods.

The material transportation and construction are very complicated.

Behind the successful construction of a bridge is the combination of advanced materials, engineering equipment, processing technology, construction technology and many other aspects of the Chu Empire.

Finally, we came up with this thing.

After the Songpujia Bridge was completed, those bridge designers went to Jinling City to work on the Jinling Yangtze River Bridge... Compared with the Huangpu River Bridge, the design and construction of the Jinling Yangtze River Bridge is even more difficult... because this is The main channel of the Yangtze River also has very high requirements for navigation capabilities.

Even the Yangtze River Bridge on the Hantian side has been completed, but the Yangtze River Bridge on the Jinling City side has still not been completed, and special ferries are required to ferry trains across the river.

Even Luo Zhixue made a golden promise a few years ago. If anyone builds the Jinling Yangtze River Bridge, he will be guaranteed a viscount!

This is driving the domestic bridge designers crazy... In recent years, the design of the Jinling Yangtze River Bridge has entered the finalization stage. It is expected that the design plan of the Jinling Yangtze River Bridge will be finalized and construction will begin soon.

If nothing else, the winner of the design proposal will be Luo Lin, the leading designer in the country and the designer of the Huangpu River Bridge.

This person's bridge design capabilities are top-notch. He has successfully designed the Huangpu River Bridge before and also designed and built the Zhengzhou Huangpu Railway Bridge.

This man is not just a designer. In fact, he is a construction businessman and runs a construction company. Some of the bridges he designed were also constructed by his own company.

So... he not only has top-level bridge design capabilities, but his construction company also has top-level bridge construction capabilities.

This man and his company have a great chance of winning when they participate in the bidding for the Jinling Yangtze River Bridge... because he actually has no competitors!

This is not a question of price, but that others cannot handle such a high-end project!

The Huangpu River Bridge that he designed and presided over the construction has also become the most famous landmark building in Songjiang City last year... The super bridge across the river, especially the two huge piers of nearly 100 meters, makes people come from a long distance. can see.

If you come to Songjiang by boat, you will be shocked by this thing at first sight.

The specific effect is just like a few super large statues outside the port in some magical art works, which will shock people from a distance. The Matsuura Family Bridge has a similar effect in contemporary Matsue City.

Andrew, the ambassador of the Kingdom of England, came to the Chu Empire and Songjiang City for the first time. Then he was shocked by this thing... and then gave birth to the empire. The power is really deep in the bones, making people even angry. Not a trace of doubt or dissatisfaction.

What follows is intense despair... Why wasn't I born in such a great empire?

Andri's mission trip was accompanied by one shock after another.

Last year, the Kingdom of England, which was still in a state of war and at war with the Kingdom of Wales, received a notice from the Vassal Affairs Department of the Ministry of Etiquette and Education of the Dachu Empire, approving their application to send diplomats to the Dachu Empire to handle vassal affairs nearby, and Let them choose ambassadors and other appropriate personnel to go.

Well, during the same period, the Dachu Empire also approved applications from dozens of other European countries to send diplomats to the empire.

In fact, the Dachu Empire also had diplomats from vassal countries stationed there before, but the number was not too large. In the early days, there were Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, the Fuso Kingdom, and later several indigenous countries in Nanyang... and later several Nanyang countries. Although the original land of the indigenous countries was gone, they were resettled to India by the empire. Therefore, these indigenous countries in Southeast Asia have always existed, but they were changed by the empire!

During this process, the Fuso Kingdom has long existed in name only. Now, all areas of the Fuso Islands have become direct territories or administrative territories of the Chu Empire. There are very few pure-bred Fuso people... and most of them. In places like Africa, Europe, and India, apart from the scattered hundreds of thousands of Fuso people on Shikoku Island in the Fuso Archipelago, even Shikoku Island has actually become the administrative territory of Chu State. The official name of this place is the Great Chu Empire Shikoku Prefecture is an overseas administrative territory of the Empire.

Even a family from the Fuso Kingdom had moved to Jinling City long ago and received the generous viscount title conferred by the empire... Although the Fuso Kingdom still exists in name, it actually no longer exists.

The empire has officially established Fuso Province in the Fuso area and established prefectures and counties for jurisdiction.

Later, it was the Mughal Empire... No, it should be called the Mughal Kingdom now. At the request of the empire, the Mughal Empire had already changed the name of the country and the title of the monarch, replacing the imperial title with the king's title.

Next came the Persian Kingdom and the Ottoman Kingdom.

For a long time, there were basically only a few diplomats in the empire... Moreover, the diplomats from these indigenous countries were not stationed in Jinling City, or even in the prosperous hinterland of the empire, but were stationed scattered in nearby areas. The embassy in Chu cities, such as Fuso, is actually in Busan... while the embassies of Southeast Asia, West Asia, and European countries are basically in Malacca and Singapore.

Subsequent European countries also successively sent diplomats to the empire, but their diplomatic non-commissioned officers were basically in Cadiz in the Spanish region of Europe.

Although these vassal states have applied many times to send diplomats to the hinterland of the empire in East Asia, especially to Jinling City to meet with them, they have never been approved.

It was not until last year that the empire relented and allowed each vassal state to send envoys to Jinling City for an audience. It also left a number of envoys stationed in Jinling City all year round to handle foreign exchanges between the two countries.

In this way, Andre was appointed as the plenipotentiary envoy and ambassador to Chu State, and then went on an envoy to the Chu Empire to visit the emperor in Jinling City.

It's not just him. In fact, this time hundreds of vassal states under the rule of the Great Chu Empire have obtained approval to go to Jinling City to pay an audience, and to subsequently stay in Jinling City of Chu State to handle foreign affairs for a long time.

Therefore, when Andrei and the others left Europe, they took an ocean liner of more than 5,000 tons arranged by the Ministry of Ethnic Education. This liner had envoys and entourages from dozens of countries on board, and would also pick up other vassal countries along the way. , such as the Ottomans, Persians, Mughals and envoys from various Indian and Southeast Asian countries went to Songjiang City together.

After these people arrived at Songjiang City, they took the vassal affairs train arranged by the Ministry of Ethical Affairs and went to Jinling City.

The arrival of the envoys from hundreds of vassal countries is part of the plan promoted by the Ministry of Rites and Education for all nations to come to the DPRK!

The Ministry of Rites and Education is also a relatively powerful department in the Great Chu Empire, but the power of the Ministry of Rites and Education mainly comes from education, imperial examinations and enlightenment... The core subordinate agencies are the Education Department, the Imperial Examination Department and the Chaobao Department!

But several other departments, such as the Etiquette Department and the Domain Affairs Department, seem to be quite important, but in fact they are not important... They have a very low sense of existence, and their real power is even more pitiful.

For example, the Department of Ceremonies seems to be quite important. After all, it is in charge of etiquette and sacrifices, and sacrifices are very important for traditional dynasties... However, if you want to say that this function is noble, then it must be noble, but if you want to say In fact, there is not much real power...except for major ceremonial occasions, there is basically no sense of existence.

Not to mention the vassal affairs... Don't look at the vassal affairs diplomats of the Great Chu Empire who are tyrannical in various indigenous countries, and can even easily decide the fate of each vassal country... Well, many of the empire's policies towards these vassal countries, in fact, Decisions are made based on reports provided by the diplomats of the Domain Affairs Department who are stationed in the local area.

To a certain extent, the vassal envoys sent by the Chu Empire to various vassal states can determine the fate of these vassal states... The vassal envoys will send a report saying that you, an indigenous king, are disobedient and have hidden rebellious intentions. When the big boss sees it, it’s hard to find you, the king, to ask in detail whether it’s true? No, they will directly send someone to change the king!

Therefore, the special envoys sent by the Great Chu Empire to the various vassal states were basically the overlords of each vassal state, and they were frighteningly powerful.

But...the diplomats of these vassal affairs departments can only show their authority in these vassal countries, and even in vassal countries, they can only show their authority against the indigenous people.

This would have no sense of existence within the Dachu Empire, especially in the mainland...

There is no way, there is no serious foreign affairs in the Great Chu Empire, there are only vassal affairs, and vassal affairs are actually not important. One by one, these vassal states are all economic colonies of the Chu people.

Have you ever seen anyone engage in diplomacy with their economic colony? Therefore, vassal officials seem to be important, but in fact they are not important either.

Therefore, the political status of vassal officials in the Great Chu Empire has always been embarrassing.

It has been fine overseas for a long time. I can barely maintain my position in front of my colleagues in other departments, and I can make a lot of money. But when I return to my hometown... I am basically a character that no one takes a look at, worse than the officials in Qingshui Yamen. awful!

The officials in Qingshui Yamen are still staying in Jinling City after all. Serious officials in the capital still have the opportunity to be transferred to other places.

As a vassal official who deals with the natives every day, you didn't even have the opportunity to be transferred back to Jinling City to contact the center of power. When you were exhausted, you went to work in Singapore... because Jinling City didn't have any envoys from the vassal country. There are no feudal affairs.

And this is also the reason why the people in the vassal affairs department have been working hard to promote the envoys from various vassal states to come to Beijing for an audience and to garrison Jinling City for a long time!

With the special envoys of each vassal country stationed in Jinling City, the group of people from the Domain Affairs Department have reason to stay in Jinling City to work and have a sense of presence!

However, even if it was promoted for a long time, there was no result before. It was not until Xu Qidong, who had served as the director of the Domain Affairs Department before, had been stuck in the position of the third rank for eight years because he had been the director of the Domain Affairs Department for a long time, that things finally turned around. His Majesty favored him and was promoted to the right minister of the Ministry of Etiquette.

Subsequently, he made achievements in the position of the right minister of the Ministry of Rites and Education, and was finally transferred to a local area to serve as a governor. Finally, he was appreciated by His Majesty, and was transferred back to Gyeonggi Province to serve as the Minister of the Ministry of Rites and Education, becoming a second-rank official and co-organizer of the Council of Ministers. After that, the plan for the coming of all nations to the DPRK, which had been promoted for many years by the Domain Affairs Bureau, made real progress.

Because Xu Qidong was born in a vassal service, he had a deep understanding of the hardships of vassal service. In addition, many old subordinates from the past cried and complained about all kinds of sufferings, saying that it was right to go to overseas wild lands to serve His Majesty. But I can't stay in a wild land all my life. At least give me a chance to be transferred back to Jinling to accompany my family.

Unable to bear it, Xu Qidong finally pushed forward the plan for all nations to come to the DPRK... Of course, the reason was not for any reason. Those vassal officials wanted to be transferred back to the country one by one, especially to Jinling City to enjoy modern life. To enhance the voice of the vassal affairs and so on.

But the global situation has basically been settled. Now the empire is in a prosperous and prosperous period. This prosperous age should naturally look like a prosperous age. For example, there must be a batch of envoys from the vassal state who come to pay tribute and congratulate. Otherwise, it would be meaningless just for my own ministers to shout about Shengshi every day.

How can outsiders praise you if you are praised by your own people?

When Luo Zhixue heard this, he really... He listened to the compliments of his ministers every day, and it was meaningless to listen too much. But to be honest, he had never heard of the compliments of the envoys of his subordinate country... There was no way, the empire had not had it before. Luo Zhixue never cared about what the indigenous people thought, and he never received an audience from the so-called indigenous envoys...

On the other hand, many beautiful girls were sent from the vassal countries of West Asia and Europe. In Luo Zhixue's harem, except for dark-skinned women, there were actually all kinds of other women.

How should I put it, in his harem, there are women with all human hair colors, black hair, blond hair, red hair, black eyes, blue eyes, and even some women with rare purple eyes... What is West Asia? There are people from North Africa, Southern Europe, Northern Europe, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe.

There is no way, his empire is spread all over the world, and the beautiful girls in this harem are also selected from all over the world, so it is normal to have a variety!

This also brought about a rather embarrassing situation, that is, a few of his children were mixed-race children with blue eyes, blond hair, and red hair.

So don't be surprised if you see a blond, blue-eyed, high-nosed prince or princess in the palace of Chu State.

Therefore, even if Luo Zhixue stays in the palace of Jinling City all year round and thinks that he has never seen many indigenous people from various countries these days, in fact he has seen many.

But...he has never seen the envoys from various indigenous countries;

He has never heard of the compliments of the envoys from the vassal country!

Therefore, Xu Qidong of the Ministry of Rites and Education said before that hundreds of envoys from vassal states came together to meet him. He thought this was quite interesting, so he approved it.

In this way, the vassal system has been painstakingly pursuing changes for more than ten years before it has achieved this. However, if we want to truly enhance the status of vassal officials, especially in Jinling City, there are enough vassal establishments to place vassal officials. , we have to handle the coming of all nations to the DPRK this time.

Only by making His Majesty happy can we talk about the future.

Otherwise, this vassal official will have to continue to suffer in the wilderness...