Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 684 Postscript ([-]) The White Horse Passes the Gap

"Beep!"

"Bang bang bang-"

In the second year of Yongchang, when the kingdoms of the vassal system of the Ming Dynasty were almost at peace, Europe was at war.

The war in Europe has not stopped for a moment since the 17th year of Qiansheng.

In the 18th year of Qiansheng, European countries were shocked by Louis XIV's invasion of the Holy Roman Empire.

Fearing that France's next target would be itself, countries quickly sided with the Habsburg royal family, which owns Spain and Holy Rome.

It's just that the war situation of the Three Kingdoms is not as smooth as the Eastern battlefield, but is dominated by long sieges.

Therefore, until March of the 19th year of Qiansheng, the situation on the battlefield of the Three Kingdoms did not change much.

This stalemate was broken until Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire and the Netherlands concluded the Treaty of Vienna in April of the same year.

The Netherlands joined Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, and declared that they would jointly fight against the European expansion of the "Sun King" Louis XIV, and called on Ming and Qi to urge France to restore the "Vienna Peace Treaty" in the 35th year of the Apocalypse (1655).

However, it was already October when the news reached Daming. At this time, Daming was busy with Zhu Ciran's funeral and a series of matters related to Zhu Heyin's accession to the throne, so he had no time to pay attention to it.

In the following year and a half, Portugal and Denmark also joined the camp one after another, thus forming the anti-French alliance.

The formation of the Grand Alliance and the tenacity of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire thwarted France's plans for a quick victory.

France fought this war for five years without any preparations for long-term combat. Among them, the joining of Denmark made France's situation worse.

Fortunately for Louis XIV, since the English Civil War had become a protracted war, Britain could not stand on the other side of the strait and fish in troubled waters.

Otherwise, based on his understanding of the British, those guys would never let go of such an opportunity to take advantage of the fire.

It can be said that the civil strife in the UK, a shit-stirring stick, has intensified the intensity of this war, because France does not have to worry about being backstabbed by the UK from the sea.

Therefore, the war of the Grand Alliance, which was originally dominated by protracted warfare and more sieges, has completely changed.

Since the famous French generals Tourenne and Grand Condé had already died and the other died, the commanders of the French army in this war were the Duke of Luxembourg and Marshal Catinette.

They are excellent soldiers, but not first-rate generals.

They led the army to forcibly attack the city, and interspersed behind the enemy to fight in the field.

Facing the attack from multiple countries, they chose the simplest and most costly method.

Starting from the winter month of the 19th year of Qiansheng, they trained [-] troops in the rear, and asked Louis XIV to purchase enough weapons and equipment from Qi to equip [-] troops, trying to break through the multinational attack by quantity.

The equipment of these people cost one-third of France's fiscal revenue in the same year, and the Qi State also spread the news of France's arms purchases through domestic businessmen in various countries.

The countries that heard the news placed orders with Qi to purchase weapons, and at the same time trained troops in the rear.

In this way, in just a few months, Qi State received an order for weapons worth 7203 million taels of silver.

In February of the first year of Yongchang, in order to attack William, the co-ruler of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, Louis XIV resolutely sent a navy and [-] troops to England to help King James II return to England.

In April, the British and Dutch navies and the French army encountered each other in the waters of Cape Beech. A naval battle broke out between the two sides. The wooden merchant ships of Qi State sent enough munitions to equip 2 people to Dunkirk.

A few days later, the Anglo-Dutch combined fleet was defeated by the French fleet, and the [-] troops of the French army landed in the port of Dover like a bamboo.

On the same day, Louis XIV sent someone to James II to send a letter, offering to help him reset, but the condition is that James II after the reset needs to help France contain Denmark and the Netherlands.

Faced with this temptation, James II, who had been suppressed to the point of exhaustion by William, chose to agree without hesitation.

Five days later, the [-] British and French allied forces attacked London from the south to the north, while William stuck to his home position and quickly turned south after repelling the [-] royal army led by James.

On April [-]th, William encountered [-] French troops in the suburbs outside London. After half a month of fighting between the two sides, William was unfortunately defeated.

On May [-], he led [-] remnant troops back to London, intending to rely on London's defense and wait for domestic reinforcements.

However, reality did not give him a chance.

On May [-], Ouyang Gao, a foreign bachelor from the University of Paris, France, suggested to Louis XIV to send troops to the Netherlands, and persuaded Louis XIV and the Minister of the Interior at the meeting through arguments.

On the first day of June, under the order of Louis XIV, the Duke of Luxembourg led a [-] new army trained for seven months to attack the Netherlands. The battlefield is withdrawn.

On June [-], William withdrew from England with his wife Mary and [-] remnants.

On June 21, King James returned to London, where he had been away for many years.

Knowing that James was successfully reset, Louis XIV asked the French general Villars to remind James to attack the Netherlands, but James II refused for various reasons.

On the first day of July, when Villar discovered that James II had no intention of fulfilling his promise, he changed his words and asked for support of [-] British troops.

Faced with this suddenly lowered request, James II quickly agreed, and then dispatched [-] British troops and Villars to withdraw from London.

When Villar led more than 6000 British and French troops to the Dutch battlefield, the Duke of Luxembourg immediately took them as the main force and launched a fierce attack on the Netherlands.

Under their offensive, the Dutch army led by William was repeatedly defeated in occasional battles with the French army, and almost never won.

However, William did not admit defeat and surrender, but became more and more frustrated, fighting for every inch of the country.

The dominant French army seems to be about to take the Netherlands soon, but the bad financial situation appears at a critical moment.

In order not to affect the war, Louis XIV had to borrow 100 million Mingliang from the Daming Bank in Paris, and purchased enough canned food, cotton jackets and other military supplies from Qi State.

In September, 400 wooden sailboats from Qi State arrived in Dunkirk carrying the first batch of [-] million cans, and there were tens of millions of such cans, enough to support the French army to take the Netherlands.

This news made the precarious Netherlands fall into despair, but there is no way out. The Holy Roman Empire broke through the Eastern Line of Defense, and [-] anti-French allied forces entered the Netherlands from Utrecht to defend the Netherlands together.

At the same time, Spain in the south invaded Toulouse in France. The French army faced almost the encirclement and suppression of the whole of Europe. The only thing that could support him to continue fighting was the weapon support from Qi.

On September 27, Louis XIV borrowed another 200 million taels from the Daming Bank, and purchased 80 flintlock guns, [-] six-pounder guns, [-] [-]-pounder guns, and [-] catties of finished products from Qi State. Nitrate.

Not only that, Louis XIV hoped that Qi would suspend arms orders from Spain and the Holy Roman Empire.

In this regard, Zhou Xian, the head of Qi State in Paris, said that "the former can be discussed, but the latter cannot be discussed."

On the fifth day of October, the French army recaptured Toulouse, but at the same time, a rebellion broke out in Ireland, and more than 4000 British troops surviving in the French army were transferred back to the country to counter the rebellion.

On October [-], Mei Wending, a bachelor of the Daming Military Academy, published "Detailed Explanation of Differential Calculus", which promoted the application and research of calculus in physics and mechanics.

On the eleventh of the winter month, Tsar Peter I, born in St. Petersburg, sent a letter to King Alvin of Sweden.

Peter expressed to Sweden the importance of Tsarist Russia to Sweden by using the oriental proverb "the lips are dead and the teeth are cold".

On the [-]th of the winter month, Sweden and Tsarist Russia, two countries that had hated each other for several eras, formed an alliance. One month later, Norway joined the alliance, known as the "Northern Alliance" in history.

On the second day of March in the second year of Yongchang, the Governor's Office of the Five Armies of the Ming Dynasty made an assessment of the Northern Alliance, with a total population of 970 million and an army of 32. The strength of Dingguo and Mongolia is sufficient to deal with it.

In April, the British army suppressed the Irish rebellion, but soon after the Scottish rebellion broke out, Britain fell into civil strife, and the army was fighting fires.

In the same month, the French army, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire allied forces broke out in the Battle of Verdun in Verdun. The two camps invested 24 troops, and finally the French army defended the place.

On the seventh day of May, an earthquake that broke out in the East China Sea (Caribbean Sea) region of Qi State triggered a large tsunami, which almost swept the coast of the East China Sea.

The tsunami engulfed Donghai Port (Royal Port), one of the top ten ports in Qi, and two-thirds of the area of ​​Donghai County in Weiqiu Prefecture sank into the East China Sea. The remaining buildings on land were washed away without a trace by the waves. .

After the disaster, Qi Wang Zhu Cihong led the navy to participate in disaster relief.

In July, according to post-disaster statistics, Donghai County had 630 dead and 420 missing.

On the second day of August, the Ministry of Household Affairs issued an order to distribute 50 taels of compensation silver to the surviving family members of the dead and missing people.

Anyone can see that in this kind of disaster, disappearance and death are almost the same.

On August [-]th, Qi State built a new Donghai County on the original site of Donghai County.

On the first day of the first winter month, the Daming Armament Academy successfully developed the fourth version of the internal combustion engine through the materials of the Qi Academy of Sciences.

On the fifteenth day of the winter month, the fourth version of the internal combustion engine was put into operation in a four-wheeled vehicle.

On the [-]th day of the twelfth lunar month, after more than a month of continuous adjustments, four-wheel vehicles using ethanol gasoline appeared in the Forbidden City.

The car weighs 450 catties, and can travel fifty miles per hour at the fastest, and can travel one hundred miles with one fuel injection.

It was made of brass with leather and cotton, but according to Emperor Zhu Heyin's recollection, it was not a good ride experience, and the pungent gasoline smell made him lose his appetite for lunch that day.

After a short experience, Zhu Heyin asked about the cost of the car, and the answer was 200 taels, which is equal to three tractors.

Facts have proved that such a high price is unaffordable for ordinary people, and the subsequent maintenance and use costs are even more prohibitive.

The price of a tank of gasoline of [-] cents was unbearable for many people, so after the four-wheeled vehicle was manufactured, it did not enter people's field of vision like bicycles and tricycles.

On the fifth day of February in the third year of Yongchang, the Qi Academy of Sciences invented lead-acid batteries, and produced a hand-operated DC generator in the Academy of Sciences, and stored electricity in [-] lead-acid batteries.

On the night of the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, the Academy of Sciences used two charcoal rods and copper wires to light up a research room of the Military Academy. This was the first time that humans used electricity to illuminate at night.

However, the charcoal sticks did not last long before losing their luster.

The research bachelor of the Academy of Sciences read some research documents left by Qi Wenwang, and finally used tungsten wire as the filament of electric lamps in the future.

In April, the population of Qi State exceeded 8000 million.

In July, Daming succeeded in building a hydroelectric generator on a mountain near the Military Armament Academy based on the principle of the hand-cranked engine of the State of Qi and the information left by King Wen of Qi.

In August, Yongchang Emperor Zhu Heyin decreed to suspend the local telegraph construction, hoping to build a submarine telegraph line from Beijing to Liaodong, via North Korea and Yingzhou, and then directly to the western capital of Qi State.

In September, Tang Wang Zhu Linyuan called on all feudal vassals to continue the crusade against the natives hiding on the Kunlun Plateau.

In October, Mei Wending, director of the Academy of Armaments, replied to the emperor that it was impossible to place telegraph lines in the Daming Sea with the current technology.

At the same time, he believed that the Ming Dynasty could lay a line from Beijing to Busan, North Korea, and then lay a telegraph in the "Yingchao Strait" to land on the South Island Prefecture and connect to the North Prefecture Prefecture in the north.

If this is the case, the communication time between Daming and Qi can be shortened by seven days, and there is no need to stop the construction of telegraph lines in various places.

After Mei Wending played, Emperor Zhu Heyin Zhu agreed.

On the first day of the first winter month, the Ministry of Rites negotiated with North Korea, and King Li Xuan of North Korea was very happy. He agreed and at the same time signaled to the local government to cooperate with the officials of the Celestial Dynasty.

On the fifteenth day of the winter month, Emperor Zhu Heyin believed that there was already a telegram, and the local officials had to report everything to the six parts for record. On these two official memorials, "text" is added.

The content of the text is broad and basically unlimited.

This means that Daming has strengthened his understanding of local conditions, and at the same time, it further increases the risk of local officials being exposed to misconduct in the local area.

On the 22nd of Dongyue, Yan Yinshao, the chief assistant of the cabinet, Sun Kewang, the second assistant, and Li Dingguo, the cabinet minister, became official.

On the 23rd, the emperor promoted Yan Yinshao as Duke of Lu, Sun Kewang as Duke of Liang, and Li Dingguo as Duke of Qin.

On the 25th, Chen Tingjing, the cabinet minister, was elected as the cabinet minister, and Zhou Peigong, the cabinet minister, was elected as the second assistant after the votes of the six and five armies.

At the same time, Shi Lang, the naval governor, became official, Zheng Jing, the deputy governor, entered the cabinet, Lin Liang, a minister of the naval governor's mansion, was promoted to the naval governor, and Shi Shibiao, Shi Lang's son, was appointed as the deputy governor.

On the 26th, the emperor granted Shi Lang the title of Marquis of Jinjiang, and Zheng Jing was promoted to Marquis of Yanping.

On the same day, Chen Tingjing, the chief assistant, went to Shu, hoping that the emperor would increase the number of officials in six ministries in order to cope with the increase in "texts" in the future.

The next day, Emperor Zhu and Yin Zhu agreed.

On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Sijian, the son of Li Dingguo, the Duke of Qin, served as the governor of Shangzhi.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the fourth year of Yongchang, Emperor Zhu Heyin visited Qi State with Prince Zhu Yixuan and Qin Guogong Li Dingguo.

In March, the feudal vassals of Kunlun returned triumphantly, and Prince Zhu Yixuan and Qin Guogong Li Dingguo arrived in Xijing City.

For the prince Zhu Yixuan, it was only less than a month and a half away, but Qin Guogong Li Dingguo walked for a full 51 years.

The state of Qi they saw when they came to the country was far from the state of Qi that Zhu Heyin had come to.

The railway network in Qi State has been developed, and the railways in 25 prefectures across the country are connected. The whitewashed white walls, gray tiles and blue brick buildings make people look like it, and the clean and wide roads make people look brighter.

However, these are actually the buildings that King Wen of Qi left behind, and what Zhu Cihong did was to maintain his father's policy back then.

Since the death of King Wen of Qi, both Daming and Qi State have experienced a slight decline in their development speed compared to before his death.

But even so, there are still many places in Qi that need to be emulated by Daming.

Zhu Yixuan led people around the counties in Jingzhao Prefecture, while Li Dingguo and Zhu Cihong drank tea and walked around in the Qi Palace.

Li Dingguo is now 74 years old, and Zhu Cihong is also 61 years old. The two don't know if they will see each other again in the future, so they cherish this opportunity very much.

Apart from this, Zhu Yixuan's son and grandson Zhu Bohai also stood by and listened to the conversation between the two, and there was a two or three-year-old doll beside him.

This doll is the grandson of the eldest son Zhu Hexuan, that is, the great-grandson of Zhu Cihong.

Zhu Youxiao's lineage is relatively older, Zhu Youjian is six years older than Zhu Youjian, Zhu Cihong is ten years older than Zhu Ciran, Zhu Hexuan is 12 years older than Zhu Heyin, and Zhu Yiming is ten years older than Zhu Yixuan.

In Zhu Bohai's generation, he is 11 years older than Zhu Bomu.

Today Zhu Bohai is 13 years old, while Zhu Bomu is only two years old.

Zhu Bohai lowered his head and looked at Zhu Bomu next to him, while Li Dingguo glanced at him, and then said to Zhu Cihong:
"Long live means to leave the grandson in Qi to study in middle school, and return to Daming to study in university."

After he finished speaking, he looked straight at Zhu Cihong.

Seeing that he finished speaking, Zhu Cihong also moved his mind away from the chessboard, and then nodded:
"Since Brother Yin said it, let's do it like this. I will ask Brother Xi to arrange it tomorrow."

After all, Zhu Cihong looked at Li Dingguo, who was much older, and unconsciously thought of his own father, and couldn't help asking:
"What happened to my father's tomb?"

"Very good, I go to see it every month." When mentioning King Qi's Tomb, a smile appeared on Li Dingguo's face, and he said:
"Thanks to His Highness, the people of Tianshou Mountain put flowers at the gate almost every day. It's a pity that those flowers were lost, so many of them were sent to the rest of the Ming Tombs by the guards."

"After a long time, Tianshou Mountain has almost become a mountain of flowers."

"Last August, the guards of the mausoleum found wild honey on a tree at the foot of King Qi's Mausoleum, so they picked a jar and it tasted very good."

"After Wansui took a sip, he asked the officials to put a few beehives in Tianshou Mountain. I think there will be honey to eat when I go back this year."

"At that time, I will send someone to bring you a few cans to eat. It is also very good to eat some honey when you are old."

"Hmm..." Zhu Cihong smiled and nodded after hearing the situation of King Qi's Mausoleum.

When the two of them smiled and turned their heads to look at Zhu Bohai and Zhu Bomu, they found that Zhu Bohai did not know when he hugged Zhu Bomu in his arms, and started playing with his hands.

He held a candy and put it in front of Zhu Bomu, tempting him to say:
"Call my brother, ask my brother to give you sweets..."

(End of this chapter)