The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 169 The Way of a Great Power

"The Yangtze River is deep and wide. It can be navigable from Shanghai County to Nanjing. It is completely possible to send dozens of warships upstream to Nanjing, threatening the center of Qin." Qi Zexuan said with a smile: "Although Qin is also here Secretly developing the navy, they devoted themselves to the development and construction of naval ships, but their strength was not mentioned at all. Our Qi navy only dispatched three squadrons of Ryukyu, Annan, and Luzon, which were enough to defeat it. How could Yanliang assert that our Qi navy The Chinese Navy cannot attack Nanjing City?"

"Your Highness, when we sailed from Shanghai County to the Yangtze River Estuary in August, and all the way to Nanjing, did you pay attention to the military towns and numerous forts along the way?" Li Yanliang said in a low voice: "From the Yangtze River Estuary, Chongming Sha , Nantong, Jiangyin, Zhenjiang, Qixia, and Yanziji, there are dozens of large and small forts, with a garrison strength of nearly 20,000. In addition, the Daqin Yangtze River Navy anchorage is stationed in Pukou, and nearly a hundred large and small ships defend Nanjing. If I were Qi Navy really wants to attack all the way along the Yangtze River, and I am afraid that there will only be a few ships left that can reach the Nanjing River in one piece."

"Oh, it turns out that Yanliang is also thinking about invading the hinterland of Daqin." Qi Zexuan looked at Li Yanliang playfully, leaned forward and asked: "Then from the perspective of the army, can you gather a large army to land somewhere on the southeast coast, and then sweep across the entire country? Jiangnan, go straight to Nanjing City?"

"It won't work." Li Yanliang shook his head and said: "According to the assessment of our Qi military staff in Qin, the Qin army has about 600,000 in size, of which there are as many as 120,000 elite new troops, all of whom are well-trained. fully weaponized troops. Although nearly 70% of their troops are deployed in the northwest, Mobei and northeastern regions, there are still more than 100,000 troops stationed in the Huaihe and Jiangnan regions, and Nanjing has more than 8,000 equipment Excellent Royal Guards. Even if our Daqi army is capable and good at fighting, it can successfully land on the coast of Daqin in the first time and defeat the Qin army attacking from all sides. However, if it continues to advance inland, I am afraid it will be unsustainable. . Unless we, Da Qi, carry out comprehensive mobilization and expand the size of the army to more than 200,000. Otherwise, the war between Qin and Qi will probably be limited to the coastal areas, and will only attack Qin through harassment and blockade."

"In other words, through war, our Qi State may need to spend an extremely high price to defeat the Qin State?"

"That's right." Li Yanliang nodded and said: "The Qin State has hundreds of millions of people. In addition, the country has not been established for a long time, and its military strength is not as weak as the Mughal Empire and the Persian Safavid Empire. It still has some fighting strength. At the beginning of the year, The Qin army's defeat of Junggar in the Western Region, and the fact that only a few thousand troops were able to temporarily stabilize the chaotic situation in Uzbek fully proved that their army was still relatively incompetent. Even if we tried our best, we finally completely defeated Qin , but the cost is also very huge, and will even affect our Qi country’s global strategic layout. Looking at China’s thousands of years of history, and referring to the rise and fall of countries around the world, we will find that small countries mostly perished at the hands of foreign enemies, while big countries all Die from internal troubles. When a country is large enough, such as the great unified dynasties of China, as long as there are no fundamental fatal problems internally, no matter how great the external pressure is, it will only decline and not perish."

"Really?" Qi Zexuan said with a smile: "What about the former Song Dynasty? It was destroyed twice by foreigners. This was a real foreign invasion."

"Your Highness, when the Song Dynasty was founded, there was the Liao Dynasty founded by the Khitans, and the Duan clan in Dali. Hehuang, Ganlong, Hetao and other places were still occupied by the Xixia Dynasty." Li Yanliang said quietly: "By the time the Song Dynasty came, The restoration of Lin'an was even more peaceful. Judging from this, the former Song Dynasty cannot be considered a unified dynasty."

“Is the Mughal Empire considered a great power?”

"Our Qi State has only weakened the Mughal Empire to this point through decades of continuous encroachment and attacks. Moreover, so far, we have not deposed its emperor, destroyed its sacrifices, or destroyed its country."

"Uh..." Qi Zexuan's eyes rolled, and he tried hard to review in his mind the examples of Chinese dynasties and major countries in the world that were destroyed by foreign enemies, "What about the Arab Empire that once stood side by side with the Tang Dynasty?"

"Your Highness, the Arab Empire was destroyed by foreign enemies only after its decline and division!"

"Yes, the same was true for the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean and the Mongol Empire hundreds of years ago." Qi Zexuan did not intend to argue with Li Yanliang on this topic anymore, but looked to both sides of the street, preparing to find a restaurant to taste Some Qin folk delicacies.

"Your Highness, have you always been thinking about invading Qin?"

After Qi Zexuan entered a restaurant named "Duowei Xuan", the hall on the second floor was quickly emptied.

The diners who had been complaining about this immediately smiled when they heard that all their expenses were paid by the arriving Qi people. They bowed their hands to the young Qi nobleman, bowed, and happily went down to the hall on the first floor. , continue to eat.

Although Li Yanliang was only a military captain of the Imperial Guard, he had a strong royal background and was friends with the emperor's grandson Qi Zexuan. Therefore, when he accompanied him to visit Da Qin, he had been his personal companion and was responsible for protecting him. Safety.

Two years ago, a fire almost burned Wangjiang Lane, where Li Yanliang's family lived, to ashes. His mother also died in the fire. After receiving the news, he immediately asked for leave from the Chief of Army General Staff and hurried back to Daxing from Chang'an.

The fire burned a total of nine people including his mother and surrounding neighbors to death, more than 40 people suffered burns to varying degrees, more than 60 houses were burned down, and more than 130 houses were affected, causing property losses of more than 100,000 yuan. The current situation It was tragic.

In the following days, under the attention of His Majesty the Emperor, the Polling Office, Daxing Police Department, Gendarmerie Intelligence Office, and even the Black Guards began to conduct a detailed and comprehensive investigation into the fire accident.

Soon, the cause of the fire was found to be arson.

The murderers turned out to be a group of Jewish businessmen who had entered the country less than two years ago!

Although the people from the Military Police Intelligence Division acted quickly and followed the direction of the criminal's escape to Guizhou (now Perth, Australia) in the southwest Kunzhou Province, they ultimately fell short and allowed the main criminal to escape and flee overseas. Only a few were captured. You little guy is so frustrating.

Out of sympathy for the late Princess Le'an, Emperor Taiping felt deeply sorry for Li Yanliang's mother who unexpectedly suffered this fate, so he extended his favor to Li Yanliang and granted him the title of Qingchuan Nan.

Within a few months, the General Staff of the Royal Guards transferred Li Yanliang to the Imperial Guards by order of the emperor, and was promoted to the rank of Imperial Martial School Lieutenant to guard the Taichu Palace.

In August of the following year, after Li Yanliang's period of filial piety ended, Emperor Taiping decreed that Cao Xi, the daughter of Cao Chengcuo of the Prince of Lu, be made the county head, and then married her to him for a hundred years.

For a time, Li Yanliang was favored among the royal family.

A few months later, Li Yanliang entered the Chang'an Royal Military Academy to study tactical command.

In June 1727, after ten months of study, Li Yanliang graduated with honors and served as the tactical staff officer of the Imperial Guard. He also served as the second military instructor of the emperor's grandson Qi Zexuan.

In July, he was transferred to the Royal Attendant's Department and served as a fourth-class attendant. He followed the Dan King Qi Weining and the emperor's grandson Qi Zexuan to visit the State of Qin.

As a soldier, from a military perspective, the large-scale war that broke out between Qi and Qin actually had no great strategic significance for Qi, but rather the gains outweighed the losses.

Over the years, the two countries have had close political, economic, trade and cultural exchanges. Although there are some frictions and differences, the overall relationship is still positive and good, far from reaching the point of war.

Not to mention the large number of immigrants from Qin in Qi State, the deep emotional ties between the people, and the huge trade interest disputes between the two countries will make His Majesty the Emperor and the cabinet cautious when making war options.

Furthermore, even if Qin is defeated, what will happen?

If the mainland falls into civil strife again, causing its people to be displaced and their lives lost, will Qi State still send a large number of military forces to maintain the necessary order of production and life?

That won't bring me down, Daqi!

What our Qi State needs is Qin State’s rich human resources and vast market. We are not here to help them maintain normal ruling order, let alone “poverty alleviation”.

A stable but not very powerful Qin State is in line with Qi State's eastern strategy.

Of course, it is also very necessary to contain Qin.

Unbeknownst to you, while maintaining a strong army, the Qin State actually began to quietly develop their navy in the past ten years after they became slightly richer in financial resources.

Longjiang Shipyard (Nanjing), Jiangnan Shipyard (Shanghai), and Huangpu Shipyard (Guangzhou) are three large government-run shipyards. They gather the best craftsmen in Daqin and receive orders from the government (military) and private parties every year. With a large number of shipbuilding orders, many five- to six-hundred-ton ships can be independently built. In addition to the improved traditional Fu ships, there are also three-masted sailing ships imitating the Qi Dynasty, as well as imitating European Galen ships, and full-sail ships. There are also ships that are not fully sailed, and there are also galleys suitable for coastal and inland navigation. It is ridiculous to say that most of the wood needed for shipbuilding in the Qin State came from the territory of the Annan Governor-General of Qi State, or was smuggled from the Zhenzhou area of ​​​​Beiming.

As of last year, the Qin Navy was estimated to have more than 150 large and small ships. Although most of them were small and medium-sized purely wooden sailing ships with small tonnage, a small number of attached artillery pieces, and low combat performance, If the opponent relies on coastal and port forts to conduct an offshore defense operation, it can still cause certain trouble to the incoming "enemy" fleet.

In response to this, the people of Qi were vigilant and also deeply surprised.

Where did the Qin State come from so much money? While maintaining a large army, it also wanted to develop a navy!

As a typical land-based country, shouldn’t you devote all your limited energy to border areas?

Why are you so active in developing maritime power?

Speaking of which, Qin, as a major country in the Eastern world, has a long coastline and major overseas interests. It is also necessary to develop a navy and protect its maritime borders. The people of Qi may have overreacted to this.

Don't even think about how many containment and containment forces you Qi people have deployed around the mainland, from the Bohai Sea in the north, to Dongdan and Beiming in the northeast, to Ryukyu and Luzon in the southeast coastal areas, and finally in Annan in the south is either the younger brother of your Qi State, or a vassal state of your Qi State, and there are also many direct overseas territories of your Qi State.

Let me ask, when faced with such a situation, shouldn’t we, Great Qin, have a sense of coastal defense crisis?

The merchant ships of Da Qin that go out to sea are less than a few hundred miles away from the port, and from time to time they can encounter the warships of your Qi State patrolling the sea.

The coastal waters of the mainland are like your back garden, with free navigation and access at will.

Once I fall out, do I need to have some self-protection capabilities?

However, the relationship between the two parties, which is both cooperative and vaguely confrontational, is at best a "Cold War" model.

One side believes that a war will not only hurt the feelings of each other's "compatriots", but will also be extremely uneconomical economically. The other side is also wary of the huge gap in strength between the two sides, and is even more unable to deal with threats from both sea and land directions.

It is true that most of the trade between Qi and Qin exists in a situation where Qi is in Chao (trade deficit). It imports a large amount of gold and silver to Qin every year, which seems a bit unequal.

However, Qi State sells a large number of imported goods from Qin State to India, Persia, Ottoman, and European countries and regions through re-export trade. The prices are often increased several times. The trade benefits earned can not only make up for the losses between Qi and Qin The trade deficit is huge, and the profits are huge.

Not to mention, the trade exchanges between the two countries have greatly promoted the development of Qi's shipbuilding industry, maritime transportation industry and financial insurance industry, and many domestic people have benefited from it.

In this context, Li Yanliang was worried that Qi Zexuan was young and energetic and full of ideas about making achievements, which would promote the outbreak of war between Qi and Qin.

Although Qi Zexuan is not the grandson, everyone with a discerning eye knows that once Emperor Taiping dies and the prince succeeds to the throne, the eldest grandson of the emperor will definitely be listed as the first successor of the empire.

If the idea of ​​a war between Qi and Qin is planted in his mind, there is no guarantee that he will not rashly launch a war to invade Qin when he takes charge of the empire in the future.

"I'm just thinking about it." Qi Zexuan said with a smile: "However, whether war between Qi and Qin can be avoided, I am afraid that neither you nor me, nor even the court, can control it. Times have changed, and people's hearts are unpredictable. Maybe, at some point in the future, our two countries will be involved in a war because of a small friction or a small conflict."

As they were talking, several waiters in the store came up the stairs carrying large plates and small bowls, and filled the table with the store's specialty dishes with enthusiasm.

It is well known that the Qi State is rich, and the nobleman who came today looks more graceful. He is accompanied by four or five Qi State officers and is protected by a group of Qin soldiers. His status should be high.

Just now, as an apology, I even settled the bill for the diners who were driven downstairs, so I was so generous.

If they serve him well, they will be rewarded with a lot of money.

Jiangnan was the economic center of the Qin Dynasty, and Nanjing was the capital of the empire. It was naturally rich and rich.

With decades of domestic peace, in the Jiangnan region, which has a prosperous economy and rich food varieties, both dignitaries and ordinary people have begun to indulge in their appetites, enjoy the food jumping on the tip of their tongues, and feel the various flavors rolling in their mouths. Pleasure.

This is human nature, and it is difficult to change no matter how time changes.

Delicacies on a jade plate are a major pastime and enjoyment in the lives of Daqin people. Not only must they have a specific sensory experience, but they must also taste its deliciousness and appreciate its connotation.

The beauty of food lies in its shape. The attention to the selection of plates, bowls and chopsticks, knife carving, and color matching are the first level of food.

The beauty of food lies in its taste, seasoning combination, heat level, frying, steaming, and stewing. These procedures are strictly standardized and form the second level of food.

The beauty of food lies in health preservation. Some wealthy Qin people have higher requirements for food. It is right to eat food to make the stomach comfortable, the body to be harmonious, and to make people feel refreshed. This is the third level of food.

Qi Zexuan smiled and held up his chopsticks to taste the delicacies on the table one by one, while listening to the lively introduction of the sharp-tongued work plan, he felt extremely happy.

The mainland of China has ancient charms for thousands of years. Even if you have a meal or a drink, you can taste Chinese civilization and appreciate the humanities of the world.

Unlike our country in Daqi, although we control a vast overseas colonial territory and have more ingredients on the table and more abundant supplies, it seems to lack so much sophistication and attention.

"By the way, Yanliang." After the meal, he drank a cup of refreshing Longjing. It not only digested food, but also refreshed the mouth and tongue. Qi Zexuan held the tea cup and saw that Li Yanliang was about to go downstairs to greet the waiter to settle the bill, so he kindly reminded him, " Your wife was probably only focusing on diagnosing patients and rescuing people at Xinghetang, and she might have forgotten to eat. After a while, you might as well ask the store to pack a bag for you and bring some hot food over."

"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness." Hearing this, Li Yanliang immediately showed a grateful expression.

(End of this chapter)