The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 201 Royal Territory
March 1728, 10, early morning.

After resting in Nandu for two days, Qi Zexang and his party were ready to leave and take a liner to the royal territory of Nanyu County (now Tasmania, Australia) to visit the recuperating Emperor Taiping on behalf of the prince and the royal family.

The streets were as wet as after a rain shower, with large amounts of water flowing on sidewalks and driveways after being hosed down by Aboriginal laborers at night. There is an iron pipe for sprinkling water at one end of the street. The mouth of the pipe is connected to a thick hose - a rubber pipe made of rubber material. Water spurts out, like a fountain in a rich man's garden. When the water pipe is pulled out, the huge amount of water is ignored. Use it sparingly to wash down the streets.

At night, large steam-driven sprinklers rumbled away, washing away all the horse manure, dust, etc. on the streets. Then, indigenous laborers used horse-drawn carriages with brushes to clean the road. Then relying on the crowd tactics, road cleaners wearing gray overalls will sweep with long-handled brushes, and some professional "fertilizer traders" will hire some half-grown teenagers to rush to the middle of the road regardless of danger and use dustpans and small brooms to pick up The horse manure is then fermented into fertilizer and sold to farmers in the countryside.

It is reported that there are more than 2,000 public carriages and more than 400 public rail carriages in the entire Nandu City, and a total of 2,500 carriages are operating. A large number of private carriages and cargo carriages also ran on the streets of Nandu City, and the streets were seriously polluted by horse excrement and feces.

This forces municipal authorities to arrange daily street cleaning to avoid making the entire city stink.

In a big city like Nandu, there are almost more than 4,000 horses specially used for business, including reserve horses for taxis. In addition, the number of horses in public carriages and domestic carriages is not yet clear, but the number must be very large.

When the horses are not working or being rotated, in addition to being placed in private stables, they will also rest in the stable street for the grooms to groom and feed. The so-called stable street means stables and the road leading to the stables. In the city, there are many such stable streets for caring for horses, most of which are located in a dead end to avoid affecting the normal traffic of the road.

When Qi Zexuan arrived at the dock, Huang Xiyuan, the governor of Hannan Province who had been out on an inspection tour, also hurried back to Nandu and came specially to see off His Royal Highness.

"Governor Huang, what do you mean by this?" Qi Zexuan saw dozens of dock coolies carrying packages of materials one after another to the ship. They were all careful, lest they damage the goods they were carrying. They all had some value. A lot of valuables.

"Then... thank you all for your help." Qi Zexuan said, bowing his hands to the local officials present to express his gratitude.

If anything happens, report it to your superior or the cabinet! Worst of all, there is a supervising prince in Chang'an City who can handle various political affairs.

If there is any important matter that is difficult to decide, just send a telegram or send a messenger.

"Your Highness, these things are the feelings expressed to Your Majesty by the millions of people in Hannan Province." Huang Xiyuan said with a smile: "Bliss Island hangs alone on the sea. Your Majesty is recuperating on the island and conditioning his dragon body. The few supplies are definitely not well used. His Highness’s visit this time is just a chance to bring these daily necessities to His Majesty.”

At the beginning, Emperor Taiping was relatively patient in receiving them one by one, encouraging the local officials who came to meet them to perform their duties, and patiently asking about the governance situation in each locality.

By the way, I am recuperating while sick, but I am not moving the political hall to Paradise Island and letting you and other officials laboriously come across the sea to report on the government affairs in each place in front of me.

What do you mean by all of you running to Paradise Island?
What's the matter, you and other officials think that my decision to let the prince supervise the country is a political temptation, so they all come to me to show their loyalty?
Okay, okay, don’t come here and disturb my Qing Cultivation!
Emperor Taiping immediately issued an edict, telling the cabinet ministries and all local officials that unless there were important matters, they were not allowed to leave their posts and come to Paradise Island to see His Majesty.

"Your Highness is welcome." Huang Xiyuan returned the greeting: "If it weren't for the complicated local affairs, I should go to Paradise Island with Your Highness to meet with Your Majesty to comfort the loyal hearts of our ministers."

In fact, since Emperor Taiping fell seriously ill in July last year and felt deeply exhausted, he handed over state affairs to the prince and took the queen and two concubines to Paradise Island to recuperate. During this period, many officials from Hannan Province, including Governor Huang Xiyuan, took liner ships to the island from time to time to visit Emperor Taiping and get closer to Tianyan.

Later, these officials came in waves, and even cabinet ministers even came all the way by train and ship to meet him, which immediately made Emperor Taiping feel a little impatient.

As a result, the courteous activities of cabinet ministers and local officials came to an end.

However, due to geographical convenience, local officials in Nandu Prefecture still sent people to the island to visit Emperor Taiping from time to time in the name of delivering daily expenses.

I won't be here, but you can always send some gifts! Although government affairs are handled by the cabinet, and official promotions also depend on the staff, if you win the favor of His Majesty the Emperor, your official career will at least be smoother, right?
Amid the farewells of many officials, the steamer Qi Zexuan was on boarded slowly left the dock. A loud whistle sounded, and several huge chimneys spewed out billowing smoke. The liner turned around and sailed straight into the wide Nandu Bay ( Present day Phillip Bay).

Nandu Bay is about 50 kilometers long from north to south and 40 kilometers wide from east to west. The entrance to the harbor is only less than three kilometers, and it wraps the entire prosperous Nandu Prefecture.

Because of the special terrain of Nandu Bay, Nandu Prefecture in the bay not only has the beautiful scenery and climate of a coastal city, but also can avoid being directly hit by typhoons. There are roads and railways winding along the coast leading to bustling cities. , there are very flat and delicate beaches along the way, which are an excellent place for leisure and play in summer. There are many exquisite and elegant seaside manors along the beach. It is said that they were built privately by some wealthy businessmen, where you can enjoy the blue sky, white clouds and Infinite scenery of the sea.

Nanyu County, the royal territory where Emperor Taiping rested and recuperated, also known as Paradise Island, was "discovered" by the naval exploration fleet in the fifth year of Qianwu (1647) (earlier, it was discovered by the Dutchman Tasman), and was Dong Fengshan, the commander of the fleet at the time, named it Paradise Island, which means the location of the Pure Land of Paradise in Hanzhou.

After Nandu Prefecture and other southern coastal areas developed, the Qi government immediately began to immigrate to the island. However, due to its geographical situation of being isolated overseas, it was not fully developed. By the first year of Hanxing (1671), the population of the entire Paradise Island was only more than , and there were only a dozen immigrant settlements. The economy was mainly based on agricultural planting and livestock breeding.

When Paradise Island was really developed and utilized, it was in the fifteenth year of the Han Dynasty (1685). After Emperor Taizu abdicated, in order not to interfere with Emperor Shaoning's rule, he chose this island to live his life.

At that time, the royal family and the cabinet government invested millions of dollars in large-scale construction projects, built palaces, and laid railways and roads to connect the island to the island in order to enable the emperor to take better care of his health. At the same time, in order to increase the popularity of the island, tens of thousands of people were moved to the island.

In the fourth year of Shaoning (1690), in order to congratulate the Emperor on his th birthday, the cabinet government donated Paradise Island to the royal family and made it the exclusive territory of the royal family. All residents on the island were also exclusive subjects of the royal family.

Well, that is to say, this island with an area of ​​more than 68,000 square kilometers has since become a "private reserve" of the royal family and is no longer managed by the cabinet government.

Now that it has become a royal territory, it cannot be left to become deserted. Therefore, the royal family invested tens of millions of dollars every year to develop Paradise Island, including immigration, farming, mining, road construction, building ports and docks, and setting up factories, resulting in the island's rapid population growth in just a few decades. The number has increased to more than 200,000, and there are three towns with a population of more than 10,000 people, making it a true paradise and the best place for royal family vacation and leisure.

Driving from Nandu to Kuk Le Island, you have to pass through the Kuk Le Strait (today's Bass Strait), which is more than 6 kilometers away. During the winter (June to August), the weather at sea is usually bad. Over the years, there have been many The ship capsized in the heavy waves. In summer, especially between December and February, the weather is relatively good and sea conditions are relatively stable.

At this time, it was mid-spring, and the weather in the strait was getting better, but the wind and waves were still a bit strong. Fortunately, the liner Qi Zexuan and his party were traveling on was a motor-sailboat with a displacement of 1,800 tons. The captain and sailors were often used to running the route between the two places, and they were accustomed to the big waves on the sea. Tall lighthouses are also built on many small islands passing along the way to assist ships in smooth passage.

At about 6 o'clock in the evening, the liner sailed into Liuting Port (now Corrie Town, Jin Island) of Longshan Island (now King Island, Australia). Considering the danger of sailing at night, the ship rested here for one night.

The next day, the liner left Liujeong Port in mist and rain, and continued its journey to Paradise Island.

At 12 noon, the ship approached several outlying islands northwest of Bliss Island, then changed course and headed east along the coastline.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the liner sailed into the mouth of Shiliang River (today's Tamar River), and then went up the river to the new moon.

At seven o'clock in the afternoon, under the setting sun, the ship slowly docked at Shuochang Harbor (now Launceston).

"My dear grandson, do you come here to ask for an abdication decree from me?"

Just when Qi Zexuan excitedly entered Shuochang City and rushed to the Paradise Palace to meet Emperor Taiping, he unexpectedly heard a coercive question from His Majesty the Emperor as soon as they met, and he was stunned.

(End of this chapter)