The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 204 An idealist

November 1728, 11, Lanling, Paradise Island (now Hobart, Tasmania).

The first settlement on Paradise Island was not Shuochang (today's Launceston), which has the largest population at present, but Maochuan Port (today's Port Arthur, more than 100 kilometers southeast of Hobart) located in the southeast of the island.

Decades ago, merchant ships heading to Dongzhou (now New Zealand) and Qingguo in South America used this port as a temporary stop. After replenishing water and checking the condition of the ships, they entered the westerly zone of 40 degrees south latitude. Heading quickly towards the east.

In addition, many whaling ships in the surrounding waters will use Maochuan Port as a logistics supply point and processing point, making the port extremely prosperous at a certain period, attracting many immigrants to settle and live here, and spread to the inland hinterland. Subsequently, the second settlement on Paradise Island, Lanling, was established.

The harbor here is wide and the water is deep, making it one of the best natural harbors in Hanzhou. Moreover, the surrounding scenery is beautiful, surrounded by mountains on the south, north and west sides, and only the east side faces the sea. Climb to the top of the mountain and overlook the entire Paradise Island through telescopes. In winter, the peaks here are covered in silver and covered with white snow, making it a great place for winter excursions. In summer, the mountains are filled with vast forests and waterfalls, making it a great place for mountain climbing and scenic viewing.

Lanling is also one of the three major whaling ports in Hanzhou (the other two are Guizhou and Linzi). It is also the whale and seal trade center in the Southern Ocean. The city is connected to the northern and northwest regions by railways. The intersection of the main highways on Paradise Island is second only to Shuochang City in terms of population size and economic development.

When Emperor Taizu was recuperating on the island, he lived in Lanling City. The royal family and the cabinet government successively built two palaces in the city, namely Xuanwu Palace and Bixiao Palace.

However, after Taizu passed away, the royal family specially sealed the two palaces in order to commemorate and cherish the memory of this great king who founded the Huanghuang Empire. All the furnishings and layouts inside were retained as they were during Taizu's lifetime.

Although Taizu's body was transported back to the Zhongliang Mountain Royal Cemetery on the outskirts of Chang'an for burial, countless royal family members, ministers and officials, as well as scholars and literati have continued to come here over the years to pay their respects to the palace where he last lived. , pay tribute to this talented and wise emperor.

However, Emperor Taizu's uncle Cao Xiong was unwilling to surrender to the rebels, so he took several of Taizu's brothers to drift on the sea and became pirates. Before he could make it, he turned to the sea giant Liu Xiang. However, in the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, Zheng Zhilong gathered hundreds of warships and killed Liu Xiang in Tianwei Yang. At that time, Taizu and several brothers followed their uncle Cao Xiong on the sea and fled to Luzon in a hurry.

Lanling City has a battalion of more than 400 officers and soldiers of the Royal Guards, a considerable number of whom are guarding the two palaces to prevent unwarranted intruders from stealing or destroying Taizu's relics in the palace.

Qi Zexuan didn't pay much attention to the antiques, calligraphy and paintings in the palace, as well as countless precious jade articles. There were many such dead objects in the Chang'an Royal Collection. After seeing them too much, they naturally couldn't arouse much interest in him.

Qi Zexuan looked at the jade seal of the Annan Ruan Dynasty and the Southern Kingdom on the shelf. It had the Chinese characters "Da Nan receives the eternal decree of the Heaven to pass the imperial seal" on it, so he reached out to pick it up and look at it carefully.

In the past few days, he had entered the imperial study rooms in the two palaces several times and consulted many notes and articles left by Taizu during his lifetime, trying to gain a deeper understanding of this great emperor.

There are many books in the palace, and various collections are also extremely rich. There are Chinese historical relics, as well as collections of treasures from overseas countries, famous calligraphy and paintings, antiques and jades, rare royal treasures from other countries, and folk elegance, which are extraordinary. It is comparable to the collections in several museums of nations in the empire.

Hearing this, Qi Zexuan couldn't help but glance at the old man.

But as time goes by, my childhood memories have long been blurred. I vaguely remember that the two palaces resemble Jiangnan gardens, with countless pavilions and pavilions scattered between them, small bridges and flowing water, and occasionally three or five traditional palaces with high eaves and flowing tiles. .

With strong curiosity about Emperor Taizu, he took a train to Lanling five days ago and once again visited the two palaces where Emperor Taizu lived during his lifetime.

Of course, these Taizu relics are now nominally royal property and not owned by the government.

"In the past, Emperor Taizu joked that he would hide all the jade seals or crowns from all the countries in the world here to show our prestige." Qi Yuanyi said with emotion: "But so far, the royal seals and crowns collected are no more than There are only over twenty, and most of them belong to the native kings of Southeast Asia and India, which is a pity!"

It was at that time that Emperor Taizu suddenly "gained wisdom and enlightened himself" after experiencing countless hardships. He not only guided everyone to find their way to Hanzhou, but also persuaded Cao Xiong to temporarily attach himself to the Dutch and establish a foundation. Hanzhou is developing quietly, waiting for future trends.

What you say is so overbearing!

It is said that Emperor Taizu attended a county school in Denglai for several years when he was a boy, but his qualifications were mediocre and he did not seek to understand anything in his studies. He just studied hard and studied hard, and was criticized by many teachers. In the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng launched the Denglai Rebellion, in which the eleven-year-old Emperor Taizu, his uncle, and several brothers were kidnapped by the rebels. Afterwards, the Ming Dynasty mobilized thousands of elite Guanning troops to join forces with local guards to defeat Denglai, and the rebels fled across the sea to Liaodong.

Of course, these notes and articles are all excerpts. The originals have been properly preserved in the Chang'an Royal Collection and will not be easily shown to others. No one is allowed to touch them without the emperor's order.
The notes and many articles written by Emperor Taizu cover a wide range of topics, including politics, economics, military, science and technology, philosophy, etc. Some are just fragments of words, hundreds of words, and some are systematic constructions with tens of thousands of words. There are huge articles, and some are just a few simple words, which make people think deeply and be puzzled. There are even some strange symbols painted on them, which make people look at them in astonishment.

"Your Highness, be careful not to drop it on the ground and break it." Zongzhengsi Shaoqing and Jian Wang Qi Yuanyi followed behind and carefully reminded: "These jade seals are from when our Daqi army attacked the capital of Annan. They got it from their palace. Emperor Taizu liked this thing very much and thought it was of great historical significance."

"Oh." Qi Zexuan retracted his hand after hearing this.

Although many of the collections were "borrowed" by Emperor Taizu from the spoils plundered in several wars out of curiosity and interest in playing with them. But in the end, the cabinet government was too embarrassed to take them back one by one from Emperor Taizu and place them in the Museum of All Nations.

The historians and royal family of Qi State have very detailed records of what happened next, so I won’t go into details. But what surprised many people was that Emperor Taizu seemed to be a saint who knew everything, whether it was base construction, early industrial start-up, agricultural planning and development, or even simple military exercises.

When Qi Zexuan was a child, he followed his prince father to Lanling City, and also visited the Xuanwu Palace and Bixiao Palace where Emperor Taizu lived during his lifetime.

What is even more impressive is that Emperor Taizu was far-sighted and extremely accurate in his judgment of the world and surrounding trends, as well as the many strategic layouts he made over the decades, which benefited future generations.

However, the only thing that is criticized is his unreserved support and assistance to the mainland, which makes people speculate.

"Emperor Taizu was actually an idealist." King Jian Qi Yuanyi followed Qi Zexuan to a spacious hall. In the empty room was a huge sand table, which was a geographical map of the world's mountains and rivers. "Emperor Taizu once had a great wish, which was to build a vast and resource-rich sphere of influence for the Chinese nation." Qi Yuanyi picked up a long stick by the wall, and then started from Qianzhou (today's Qianzhou) South Africa) began to cross, along the east coast of Africa, all the way up to Egypt, and then enclosed the Arabian Peninsula, Persia, India, Myanmar, and the Malay Peninsula, and then clicked on the mainland of Qin, and then the staff swept across Bohai, Dongdan, Beiming, and finally moved to the west coast of Yinzhou (North America), rowed down to the west coast of (South) America, and finally stopped at Qingguo’s Polar Islands (Terra del Fuego Islands), turning to look at Qi Zexuan, "Such a large circle of land spans two oceans and several continents. From now on, it will all be the land of the Han people and the place where Chinese civilization is nurtured."

"The realization of Taizu Hongyuan is not far away." Qi Zexuan said calmly without showing too much surprise.

It goes without saying that on the west coast of the Indian Ocean, no external force can claim territory within this area without the permission of the Qi Navy. After Qi gradually deepened its penetration and control of Egypt, in the past two years, it has de facto controlled Persia by supporting the restoration of the Safavid dynasty. As for India, it has long been in the possession of Qi State, but it is limited by its large population and size, and it will take time to slowly swallow it up and digest it.

On the east side of the Pacific Ocean, from the Viceroyalty of Linzhou (today's Alaska) to the Viceroyalty of Pengzhou (today's Vancouver, Canada and Washington State, the United States), to the Viceroyalty of Xuanzhou (today's Oregon, California, and Baja California, Mexico) , coupled with the Viceroyalty of Shanghai (which includes today’s Coiba Island in Panama, the Pearl Islands, and the Azuero Peninsula near the isthmus) and Qingguo’s Zezhou (southern Chile) and the Extremely Low Islands, it can be said that it is almost locked The western "boundary line" drawn by Taizu. With Spain's weak national power, the Qi State in the later period could probably cut off some of its territory on the west coast of the Americas through both hard and soft tactics, and eventually establish a tight and seamless western blockade.

"However, Emperor Taizu is too idealistic." Qi Yuanyi took the teaching stick back, gently placed it on the position of the Qin Kingdom in the mainland, shook his head and said: "He thinks that as long as he is Han, he will Natural allies are brothers who watch and help each other, but this idea is just wishful thinking. Needless to say, our country of Qi has been established for more than ninety years, and many of its people were born in the country and have been through four or five generations. How many people can still survive today? It is difficult to say whether there is a trace of family affection for the homeland of China. With the completely different national conditions and social forms of Qi and Qin, as well as the increasing number of interest disputes in the future, how can the two countries work together, help each other, and achieve common goals? Build a Chinese civilization circle?"

"Yes, times have changed, and so have reforms." Qi Zexuan nodded and sighed, "Emperor Taizu's idea is indeed too idealistic. In the homes of ordinary people, there will still be disputes over property and family feuds. Let alone between the two countries?”

Emperor Taizu was a man of great talent, broad knowledge, and expertise, so he was naturally admired by the world and even regarded as a saint. But no gold is barefoot, no man is perfect, and Taizu also had many flaws.

Then your thoughts are too idealistic, as if you are not a person of this era.

For example, as an autocratic emperor, he highly admired the "government by the masses" and "people-oriented" ideas of scholars such as Gu Yanwu and Huang Zongxi. He believed that the freedom of the people was more important than democracy and equality, and that freedom was more important to the government. Low-hanging fruit.

However, the "equality" emphasized by Emperor Taizu was equality of opportunity, not equality of results. Therefore, Qi State stipulates that the four people are equal, and there is no distinction between high and low.

When he talked about the peasant uprisings and riots in the past dynasties, he pointed out that the pursuit of so-called equality, freedom and justice by those who opposed autocracy was achieved entirely by beheading. But later, they will repeat the injustices of the past, restrict the freedom of others, and then safeguard the justice of a few people.

He asserted that it is human nature to hate frequent changes. Big changes can only bring pleasure to "heroes", but most people do not want their lives to become a stage for Machiavellians to carry out their great undertakings of innovation.

For example, when talking about the source of freedom, he said: "Freedom is an inheritance that each of us has after birth, and it is an innate right of human beings."

While autocratic regimes and emperors around the world were debating which kind of power was better, Taizu said, "Compared with the form of power, the limits on power are more important."

Therefore, the political structure of Qi State formed a state of mutual constraints and restrictions to a certain extent, and the emperor's power was inevitably somewhat suppressed.

Emperor Taizu also emphasized human autonomy and creativity, encouraged people to question traditional concepts and authority, and pursue "truth" and "progress."

He believes that through the use of reason, human beings can transcend the limitations and superstitions of the past, pursue the growth of unlimited knowledge and wisdom, and thereby achieve a high degree of civilization and technological development.

Emperor Taizu also said that a qualified emperor and government should always create freedom and a better life for the people in a down-to-earth manner.

……

Qi Zexuan sat on the floor of the imperial study room, casually pulling out a few notes and articles written by Taizu from the nearby bookshelf, and browsing them aimlessly, his thoughts wandering in vain.

He knows a lot about literature, but when he reads these "out of time" words, he seems to be looking at a cynical and down-and-out scholar, rather than a great emperor.

A strong sense of contrast made Qi Zexuan, who had regarded Taizu as a god since childhood, in a daze.

Magnificent, rebuking Fang Qiu, controlling thousands of miles, powerful and skilled in warfare, and commanding all barbarians... These words to describe a great king suddenly seem to have nothing to do with Emperor Taizu.

But our Daqi Empire was founded by Emperor Taizu and laid a solid and heavy foundation for future generations. Only then can we control two oceans and dominate the world today, becoming the second country after Spain that can be called "Japanese". A country that will never fall into an empire.

Oh, Emperor Taizu is really an unpredictable king.

"Your Highness, there is a call from Shuochang City. His Majesty orders you to return immediately."

When Qi Zexuan was lost in reverie, a guard officer hurried to the imperial study room to convey Emperor Taiping's order.

"Oh?" Qi Zexuan was stunned, "Do you know what's going on?"

"..." The imperial guard officer had obviously learned the details, and with a somewhat hesitant look on his face, he replied in a low voice after a while: "His Royal Highness... is in critical condition."

"..." Qi Zexuan stood up immediately in shock, with an incredible expression on his face.

(End of this chapter)