The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 42 The Qin Mission
September 1723, 9, sunny, Chang'an Railway Station.

The train slowly pulled into the platform and before it stopped, the passengers in the carriage anxiously dragged their luggage and rushed towards the carriage door. They all wanted to leave the dull and crowded carriage as soon as possible and take a breath of fresh air. Air.

However, what is surprising is that the train has stopped at the platform for several minutes, but the conductor still has not opened the compartment door, causing passengers waiting to get off to suddenly start making noises.

"Why, is there something wrong with the carriage door of this wretched train? ... It should open the door!"

"Yes, open the door! There are so many people crowded together, be careful to squeeze the children out!"

"Hey, hey... don't push!... There's a pile of meat pies in front of you! Where are the damn flight attendants? Open the door!"

"Stop squeezing, didn't you see the welcome ceremony being held on the platform?... These people are probably important figures from some country!"

"Which country are they from?... Oh, there is also an honor guard! Could it be that the emperor or king of some country is here?"

"..."

Yang Shengping, the Second Assistant to the Great Qin Cabinet, the Minister of Rites, and the Grand Scholar of Jinshen Palace, straightened his clothes a little, and stepped off the train surrounded by a group of accompanying officials.

"Grand Bachelor, Han Zefeng, the deputy prime minister of the Qi State Cabinet, has come personally to greet our Da Qin delegation." An attaché reminded in a low voice.

"Yes." Yang Shengping looked up and saw a row of Qi officials standing under the platform, watching their arrival. The leader was Han Zefeng, the deputy prime minister of the Qi cabinet.

Two rows of Qi military honor guards in military uniforms lined up on both sides of the platform. All the soldiers were tall and straight, with solemn and awe-inspiring faces. They wore powerful and solemn caps, golden copper buttons and epaulettes, and shiny long tubes. The military boots and the cold bayonet make people look at them with awe.

"stand at attention!"

"salute!"

Following two high-pitched military orders, the honor guard soldiers immediately raised their muskets, turned their heads, and saluted in the direction of the Da Qin envoy.

"Humph, the people of Qi just like to play with these fancy things." Tang Weiming, a bachelor's student at the Hanlin Academy and Zhanshifu Zhanshifu, saw this, snorted coldly, and whispered sarcastically.

Yang Shengping glanced back at him, the warning meaning self-evident.

If Qi State could only engage in these fancy things, it would not have widened the gap in strength between Qin and Qi in decades!
This was his second visit to Qi after 30 years. What he saw and heard along the way made him sigh with emotion at Qi's rapid development, great changes, and growing national strength. At the same time, he was also secretly disappointed with the rigidity of Qin's current social system. and development has stagnated.

It has been 30 years, although the fiscal revenue of Da Qin has increased from more than 1692 million taels in the 2400th year of Qianyuan (39) to 1721 million taels in the 4600th year of Qianyuan ([-]), which is almost doubled.However, compared with Qi Guoyi, this data is simply unbearable to see.

According to information sent back from the Daqin Embassy in Chang'an three years ago, in the 38th year of Qianyuan (1720), the annual fiscal revenue of the State of Qi exceeded 1.8 million yuan (calculated in gold yuan coupons), equivalent to nearly 5.6 million taels of silver. , fully twelve times that of Great Qin.

Don't forget, the population of Qi is only over 800 million, which is less than a quarter of the registered population of Da Qin.

If the State of Qi were to crush our country Qin only in terms of finances or wealth, it would be nothing more than a social problem that attracted countless people in the country to smuggle themselves into the country and flee.

However, Qi State, with its abundant financial resources and strong national power, continued to support and arm the Northern Ming Puppet Dynasty, as well as the Bohai State and Dongdan State located in Lingbei, causing serious troubles to our Daqin border.

In June of the fifth year of Qianyuan (1687), the new army of the Qin Dynasty, which had been trained for many years, launched a thunderous attack on the remnants of the puppet Qing Dynasty entrenched in Monan from three directions: Liaodong, Hebei, and Shanxi.

Facing the new Qin army equipped with a large number of muskets and artillery, the Eight Banners of the puppet Qing Dynasty, Manchuria and Mongolia collapsed at the first touch and fled.In just one month, the Central Army advanced to the city of Guisui (now Hohhot City) and launched a fierce attack on the temporary capital of the puppet Qing Dynasty.

Five days later, Kangxi, the puppet emperor of the Qing Dynasty, abandoned the city with more than ten thousand remaining troops and fled to Mobei, while Monan was settled.

Subsequently, the Qin Dynasty continued to immigrate to the border, with Guisui, Suiyuan (today's Ulanqab City), and Jiuyuan (today's Baotou) as the core, built a large number of forts and strongholds, and forced the local Mongolian tribes to integrate households into the people. Paint the land for grazing in order to completely control the frontier land of Monan.

At the same time, each border town continued to send small groups of elite cavalry deep into Mobei. In addition to continuing to attack the remnants of the Qing captives, they also continued to exert military pressure to undermine their attempts to unify the Mongolian tribes in Mobei and not give the Qing captives any respite.

In May of the sixth year of Qianyuan (1688), the Junggar Khanate, which had had armed conflicts and military confrontations with Qin in the Western Regions and Qinghai, suddenly invaded Mobei.

Galdan personally commanded 3 cavalry and divided his troops into two groups to advance eastward. Taking advantage of Tuxietu Khan's troops to attack Zhasak Tuhan's tribe, he entered his territory and wiped out the small number of soldiers and horses left behind by Tuxietu Khan's tribe.

Subsequently, the army of the Junggar Khanate took advantage of the situation and entered the Chechen Khan tribe in the Kherulun River Basin, defeating the Chechen Khan Murdoch.

After Kangxi of the puppet Qing Dynasty heard the news, he united with the remnants of the Tushetu Khan Chahui Dorji and the Chechen Khan Murdoch to gather more than [-] troops to fight back against Galdan, and the two sides fought in Orodonor.

In the first battle, the coalition forces failed. The Tushetu Khan army was violently bombarded by the Junggar army and was defeated. Together with the Qing army, they retreated for more than ten miles.

In order to reverse the defeat and stop the decline, the Qing army suggested launching a night attack.

But he never thought that the Junggar army had the same plan as the Qing army, preparing to use night attacks to defeat the opponent quickly and conquer the Mongolian tribes in Mobei in one fell swoop.

That night, tens of thousands of troops from both sides met unexpectedly on the vast grassland, and a fierce battle broke out.

At dawn the next day, the Manchu-Mongolian coalition forces, which were numerically inferior, retreated to the north.

Although they won the victory, the Dzungarian army suffered more than [-] casualties and suffered considerable losses. After pursuing for several days, they returned to Orodonor to rest and recuperate.

News of the battle of Orodonor reached Guisui, and the Qin army immediately realized that the opportunity to take advantage had arrived.Therefore, the Qin army gathered all the cavalry and gathered more than [-] cavalry, and entered Mobei in late July.

Just when Galdan wanted to raise troops to fight the Qin army who shamelessly came to take advantage, he stopped the military action at the last moment, led his troops to withdraw from Mobei, and returned to the Western Regions.

Because there was civil strife in the rear of the Junggar Khanate.At that time, a large number of nobles of the Yarkand Khanate who were detained in Ili suddenly launched a rebellion, which quickly swept through the entire Ili prairie, forcing Galdan to return to his army to quell the rebellion.

When more than [-] Qin cavalry entered Mobei, the Zhasak Tuhan tribe, which was almost crippled by the Tuxie Tuhan tribe, took the lead in expressing its surrender to the Qin Dynasty. Later, the Chechen Khan tribe, who was assessing the situation, also expressed its acceptance of the rule of the Qin Dynasty. , sent envoys to offer sacrifices.

After a battle with Junggar, the remnants of the puppet Qing Dynasty, whose strength was severely weakened, took more than [-] tribes of Tushetu Khan tribe and headed northwest. Finally, they reached the northern area of ​​Khovd (today's Tangnu Ulianghai area) and continued to survive.

In less than three years, Da Qin was like cheating. It conquered the vast areas of Monan and Mobei one after another, expanded thousands of miles of territory, and extended Da Qin's territory northward to the far north, directly catching up with the achievements of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

Undoubtedly, that time was the most glorious period of the Qin Dynasty. Coupled with the vigorous development of domestic industry and commerce, the increasing scale of foreign trade, and the rising fiscal revenue year after year, the whole court was filled with an atmosphere of a prosperous age.

However, this prosperous period had not lasted for a few years before Da Qin encountered multiple challenges in succession.

In February of the ninth year of Qianyuan (1691), the Hao family, which had separatized areas such as Liangshan and Xinzheng in Annan (today's Hongji Port, Vietnam), boldly established its own country and named it the Kingdom of Daliang.As a vassal of the Qin Dynasty, Annan (Zheng family) appealed to Nanjing and requested the imperial court to send troops to unite with the Annan government to attack the Hao family and put down the rebellion of the tribe, thereby maintaining the unity of Annan.

Just when the border towns in Guangxi were ordered by the imperial court to assemble their troops and prepare to march south to attack Liangshan, the Qi State's envoy to Nanjing sent a diplomatic note stating that the Great Liang Kingdom had presented itself to the Emperor of Qi State and the Cabinet Government. It became a vassal state of Qi.Therefore, Qi State warned the Qin court not to send troops to attack without authorization.

Just when the princes in the court were generous and angry, and were about to ignore Qi Guo's warning, they received successive reports of defeat from Guilin, Guangxi and Tokyo, Annan (now Hanoi, Vietnam).

The Daliang Kingdom relied on the steep mountains in northern Annan to severely defeat the "rebellion" army sent from the border towns of Guangxi. More than [-] officers and soldiers were killed and wounded, and they fled back to the territory in embarrassment.The Annan Army also suffered defeats when attacking Liangshan and Xinzheng, and was repelled by the Liang Army's superior firepower.

Not long after, the Annan Fleet of Qi State dispatched more than ten warships, sailing near the estuary of the Red River and Qiongzhou (today's Hainan Island) to show solidarity with the newly born Liang State.

The situation inside and outside the Qin Dynasty suddenly became fierce, and it was in a state of tense confrontation with Qi.

Immediately afterwards, Beiming frequently crossed the border and provoked Qin in North Korea and Liaodong, which was likely to provoke the second Qin-Ming War.

In Mobei, the Bohai Kingdom located in the North Sea (today's Lake Baikal) attacked two Mongolian pastures in the Selenge River Basin and plundered all the people.

At sea, Qi warships began to intercept and search passing Daqin merchant ships. Although no further drastic measures were taken, it still made all Daqin merchant ships at sea feel deeply worried.

For a time, Da Qin was threatened by war from several directions on land and sea, and there was a strong tendency for armed conflict with Qi.

Later, after the intervention of the Qi Emperor, this potential conflict was finally eliminated, and Qin and Qi returned to a close state.

But this crisis suddenly made the Qin State suddenly discover that Bohai State, Dongdan State, Beiming, Japan, Ryukyu, Liang State, Champa, and the Annan Governor-General of Qi State were all surrounding them, and they were actually in the Qi State. The forces were semi-surrounded, and a strong sense of crisis suddenly arose.

Fortunately, Emperor Qianyuan, who was already in power, assessed the situation and knew that the most threatening direction to the Qin Dynasty was from the north and northwest. Only by completely cutting off the powerful nomadic forces in these two directions could he free his hands to deal with Qi's challenge.

Therefore, in the past 20 years, our country, Great Qin, has launched continuous offensives in Mobei and the Western Regions.After successively experiencing the Battle of Kulun and the Battle of Khovd, he conquered the Khalkha Mongolian tribes one by one and temporarily settled the situation in Mobei.

Later, our Qin army passed through the Hexi Corridor, left Jiayuguan, attacked Hami, fought at Turpan, and entered the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains.In the 36th year of Qianyuan (1718), he defeated the Junggar Khanate in Luntai (today's Urumqi area), beheaded more than [-] people, captured more than [-] people, and surrendered more than [-] tents of surrounding tribes. He won the great victory in Luntai and took control of the north. The situation in Xinjiang is aimed at Ili and the southern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains.

Unexpectedly, the annoying Northern Ming puppet dynasty jumped out again at this time, as if they didn't want to see our Great Qin defeat Junggar and eliminate the northwest border troubles.

In June of the 38th year of Qianyuan (1720), the Northern Ming Dynasty crossed the Yalu River from Xianning North Road in North Korea, invaded the Hunchun area (today's Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture), robbed border residents and robbed property.

The officers and soldiers of Liaodong Border Town of Great Qin then sent troops to expel the Northern Ming army that invaded the territory.

The two sides gradually developed from sporadic border armed conflicts to a war involving tens of thousands of people.Facing the Beiming army that had been trained by the Qi State for many years, the border towns in Liaodong were unable to withstand its sharpness and lost troops and generals one after another. They successively lost Hunchun, Yongji Prefecture (today's Jilin City), and Ning'an (today's Mudanjiang City), and were forced to surrender. The court asked for help.

When all the princes in the court heard this, they were all very angry.

Relying on the support of Qi State, the Northern Ming Dynasty either carried out harassment in border areas or abducted ignorant people in coastal areas to Yunzhou (today's Hokkaido) and Zhenzhou (today's east of the Wusuli River).

And the most hateful thing is that for decades, whenever the Qin army made a big move to launch military attacks on the remnants of the Qing captives, or the Mobei Mongolia, and the Junggar Khanate, they would provoke various troubles in the border areas, causing The Qin army cannot concentrate on fighting the enemy, and must reserve enough energy to defend against it.

It seems that it is necessary to carry out a punitive military strike against Beiming.

Therefore, the imperial court ignored the intermediary between Qi State (which was mostly a side effect), and dispatched more than [-] infantry and cavalry and more than [-] artillery pieces from Monan, Mobei, and Hebei, and gradually gathered them towards Liaodong.

However, they never expected that when the Northern Ming Dynasty saw that the Qin army was powerful, they gradually evacuated the occupied prefectures and villages and returned to the northwest of North Korea and Zhenzhou. Taking advantage of the geographical terrain with high mountains and dense forests, they started a tug-of-war with the Qin army.This fight has lasted for more than three years and has not stopped yet.

In October of the 40th year of Qianyuan (1722), due to the deployment of a large number of military forces to Liaodong, the military strength in the Mobei area was slightly empty, allowing the Junggar Khanate to find an opportunity to attack the Bogdo River in the Khovd area (today's Mongolia and Uzbekistan). (near Liasutai) defeated our Qin army. More than [-] cavalry were almost wiped out. The Qin army in Mobei lost most of its mobile strength and temporarily lost effective control over the Khalkha Mongolian area. The Mongolian tribes have begun Occurs repeatedly.

The Junggar Khanate, whose morale had soared, pressed forward step by step. In addition to stepping up its efforts to integrate and conquer the Mongolian tribes and win over the remnants of the Qing captives in the northern part of Khovd, it also launched counterattacks from the areas south of Ili and the Tianshan Mountains to the northern Xinjiang region.

In order to deal with the attack of the Junggar Khanate, the Qin State must end the war with the Northern Ming Dynasty and the puppet dynasty, and concentrate its limited domestic resources to the north and northwest.

Under this situation, Yang Shengping, as the second assistant of the Qin Dynasty, followed the emperor's edict and the entrustment of the chief minister of the cabinet, and led a large delegation to visit Qi.

Well, as a strategic partner who has signed a century-old alliance with me, Daqin, you Qi State, can you take care of your younger brother and let the Zhu family of Beiming be a little more peaceful!
(End of this chapter)