Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 752 The Greatest Victory Guarantee
On the fifth day of the seventh month in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Emperor Tianqi of the Ming Dynasty, at nine o’clock in the evening at Houhu Lake, Nanjing.
On the small island of Houhu Lake, twenty eight-story buildings built with reinforced concrete were all brightly lit. Through the glass windows of the buildings, some swaying figures could be vaguely seen.
"Very good, very good, Yi Zhong. I am very satisfied with the quality of the twenty-five-year yellow book that has just been stored in the warehouse. Thank you for your hard work."
"I thank the emperor for his recognition, but I am only guarding the warehouse. The production of the Yellow Book is still supervised by local officials. Of course, this cannot be achieved without the attention of the court."
"Hahaha, Yi Zhong, you are too modest. Although the Yellow Book is now made on paper uniformly issued by the court and produced in various places, after it is transported to Houhu, the review, coding, storage and daily management are your responsibility. I just spent a whole day spot-checking hundreds of volumes of the Yellow Book. Not only are all the data clear, but even if it is traced back twenty years, it can still be found without any mistakes. All of this is the result of the achievements of all the previous Yellow Book officials, including you."
After Zhu Youdong became emperor, especially in the 11th year of Tianqi, the state institutions were reformed. Nanjing no longer had central government institutions such as the Southern Six Ministries and the Metropolitan Procuratorate. However, the Huangce Library, as the foundation of the country, was still set up in Nanjing.
As an emperor who spent a lot of effort to rebuild the Huangce Library, Zhu Youdong attached great importance to it. Now, the Huangce Library is no longer managed by the seventh-rank Nanjing Huke Jieshizhong. Instead, Zhu Youdong appointed a third-rank official, the "Minister of Guarding the Foundation of the Country", to manage it. The entire Huangce Library is also clearly called the foundation of the country in the section on the establishment of national institutions in the "Huang Ming Constitution".
Such a clear title has made the officials of this department feel proud and confident in doing things.
In addition to guaranteeing positions and reputations, Zhu Youdong was also quite generous in terms of funding: the Huangce Library not only had a separate account in the Ministry of Finance, but the salaries of officials here were also nearly 10% higher than those of officials of the same level. In addition, the Huangce Library also had special archive management funds. Every ten years when the Huangce Library was stored, the Huangce Library recruited students from Nanjing Middle School to be reorganized in the library, and there was also sufficient office funding to guarantee the treatment of the students.
All these factors made the chief of the Yellow Book Library a popular target. Even Yuan Chonghuan, who had been the director of the Mongolian Military Service Bureau for more than ten years, had returned to Beijing many times to try to gain the position of "Minister of Guarding the Roots".
Unfortunately, Zhu Youdong felt that Yuan's specialty was not his hands but his mouth. So when the Personnel Department recommended Yuan, Zhu Youdong did not consider it at all and directly sent him to Xinjiang to participate in politics - you go there to use your mouth to promote national unity.
The current Minister of Guarding the Roots is Xia Yunyi, who fought for the Southern Ming regime until the last moment in the historical dimension - his son is more famous.
Accompanied by Xia Yunyi, he left the Yellow Book Library and felt the humid yet cool lake breeze at night, which sobered him up from a day of intense work. Zhu Youdong turned around and said to the Crown Prince Zhu Ciyi, who had been following him and cooperating with him in checking the Yellow Book for a whole day, "How is it?"
"Father, I have heard from my teacher and mother since I was a child that you discovered the problem with the Yellow Book when you were young and spent a lot of effort to rebuild the foundation of this country. But that was just a story. Only when I really came here did I understand why this place is called the foundation of the country."
"It's good that you understand. Remember, as long as there is no problem in this place, even if our Ming Dynasty encounters a temporary setback in the long-term war with Spain in the future, we can recover quickly and win the final victory. That is, in the future, our Ming Dynasty wins the war against Spain and stands on the top of the world. As long as this place is stable, our Ming Dynasty can stand on the top for a long time instead of just a flash in the pan."
"Yes, I remember your earnest teachings."
"Well, when I am gone, remember to bring your son here so that he can experience the importance of the foundation of the country."
"Father, your Majesty is in good health, so it's too early to say this. But don't worry, Father. If I take charge of this country someday, I will make sure that the descendants of our Zhu family will remember this place. Every member of the royal family who has the right of succession must work here for at least one day."
"Very good. If you kneel down and say something like 'Long live the father', I will really look down on you." After saying this, Zhu Youdong turned around and said to Xia Yunyi, "Yi Zhong, the prince and I have worked for you for a whole day for nothing. Can you give us some dinner?"
"Hahaha, Your Majesty, I feel a little ashamed of what you said. But Your Majesty, Houhu Changzhou is where the Huangce Library is placed, and you cannot light a fire there. So, Your Majesty, please move to the other side to have your meal."
"Okay, let them bring the boat over quickly. Oh, by the way, Yi Zhong, how old is your son this year?"
"Reporting to the Emperor, my son Wan Chun will be thirteen years old this October."
"I heard that this boy is very smart. He can read classics and history books at the age of five and compose poetry at the age of seven. He is also very handsome. You go ahead and arrange dinner for me and the prince. Also, ask your son to come and have dinner with me. The prince and I will wait for you in Changzhou."
"I thank the emperor for his kindness. Please wait here for a while, Your Majesty and the Crown Prince. I will come to pick you up after I have arranged everything ."
Watching Xia Yunyi hurriedly leaving, Zhu Ciyi hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Father, there are countless talented young men in the Ming Dynasty. Why do you favor this boy so much?"
You don't understand, that's Xia Wanchun. That's Xia Wanchun who wrote "Three years of being a traveler, today I am crowned the king again. I shed endless tears for the mountains and rivers, who says the world is wide? I know the road to the spring is near, but it's hard to leave my hometown. When the spirit returns, I will see the spirit flag in the sky." Although none of this will happen in this plane, the feelings and respect of a time traveler will never allow me to turn a blind eye to this father and son.
Seeing Zhu Youdong remained silent, Zhu Ciyi had to start a new topic: "Father, after returning to Beijing this time, I want to go to Xinjiang for a walk."
"Well, you figured it out too? Not bad."
"Thank you, Father, for your affirmation. I know that in the initial stage of the war three years from now, the Ming Dynasty and the European Union may compete for India, and the Ottomans may not necessarily join the game. But if we take India, or have a clear advantage in India, the Ottomans will definitely do their utmost to help the European Union. Rather than waiting for the European Union and I to face the Ottomans' fresh forces when both sides are out of breath, it is better to send troops directly from Xinjiang after the war with the European Union begins, and use the army to attract the main force of the Ottomans.
Three years later, the Lanzhou-Xinjiang double-track line will definitely be completed. The logistics support of the Ming Dynasty is not a big problem. But the Ottoman Empire, without a railway, how to transport troops and ammunition from its homeland to Central Asia to fight against me, this is the opponent's fatal flaw. "
"Very good." After nodding with satisfaction, Zhu Youdong said, "I am very happy that you can think of this. Then I ask you, do you have confidence in my Ming Dynasty's fight with the European Union for India?"
"Well... I have fought with the Spanish in America for many years, and I know that the Spanish pirates are still very capable . Of course, my Ming Dynasty has been operating in Indochina for many years. Starting from the Indochina Peninsula, as long as I have control of the Bay of Bengal, we can easily defeat the Spanish pirates in terms of logistics. But after taking over India, it will be difficult to attack Europe or even the Spanish mainland. The success or failure at that time is unknown."
"No, you are wrong." After smiling and shaking his head, Zhu Youdong said, "In my father's calculation, as long as we conquer India, our Ming Dynasty will be able to win the war against the European Union, or the war against Spain."
"This? Father, please help me to solve this puzzle."
"Huh~" After a long sigh, Zhu Youdong sorted out his thoughts and said, "The core of the European Union is Spain, and Spain's history is only more than a hundred years. Compared with China, it is really far behind. They don't have great emperors like Qin Shi Huang and Han Wudi, and they don't have sages like Confucius and Mencius. This is their biggest fatal flaw when facing China.
Although Confucianism has many problems, the cultural identity and the debate between Chinese and barbarians that Confucianism insists on are the essence of Confucianism. Starting from the Qin Emperor, Emperor Gaozu of Han, Empress Lü, Emperor Wen, Emperor Jing, and Emperor Wu, six emperors succeeded each other and went through untold hardships. Finally, a highly centralized unified country was established on the land of China. From then on, even when China was divided, the rulers of the separatist regimes would sincerely believe that the country would be unified sooner or later, and the separatists with a little talent would work hard to take on the historical responsibility of unifying the country. Even an old farmer in the countryside knows that there is no two suns in the sky, and there is no two kings for the people...
Ci Yi, you have to remember that these two points are the biggest advantages of our Ming Dynasty when facing the European Union united by Spain! With these two points, as long as there are no problems with our Ming Dynasty, we will be invincible.
You see, even if the Spanish fleet entered the South China Sea and cut off the maritime trade of the Ming Dynasty, what would happen? They distributed leaflets everywhere, saying that as long as their father abdicated, they would live in peace with the Ming Dynasty and resume trade. Except for a few shameless businessmen who acted as insiders, which important ministers or wealthy businessmen wavered in their stance? This is the greatest legacy and the most solid confidence left to our country by the Qin Emperor, Han Wudi, Confucius and Mencius!
But the Western bandits are different. Europe has no great men like the Qin Emperor and Han Wudi, no ancient philosophers like Confucius and Mencius. They have no centralized power, nor cultural identity. Apart from religion, they only have interests.
Now, according to Richelieu's letters, Spain is constantly centralizing power through the European Union in order to mobilize greater forces to confront the Ming Dynasty. This centralization will inevitably lead to the monarchs of European countries and the old-school aristocrats whose main wealth is land, to hate Philip more and more. The reason why they swallowed their anger was not only because Spain had advanced technology and advanced equipment. The most important thing was that many businessmen in the European Union, especially those who made a fortune by using new technologies, the new aristocrats, and the workers and farmers controlled by these businessmen and new aristocrats strongly supported Philip.
Once Spain loses India, the largest market and raw material supplier in Europe, then the Ming Dynasty can use the right of trade to get the new nobles and merchants in Europe to abandon Philip. At this time, the performance of the Europeans is definitely not as good as that of the people of the Ming Dynasty. As long as I shake the bell, those new nobles and merchants will come over like dogs wagging their tails!
Therefore, as long as India is taken, the EU will soon fall apart. Because after America and India are lost, the entire EU will only have Africa to suck blood from. But Africa? "
Zhu Youdong shook his head: Let alone Africa of this era, even Africa in the 21st century is far inferior to India and America.
"Ci Yi, do you understand? As long as we conquer India and defeat the Ottoman Empire on land, then our Ming Dynasty will definitely win the final victory in this world hegemony!"
