Dominate the Country

The Mid-Autumn Festival in the 41st year of Chengtian was particularly lively. This was not the exact year that Chen Ming ascended the throne. Just like last year, he had been sitting on the throne for exactly 40 years, which was a great celebration. Four years ago, Chen Ming celebrated his 60th birthday. The Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival that year were also very lively. Whether it was the palace or the people, it was really a celebration for all the people.

This year, none of these things were related, but this year was the last year that Chen Ming sat on the throne, which was very, very special.

Chen Ming did not skimp on the expenses of the little melons and two dates because of the ongoing war. The empire he built would not be destroyed because of the royal family's eating, drinking and having fun.

However, Chen Ming, who often smiled on the surface, was not really interested in the singing and dancing banquet. He was still paying attention to the naval war report in South America.

Before that, Ye Tingyang had played the first war report. The large fleet successfully passed the Strait of Magellan, and the two sides were confronting each other. In other words, the decisive battle is imminent.

In this case, how could Chen Ming still be interested in eating, drinking and having fun?

Ye Tingyang's battle report is like a broken chapter dog that has reached the maximum level of cultivation. It is inhumane and cruel. These days, even when Chen Ming is sleeping, he will think of the naval battle with continuous gunfire and the warships...

Fortunately, Ye Tingyang's follow-up was delivered soon. On the fifth day after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the battle report reached Chen Ming's hands.

"Eight to eight..." After reading it, Chen Ming's heart was first settled, and it was a plan. Although he was a little worried about Ye Tingyang's subsequent attack, it would be a lose-lose situation, right?

Chen Han could afford to lose these ships as long as he could leave some naval seeds. But what about Europe?

What will the Europeans do after they lose the current batch of battleships? Continue to manufacture wooden sailing ships? Then they will become outdated when they are still on the slipway. As long as they only have motor sailing ships, even if the Europeans' technology can keep up in half a year, what about their production capacity?

In the golden autumn season of August when osmanthus flowers are blooming everywhere, winter has quietly arrived in the northwest. Chen Ming is not surprised that there has been no major progress in the northwest battlefield this year. The military expenditure of the seven khanates in Central Asia has been completely dependent on Chen Han. In this battle, the weight of the seven khanates was quite important in the early stage, but now it can be said that they have completely become vassals.

Their biggest role is to ride on horses as dragoons, constantly harassing the Russian army, doing the same work as the Cossack cavalry. It’s just that the Russian Cossacks are no longer powerful, and the casualties are too large, and it is difficult to ensure the scale.

Although there are Hungarian and part of the Polish hussars, the role of the Cossacks is irreplaceable.

This year, winter is coming, and the dividing line between the Sino-Russian battlefield remains in Turinsk. No one can fight on the front on both sides. And the North Caucasus, as a side battlefield, is now basically fighting to the bottom - no one can fight.

Chen Ming is not worried about the war in the northwest, because he has already stockpiled more than 200,000 troops in Yili. Lake Balkhash is an important base with more than 50,000 troops, and the Aral Sea also has 50,000 troops. In the spring of next year, the 200,000 troops in Yili will move westward, and then he will personally lead the army. That will be the time for the decisive battle.

Chen Han has built twelve reserve areas on the west bank of Lake Balkhash, each of which has thirty to fifty super-large warehouses. They are filled with either weapons or clothes, bedding, shoes and socks, plus canned food, rations, medicines, etc.

Chen Ming is concerned about the naval battle in South America, but after he has a basic understanding of the news in South America, all he thinks about is personally leading the army.

At this age, he can still shake on the battlefield. Chen Ming never thought about it.

So he is very "looking forward to" his style on the battlefield again. Chen Ming is getting old and is also concerned about his reputation. His achievements are impeccable, and even the greatest emperors in the world can hardly compare with him. Under the great achievements of half the world, the so-called conquerors in European history are only worthy of carrying his shoes, and the Mongols are also children. Chen Ming turned around and cared more about his reputation.

Although his reputation is largely inevitable to be linked to his great achievements, Chen Ming feels that it is also good to add a few more links on the basis of "imperial achievements". Just like the old man Taizu of New China, that is a series of titles, great leader, revolutionary, strategist, theorist, poet, calligrapher. This is the length after omitting a few titles that will be 404.

Chen Ming cannot be a theorist. The political system he created is like a four-in-one, and he also added his own selfishness. Poets and calligraphers are impossible, not to mention the revolutionary army. He overthrew the Qing Dynasty, but that was definitely not a revolution, but a traditional dynasty change.

A great leader in this era is a great emperor. Chen Ming already has this, and he wants to add a military strategist to the end.

However, the world's military changes are too fast. Compared with the wars of the past, the latter seems like a joke.

If the times do not change, and military wars are still the same, Chen Ming is definitely the second Li Shimin in terms of fighting.

No one in China can deny that Li Er is capable of fighting. Although he may not be as miraculous as history has touted, no one can deny Li Er's military talent. And Li Shimin's brilliance would not have been so blinding without the backdrop of "war". Just talking about governing the country, you can easily pick out seven or eight great emperors in history. For example, Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty who shaped the "Hongzhi Zhongxing", and Renzong of the Song Dynasty whose death made enemy countries mourn, etc. But without the 'halo of war', their brilliance would be far inferior to that of Li Shimin.

To catch up with today's era, this is both Chen Ming's luck and Chen Ming's misfortune.

Fortunately, when he gets old, he can still walk on the battlefield.

Chen Ming would not interfere in military command without authorization, and to be honest, he really didn't have the ability to command and dispatch an army of hundreds of thousands of firearms. At most, Chen Ming could just 'make some pointers' in small-scale offensive battles.

He has been away from the battlefield for decades. His prestige in the army has declined rapidly, and he has become even more neglected in command. If you go to the battlefield and really regard yourself as the supreme commander of the army, then the hundreds of thousands of troops on the northwest front will suffer a lot.

Apart from Chen Ming, who is preparing for his personal expedition next year, there are thousands of people throughout Nanjing who are looking forward to the first day of the new year. Because a new era is coming!

The old emperor passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne. This is not like the historical father and son of Song Huizong and Song Qinzong, nor is it the father and son Liu Laohan and Liu Laosan, nor is it the father and son Li Yuan and Li Er, or the father and son Li Longji and Li Heng. Chen Ming holds immense power in his hands, and is more in control of the domestic military and political power than King Zhao Wuling who abdicated on his own initiative. If he is willing, Chen Ming can treat his son as a puppet like Emperor Qianlong in history.

But Chen Ming didn't do this. Not long after the news of his decision to abdicate came out, news came out that Chen Ming was going to the northwest. This time, the Imperial Guard mobilized an entire division at once. When the army entered Xinjiang, Chen Ming's accompanying army should have totaled 50,000 people.

Chen Ming is really going to fight in the northwest. He made this voice and assumed this posture. No one would suspect that Chen Ming was playing tricks. Chen Ming sent a clear and unmistakable signal to the whole world. He really gave up the throne and power.

He did not even participate in the expansion of the authority of the local consultative bureau and the Zizheng Yuan in Nanjing. Whether the latter two can seize this opportunity is up to their abilities, and Chen Ming doesn't care at all.

Chen Ming did not take the resistance from the harem to heart. The queen, Liu Wanyun, etc. were still alive. They were in their sixties. In the 21st century, they could only be said to have just entered old age. But at this time, their ages have already Not too small. There is no guarantee that Chen Ming would go out for a walk and they would be gone when he came back.

Of course, in the eyes of the queen and others, these people were more worried that Chen Ming would walk out and come back lying down. Although he has always been in good health, he is sixty-five years old. In this era, death is not unexpected at all.

Although Chinese emperors claim to be emperor and are called Long Live, there are not many long-lived ones and many short-lived ones, and more than half of them are under the age of fifty (those before Qin Shihuang are not included.).

Looking at the entire history of China, there are only five people over 80 years old, including the longest-lived Emperor Qianlong. Of course, Qianlong was not so lucky in this time and space. Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty, was 85 years old, Wu Zetian, the only female emperor, was 81 years old, Zhao Gou, Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty, was 80 years old, and Qian Liu, King Wusu of Wuyue and Yue Dynasties, was also 80 years old.

There are ten people over 70 years old, including Kublai Khan, Tang Xuanzong, Zhu Yuanzhang, Sun Quan, etc.

Thirty-eight are over sixty years old. Chen Ming has now lived to be 65 years old, which can be said to have entered the top 50 in the longevity pedigree of Chinese emperors.

In this way, Chen Ming is really not young.

Of course, Chen Ming did not think that he would die soon. What's a long trip? You know he is the emperor. The risk of the emperor traveling far away is much smaller than the risk of ordinary people traveling far away.

He was riding in the most comfortable carriage in the world, eating delicacies cooked by the best chefs in the world, and was surrounded by the best doctors in the entire empire. Under such circumstances, if he could still encounter danger, Only the army was completely defeated, and he was very unlucky to get involved with the frontline army.

Chen Ming has become obsessed with the idea of ​​"imperial conquest", and no one can persuade him. Those who are older than him have all passed away in the past few years. Even those who are older than him among the same generation, there are not many left. For example, Chen Gang died when he was thirty-three years old.

No one in the whole world, inside or outside, can stop Chen Ming from his journey to the northwest.

In the Qianqing Palace, Chen Ming looked at the booklet handed over by the National Security Bureau with a look of helplessness on his face. "That's all, let them be."

It is a common practice in official circles to let the tea cool before people leave. Chen Ming never thought that this routine would one day fall on him. After reading this excerpt, it is impossible to say that there is not a trace of anger in his heart. But if you think about it carefully, it’s just routine.

And what is a convention? That is the truth that applies to everyone. Although Chen Ming is the emperor and has been on the throne for forty years, he cannot escape this 'convention'.

"Let the tea cool before people leave. This is all a routine..."

…

Shanghai International Hotel, Room 0512.

The sun shines through the curtains onto the red pine desk. There are several pages of letter paper on the desk, and a feather pen is inserted in an ink bottle. The shadows of the sun shine on the letter paper. There is also a fur on the seat. This is an expensive calf leather product, but from the appearance, this leather bag has been used for several years. The bag is stuffed full, and the copper reeds on the leather bag are shining golden in the sun, which complements the gilded copper alarm clock next to it.

It is now 7:30 in the morning. As usual, after finishing the free breakfast provided by the hotel in the restaurant, George Gordon Byron hurried back to the room where he stayed, picked up the pages of letter paper from the desk, and then read them carefully for a while, then looked at the alarm clock on the table, hesitated for a while, and finally decided to sit at the table and continue writing this unfinished Chinese diary.

George Gordon Byron arrived in China two months ago. As a traitor to the British ruling class, he could not stay in Britain.

Byron and his wife had just been married for less than two years. Miss Anna Milbank was a narrow-minded person who was deeply trapped by the hypocrisy of her class and could not understand Byron's career and ideas at all. A year after the marriage, she returned to her home with her daughter who was more than one month old and refused to live with Byron, which caused rumors. Taking this as an opportunity, the British ruling class took the most crazy revenge on its rebel Byron, trying to spiritually destroy this person who dared to be its political enemy.

In 1814, Byron was forced to flee to Switzerland, and met Shelley, another exiled British poet in Geneva. The latter was four years younger than Byron and was a more "crazy" person than Byron. He entered Oxford University in October 1810 and was expelled from Oxford University at the end of March the following year. Because Shelley published the article "On the Necessity of Atheism", which completely touched the nerves of the entire British ruling class, he was forced to leave Britain after 1813.

Two people with the same "smell" became close friends in a foreign country, and then they decided to head to the Eastern world.

As early as when Byron was 20 years old - in 1808, he went abroad for a trip to the "East" in order to "see human beings, not just read about them in books", and to eliminate "the harmful consequences of an islander staying at home with narrow prejudices". It's just that the East is only compared to the East of Britain. It was actually a trip to Southern Europe and Western Asia. And this time, Byron was going to China.

This war between the East and the West made China's "reputation" in Europe even louder. Isn't it also a bad name? Byron was a revolutionary fighter. He personally participated in the local people's anti-Ottoman struggle in Greece and was one of the leaders of the latter.

And the Chinese are undoubtedly the biggest backers of the Ottomans.

Byron persuaded Shelley, but a sudden love made Shelley stop, and Byron could only embark on the journey to the East alone.