***
After Abe Tadayuki was forced to resign from the post of Elder Councillor, the North Sea Fleet did not immediately intervene in Japan's affairs, but instead eased the pressure on the shogunate.
Perhaps, this will further intensify the conflict between Sakai Tadakatsu and others and Abe Tadaki.
The Tokugawa shogunate, which lost Abe Chuanqiu, made a series of stupid moves.
After issuing the decree to expel people, Sakai Tadakatsu and others were eager to control the shogunate army and began to exclude Abe Tadayuki's followers in the army.
This directly led to the morale of the shogunate army being shaken, and in the battle of Sekigahara, they were defeated again by Yui Masasetsu, and it was a crushing defeat. More than ten thousand troops were annihilated or captured at one time. The shogunate army that was advancing to suppress Sekigahara retreated hundreds of miles before they could barely regain their footing.
Seeing the drastic change in the situation, the emperor in Kyoto finally made up his mind and publicly supported Yui Masayuki. This move was of extraordinary significance and caused a huge shock throughout Japan.
For a long time, although the Japanese emperor had no real power, he had a legitimate and righteous position.
At this time, Tokugawa Iemitsu had just died, and the new generation of shogun was only ten years old. Sakai Tadakatsu and others made stupid moves to drive the troops away, and the army was defeated.
After the Japanese Emperor's statement, the number of ronin who defected to Yui Masayuki increased greatly. The daimyo of various feudal states also began to show signs of unrest, pretending to obey the shogunate's orders but secretly disobeying them, and some even directly refused to carry them out.
The whole of Japan was undercurrent, and it felt like the world was changing. For the Tokugawa shogunate, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, and Sakai Tadakatsu and others began to become wild gods;
The armies of the various vassal states refused to obey orders and could not be assembled. The tens of thousands of troops on the front line had just suffered a defeat, the soldiers were depressed, and rumors were spreading.
In panic, Hoshina Masayuki proposed to invite Abe Tadayuki back to clean up the mess, but Sakai Tadakatsu, Matsudaira Nobunaga and others were not willing to do so.
If Abe Tadayuki were invited back at this time, wouldn't it be like admitting that he was incompetent and could only rely on Abe Yasutada when something happened
Even if they died, Sakai Tadakatsu and Matsudaira Nobunaga would never agree to invite Abe Tadaki back at this time.
Of course, they didn't want to die, so what should they do? The crisis at hand had to be resolved as soon as possible.
After an urgent discussion, Sakai Tadakatsu, Matsudaira Nobunaga, and Matsudaira Norihisa reached a consensus and decided that Sakai Tadakatsu would go forward to seek help from Wei Zhengdao, the Qin ambassador whose injuries had stabilized a little.
***
Daqin, Nanjing.
At the regular court held every five days in the Zizheng Palace, the Ministry of War first reported that Hai Rufeng had defeated the Mughal army. It also requested the court to sell the discarded second-hand weapons to countries such as Otsa, and the fact that the ocean-going fleet had captured the port of Golangbu in Ceylon, but the Dutch warships had been avoiding fighting.
Navy Admiral Di Zhongxing came out and said, "Your Majesty, the situation in India is complicated. After all, the ocean-going fleet has limited manpower. If the Dutch continue to avoid fighting, it is likely to pose a huge threat to our Qin's maritime trade routes. I suggest that half of the warships of the South China Sea Fleet be transferred to India so that we can gain dominance in India as soon as possible."
Qin Mu did not comment, and turned to ask the Minister of War He Liang: "How is the war in Jiaozhi and Dongwu going?"
At present, Jiaozhi and Dongwu are still at war, although the army is mainly responsible for commanding the local vassal army to fight. However, many places need the cooperation of the South China Sea Fleet. If the South China Sea Fleet is to be transferred to India, the situation in Indochina must be considered first.
He Liang replied, "Your Majesty, the war is going smoothly. It is estimated that within six years, the complete elimination of the indigenous peoples of Indochina will be completed. At present, the South China Sea Fleet is mainly patrolling the coast of Jiaozhi, and some warships will be transferred to India. There will be no problem."
The Qin army only occupied a few large cities on the Indochina Peninsula and the nearby major plain grain-producing areas. Currently, it has organized 70,000 vassal troops in Dongyu to clear out the indigenous people in the mountains. The fighting is actually very fierce, and countless people die in the war every day.
Jiaozhi also organized nearly 60,000 vassal troops to fight against the remaining resistance forces. It was a war that was raging, but the Qin Dynasty invested very little in it. It was mainly the vassal troops fighting against the local stubborn natives, so the victory or defeat of the war did not concern the Nanjing court too much.
The Qin Dynasty did not even set up a province in Indochina, but only changed Shangjun City and Wangben City. Qin Mu meant to let such a war last for ten years in Indochina, consuming a large number of the local population. This sounds cruel, but for the sake of long-term stability in the future, Qin Mu did it ruthlessly.
Now He Liang says it will only take about six years, which means the progress is indeed very smooth.
"In that case, let Zheng Sihai dispatch half of his warships to India. As for selling the obsolete weapons to India, there is no need to discuss this. The Ministry of War can arrange it. As long as the price is right, we will sell as many as we can."
The proportion of smoothbore muskets in the Ming Dynasty army was already very high. After the Qin Dynasty unified the world, it obtained a large number of smoothbore muskets, many of which had been recycled because there were no buyers before, so they had no choice but to do so.
Now that we have a buyer, there is no need to recycle it. Selling it can make more than ten times the profit than recycling it.
The ministers in the court had no objection to this. The weapons of the Qin Dynasty were constantly being updated, and those smoothbore guns with short range and limited power were no longer in everyone's eyes.
At this time, Zou Chengfang, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Works, came out and reported: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Works has received an urgent report from Tianshan Province that a large amount of asphalt mines have been discovered in the Karamay area on the edge of the Junggar Basin. Preliminary estimates show that its reserves will be no less than the asphalt mines in Guangyuan, Sichuan."
Qin Mu was overjoyed when he heard the news, because now all the prefectures and counties in Daqin were raising funds on their own to build roads, which required a large amount of natural asphalt. So the court ordered all places to pay attention to exploration. Unexpectedly, a natural asphalt mine was first discovered in the distant Tianshan Province.
Qin Mu said immediately: "Tianshan Province is a long way away. If the imperial court were to mine it, it would probably be more trouble than it's worth. How about this, the Ministry of Industry should formulate a contract mining plan as soon as possible and contract the asphalt mines in Tianshan Province to merchants to mine, so as to reduce the loss of the imperial court."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Because of an imperial decree issued a while ago, the enthusiasm for road construction in various states and counties is now burning.
As long as you have a clean background and pay 5,000 taels to build a road, you will have the chance to become an eighth-rank "councilor";
Although these "councillors" had no salary and no chance of promotion, they had the power to submit petitions directly to the emperor. At the end of each year, they also had the power to review the county treasury accounts. If they found any deficit, they could submit petitions directly to the emperor to impeach local officials. This attracted many wealthy families in the area.
Of course, such a good thing is not something you can easily get, as everyone is fighting for it.
The imperial court stipulated the number of eighth-rank "councillors" according to the population of each prefecture and county. For every 10,000 people, only one "councilor" was given. For example, if your county has a population of 50,000, then you can have a maximum of five "councilors" seats.
Since the number of "legislators" is limited, everyone wants to do it, and there are many people who can contribute money, the state governments can only choose the few who contribute the most money to do it.
Nowadays, in the wealthy counties of Jiangnan, if you don't have tens of thousands of dragon coins, it's impossible to get the position of a "councilor". Others are all pouring money into it.
By doing this, Qin Mu seemed to be implementing the old practice of Zhu Yuanzhang of having the people supervise the officials. In fact, he had more far-reaching considerations. The ministers all thought that he was taking the opportunity to make money to build roads, but in fact, this was only one of his purposes.
It is conceivable that many of those who can spend huge sums of money to obtain the status of "parliamentarian" must be local industrialists and businessmen. Qin Mu wants to use this method to support the capital class in disguise and strengthen the main body of the community economy. Over time, he will be able to compete with the traditional gentry class.
This kind of thing cannot be bargained like in a vegetable market. Rich people in various counties who are willing to donate money to build roads sit together and write down the amount of money they will contribute on a small piece of paper. The local officials collect all the money and then open the paper on the spot. Those who contribute more will get the status of "council member". Those who contribute less and do not get the status of "council member" will not get their money back.
As a result, some wealthy families in many counties and cities in the southeast could obtain as much as 300,000 or 400,000 dragon coins in road construction funds at one time. It was easier than robbing a bank.
Such things naturally caused a lot of criticism from people, who said that the court was buying and selling official positions in disguise, but Qin Mu kept pretending to be deaf and dumb.
He has ordered the Ministry of Revenue to collect the excess money from counties that have received more road construction funds, while ensuring local road construction funds, and have the court make a unified plan and distribute it to poor counties for road construction.
After discussing the asphalt issue, Gan Nan, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, came out and reported: "Your Majesty, the envoys from Britain and Portugal have arrived in Ningbo and requested an audience with Your Majesty. In addition, the envoys from the four countries of Otsa have also arrived and want to formally submit a petition to Your Majesty to confer the title."
Qin Mu said casually: "Then let these envoys appreciate the elegance of our Great Qin. When the envoys from various countries come to Beijing, wrap the tree trunks on the streets of the capital with colorful silk..."
**********************(To be continued...)
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