Daming: Brother, there is no future for monks, let's rebel

Chapter 254 Roman Orthodoxy in Mongolia

These rescued serfs instantly became the most supportive group of the Ming government.

They actively provided information to the Ming army, captured the remnants of chieftains who tried to rebel, and built roads and bridges for the Ming army, so that the Ming army could patrol and maintain order in the Kangba area unimpeded.Because the Ming army consolidated the security order in the Kangba area, local business activities resumed prosperity.

A large number of commodities are in the mutual market in Sichuan, and there is no limit to the original number of transactions.

This led to the influx of salt, tea, cloth, medicinal materials and other items from the Central Plains into the Uzbek area on an unprecedented scale.

The local Uzbek farmers and herdsmen have benefited a lot.

In particular, the government of the Ming Dynasty distributes useful medicines for free, so that the people who are short of medicines and medicines can finally stop dying from minor illnesses.

The Ming Dynasty's drastic reforms in the Kangba area killed a large number of bully chieftains who resisted the policies of the Ming Dynasty. Not only did the Kangba area become a paradise for the people, but it also made the Tibetan chieftains in other areas fear to death.

They clearly know that the Uzbek chieftains in the Kham area are already the most powerful existence among all forces.

If even the chieftains in the Kangba area were not opponents of the Ming army, then they would dare not provoke the Ming court even more.

No matter how much resentment and anger they have in their hearts, they can only endure it silently.

The Ming Dynasty stationed [-] officers and soldiers in the Uzbek area. They were all well-equipped, with thousands of muskets and hundreds of cannons.

Such a powerful force is an existence that cannot be defeated by all chieftain groups in the entire Uzbek region.With the Kangba area as a case, the reform of chieftains in other areas will be much simpler.

According to the policy formulated by Zhu Han, the Ming government adopted the method of buying or leasing the chieftains of various places, and took their land back to the imperial court, and then distributed it to the freed serfs.

All the people in the snow area have obtained the citizenship of Ming Dynasty.

Since he is a citizen of Ming Dynasty, it is naturally impossible to be treated as a slave.

This rescue of Uzbek Tibetan serfs not only freed tens of thousands of serfs from slavery and became free farmers, but also severed the direct relationship between Uzbek chieftains and the land.

Since then, the chieftains in the Uzang area no longer have the right to directly govern their own land and population.

They either go to the Holy City of Sunshine to be pious pilgrims, or go to Chengdu to be carefree rich men.

The reputation of the Ming government is still very guaranteed, and the rent promised to them every year must be absolutely no less.

The chieftains in various areas of Uzbek, with this money, naturally complained a lot less about the Ming court.

What's more, if anyone complains too often, the Imperial Guards of the Ming Dynasty are not vegetarians, and they can definitely be arrested and tortured, so that they can taste what is called the iron-handed education of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Dingbian, as the commander of the capital of the Daming Kangba Line, his daily routine now is to train the army, and then lead his own soldiers to inspect various places.

Although the Kangba area has been completely taken over by the Ming court, there are still many chieftains in some places who take advantage of their power and continue to commit crimes or oppress the serfs who have just been freed.

Zhang Dingbian led the Ming soldiers, and had to run more to let all the freed serfs know that the Ming government had always been behind them and strongly supported them.

this day.

With another snowflake falling.

The winter solstice of the 24 solar terms has arrived.

According to the customs of the Han people, the winter solstice is a very important festival.

Although Zhang Dingbian was born in poverty, when he was young, his family would have a reunion meal every winter solstice.

Now he is thousands of miles away in Khamba, and he has no relatives in his hometown in Hubei, so he can't help but feel a sense of melancholy.

At this time, Zhang Dingbian heard a lively sound of gongs and drums suddenly sounding outside the barracks.

He quickly put on his bearskin coat and went out to check.

I saw a group of Uzbek peasants in Tibetan robes walking towards the Daming barracks beating gongs and drums.

In front of them were several respected local Tibetan elders from Uzbekistan.

These old men held pure white khatas in their hands, and with happy smiles on their faces, they walked at the forefront of the team.

Behind them were many watching children and women. The children ran around chattering around the crowd, while the women hid shyly on both sides of the street.

Such a lively scene is really rare in the Khamba area with a small population.

Zhang Dingbie hurriedly walked out and asked a few old men in front of him.

"Fathers and elders, I don't know what is the purpose of coming here today?"

The leading Khamba Tibetan is a well-known local businessman. Although he is a Tibetan from Uzbekistan, he has already mastered very fluent Chinese because of his business all the year round.

I saw this old Tibetan man named Zhawang saying to Zhang Dingbian, "General Zhang, these are cattle and sheep bought by our Khamba people spontaneously. We know that today is an important festival for you Han people, the winter solstice! To express our blessings , and in order to thank you for your love and care for the people of Khamba, I came here to congratulate the general and Ming soldiers on the Winter Solstice Festival."

Zhang Dingbian heaved a sigh of relief when he heard that this was the reason.

Ever since I came to the Kham area, the most news I heard was that a rebellion broke out in a certain place, and a mob gathered in a certain place to make trouble again.

It has been less than a month since he finally settled down, and his nerves are still tense.

"Fathers and elders, this is really costly. We are all following the orders of His Majesty and His Royal Highness the King of England, so we came here to do some of our duties! Protecting the people is what we should do. You don't have to be polite, please go back , take these cattle and sheep back, we are determined not to have them."

After the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were stationed in the Kangba area, everyone's military salary was doubled, and the food treatment was also very good, with constant beef and mutton every day.

These cattle and sheep are nothing to the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, but to these ordinary Uzbek farmers, they are rare and precious things.

Zhang Dingbian naturally refused to accept these cattle and sheep.

In the end, after repeated concessions from both sides, Zhang Dingbian only accepted the khatas presented by the Tibetans as a representative blessing, and returned all the cattle, sheep and fine wine.

Not only that, Zhang Dingbian also ordered the garrison kitchen to have extra meals today! !
He kept all the Tibetans who came to congratulate the festival, and asked them to have a winter solstice festival with the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty.

Seeing that the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were so kind and caring for the people, the Tibetans represented by Zhawang couldn't help sending the khata to the necks of Zhang Dingbian and other Ming soldiers.

"Tashi Dele!"

"Da Ming Tashi Dele!"

Constantinople.

As the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, this is a well-known thousand-year-old city.

Since the Romans built the Fortress of Constantinople here, it has become the central city of Asia Minor and Thrace.Countless caravans gathered here, and goods from south to north once filled the streets and alleys of Constantinople.

When East and West Rome just split, Constantinople had already surpassed Rome and became the richest and most prosperous city in the empire at that time.

However, today's Constantinople can be said to be in decline, because the Eastern Roman Empire was gradually forced to lose its land by the surrounding countries.

Many Romans have realized the crisis and have fled to other relatively safe European regions.

The current city of Constantinople is no longer as prosperous as it used to be, with a permanent population of only about 20 at most.

And almost all commerce was monopolized by the Venetians and Genoese.

This result was not only unacceptable to the Emperor John V of the Eastern Roman Empire, but also unacceptable to the Orthodox Patriarch Alexios and the Roman citizens of Constantinople.

In terms of attitude towards the Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexios and the Roman citizens are very pious.

Much more than their emperor John V.

Facing the increasingly embarrassing empire, John V even once had the idea of ​​changing the Orthodox faith to take refuge in the Roman Catholic Church and fight for rescue for himself.

In order to save the Eastern Roman Empire, which was on the verge of collapse, John V was willing to give up his own beliefs.

It is conceivable how excited he was when he knew that the Yuan Dynasty was coming to Europe.

So when the Genoese intercepted the envoys of the Eastern Roman Empire and prevented the alliance between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Yuan Dynasty, John V became furious and ordered the Eastern Roman Navy to retaliate against the Genoese regardless of everyone's opposition. .

Dozens of small-scale battles between the two sides in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

Relying on its housekeeping skills, the Eastern Roman Empire achieved some victories at the beginning.

The Roman Empire had one very powerful secret weapon in naval warfare, and that was Greek fire.

In fact, Greek fire is a specially processed raw oil extract, so it can survive in water on the sea and can easily burn down the enemy's wooden warships.

This kind of thing also existed in ancient China.

The navy of the Song Dynasty had fierce fire oil tanks, and they also put them on warships, and then burned hundreds of warships of the Jurchen Kingdom in one fell swoop in naval battles.

With such a powerful secret weapon, the Eastern Roman Empire Navy also had a considerable say in the sea.

The two sides fought in the Mediterranean and Black Seas.

In the end, the Genoese relied on their powerful navy and subsequent supplementary capabilities to drive the Eastern Roman Empire navy back to the port of Constantinople.

John V, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, suffered another tragic defeat.

After the Genoese gained the advantage in naval warfare, they immediately threatened the Eastern Roman Empire.

They asked John V to compensate them a large amount of military expenses and war compensation, otherwise the Genoese navy would attack all the ports of the Eastern Roman Empire along the Mediterranean Sea, destroying the last source of financial resources of the Eastern Roman Empire!

After John V received this threat, he immediately panicked and overwhelmed.

The Eastern Roman Empire is now facing a serious financial crisis, and the land of various local military districts has become the private property of the military district lords.

The central government of the Eastern Roman Empire was not only unable to collect sufficient local taxes, but also in order to maintain the loyalty of the military districts in various regions, the Eastern Roman Empire had to give them large rewards for these military commanders who were in the shape of separate regimes in order to be able to obtain them. Stay loyal.

The current situation of the Eastern Roman Empire is like the separatist regime in the last years of the Tang Dynasty.

The separatist forces in various places supported the central government on the surface, but in fact they were doing things to protect their own territory. The governors of the military districts in various places neither paid enough taxes to the Eastern Roman Emperor, nor provided various supplies.

The few remaining sources of finance for the Roman Empire were the ports along the Mediterranean Sea.

These places can collect the entry tax of passing ships. Once these places are lost, the fragile finances of the Eastern Roman Empire will collapse completely. Even John V, the mercenary guarding Constantinople, has no way to return maintain.

Facing the threat of the Genoese, John V immediately changed from a tough attitude to almost groveling.

but.

Seeing this, the greedy Genoese were even more unwilling to let it go.

Based on the principle of squeezing out the last copper, they made a lot of unreasonable compensation claims to John V.

John V was powerless to oppose and resolve these claims for land cession and compensation.

At this time, John V began to summon his cronies to start discussions again, and wanted to go to Rome in person, requesting the Pope's support for mediation.

The Genoese believe in Roman Catholicism, that is, Catholicism, and they must give the Pope face.

It has to be said that John V was a clumsy politician.

In other words, he is not even a politician, but a naive monarch.

In fact, the Pope did not have much intention to restrain the Genoese at all.

Even if all the citizens of the Eastern Roman Empire converted to Catholicism, the Pope would not be able to send a single soldier to rescue the Eastern Roman Empire.

After the idea of ​​John V was put forward, it immediately aroused opposition from many people around him.

However, John V insisted on going his own way and insisted on going to Rome in person to see the Pope and ask the Pope to save the Eastern Roman Empire that was about to collapse.

Facing the stubborn John V, his officials and cronies all showed disappointment.

Many people already felt that John V was almost going crazy to do such an outrageous thing.

He was about to turn his back on Orthodoxy before seeing any real help.

This is absolutely a stupid decision.

That night, the Orthodox Patriarch Alexios was immediately informed of the news.

As the highest leader of the Orthodox Church, Alexios was furious immediately after hearing the news.

Alexios entered the palace overnight to see John V, trying to persuade the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire to give up this stupid idea and continue to maintain the same beliefs as the Roman citizens.

However, John V, who had been mentally broken by the empire's finances, was not willing to accept the suggestion of the Orthodox Patriarch Alexios at all.

He was stubborn and clamored that whoever could save the Roman Empire could become the new state religion, whether it was Orthodox or Catholic.

The deviant remarks of Eastern Roman Emperor John V immediately made Patriarch Alexios furious, and cursed John V in the palace as a shameful traitor and a hypocrite, and he would be punished by God!

After leaving the palace angrily, Alexios summoned several of his archbishops overnight.

After a brief discussion, they agreed that John V might really be crazy.

(End of this chapter)