Red Mansion Royal Cat

Chapter 602: Miracle of the Celestial Empire

He Yaomin served in two dynasties and was always honest and upright with a proud character.

In response to the prince's special care, he sent his grandson on the ship on the diplomatic mission with just one sentence.

Confucius said: The benevolent are not worried, the wise are not confused, and the brave are not afraid.

The "Book of Rites: The Doctrine of the Mean" says: "Knowledge, benevolence, and courage are the three most important virtues in the world." The sages have given a standard definition of a gentleman, one of which is that a courageous person is not afraid of difficulties and is brave enough to act when he sees what is right, so he is not afraid.

He Chong eats the salary of the king, so he should share the worries of the king. Since he is a disciple of the holy way, he should learn the style of the saints and have the character of a gentleman...

Just like He Yaomin, he was on a diplomatic mission with a special envoy, not afraid of war, and dedicated himself to his country and never backed down.

No one in the palace, including the emperor and his ministers, could refute this point.

Because Mr. He is really such a person, and there are not just one or two such people in the court. At least half of the officials in the Ministry of Rites are vying to be willing to risk their lives and travel alone on a diplomatic mission.

In the eyes of these gentlemen, this is their mission, even if it means sacrificing their lives in a foreign country.

After Jia Cong returned home, he hugged his wife and children and told them everything that happened in the Eastern Palace.

"To be honest, if I were asked to go, I would probably find all kinds of excuses to shirk my responsibility. I don't want to be a gentleman. I just want a wife and children to live in and have a warm bed..."

Listening to Jia Cong's long sighs, Daiyu just smiled. No one knew her husband better than her.

"If Brother Cong is not a gentleman, then how many gentlemen are there in the country?"

"Mr. Wei is one, Mr. He is one, the teacher is one, and my father-in-law is also one... Well, if you count them this way, it seems that there are quite a few gentlemen in the country!"

If you don't count it, you won't know. After counting, Jia Cong has quite a few acquaintances who agree with the gentleman in his mind.

For example, his teacher Xu Jin, who was obviously an important official of the country and could have stayed in the prosperous capital to enjoy his life, but he spent no more than one month in Beijing a year. He basically traveled around the country and worked hard for the world of great harmony in his mind.

There is also my father-in-law, Lord Lin, who is from a prominent family in Jiangnan for five generations. His wife is the daughter of a duke, and he himself is a third place winner in the imperial examination with a bright future. However, he almost ruined his family in his attempt to rectify the salt tax.

There are also many people that Jia Cong knows. No matter whether they are stubborn or pedantic, judging only from their character, many of them meet the standards of gentlemen.

"Let's not talk about others. If the court sent my second uncle to risk his life, what do you think his reaction would be?"

uh~
"Also, when you went to Hexi to quell the rebellion, you led the charge in the face of 100,000 powerful enemies and never backed down. Isn't this a manifestation of a gentleman's virtue?"

Ah ~
Daiyu asked two questions in a row, making it difficult for Jia Cong to answer.

Given Master Zheng's character, if the Crown Prince really gave him an order saying that there was an 80% chance that he would die for his country on his way to the West, it is estimated that no matter how afraid of death Master Zheng was, he would sing "The wind is whistling and the Yishui is cold" and board a ship heading west.

I remember that Master Zheng was chased all the way back from Zhejiang to bring back evidence of the Xilin Party’s cheating in the imperial examinations.

As for Jia Cong's own experience of blocking the enemy in the isolated city in Hexi, he had completely forgotten about it.

"So, my husband is a gentleman, there is no doubt about that!"

Hey, let’s not mention it. Let’s not mention it. I’ll be embarrassed if I talk about it anymore.

……

Only the cabinet and important officials of the Grand Marshal's Office knew that He Chong was going to make a secret visit to the Kingdom of England on behalf of the court.

In order to ensure He Chong's safety as much as possible, the imperial court gave him the title of Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites and asked him to represent the business community of Daxia and lead a group of business representatives to visit Western countries for exchanges.

In this way, He Chong’s visit would not seem so abrupt.

Jia Cong wrote several letters and secretly gave them to He Chong when he went to the He family to attend the farewell banquet, asking him to take them to the emperor, who was the king of the sea, and his unreliable father.

Qilin’s baby is almost a hundred days old, and his grandfather is still hanging out outside. It’s really frustrating!
Master She, who was thousands of miles away, could not hear Jia Cong's complaints.

Just now in a great battle with the Ottoman Empire, the Chinese soldiers used their strong ships and powerful guns to completely sink the Ottoman fleet consisting of more than ten ships.

The Emperor led his army to capture the city of Mecca. The wealth accumulated in this important Ottoman city over thousands of years almost dazzled Lord She.

India is already wealthy enough, and the temples in Mecca are no less impressive.

"Your Majesty, we have earned at least this much this time..."

Jia She stretched out his hand and made a sign of one, and the emperor immediately laughed heartily.

Compared with the powerful firearms of the Celestial Empire, the Ottoman Empire, an old empire that rose and fell, basically posed little threat to the Celestial Empire's soldiers.

In two large-scale battles at sea and on land, with 20,000 troops against 50,000, the Celestial Empire only lost a dozen people and suffered no more than a hundred or eighty wounded.

On the contrary, the Ottoman navy and land forces combined had a total of 50,000 troops, and suffered countless casualties. Even if those who escaped were included, the number of those who survived was less than 10,000.

The gains from the first battle amounted to 10 million taels, not to mention the gains from the upcoming negotiations with the Ottoman Empire.

Although it was winter, the city of Mecca was extremely warm.

After a long journey of conquest, when the New Year was approaching, the emperor discussed with Jia She, Liu Yi, and Liu Ke and decided to temporarily station in Mecca to rest and spend a comfortable New Year.

"The New Year is coming soon. Have someone buy more fruits, meats and vegetables. The soldiers have been with me on overseas expeditions for a long time. They should have a good rest. By the way, second brother, you must watch over them personally. No drinking is allowed, and no harm is allowed to the people here."

"Okay, I'll make arrangements right away!"

The Heavenly Kingdom's royal army should behave like a royal army. The people here will all be citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom in the future. As the Khan, he must protect the people under his rule.

That’s right, the Emperor has already determined that Mecca belongs to the Celestial Empire. The Ottoman envoy should be arriving soon.

"Enhou, how much 'compensation' do you think we should ask for this time?"

When hearing the word "compensation", even a ruffian like Jia She would blush.

He pondered for a while, and finally raised five fingers: "How about 50 million taels of silver?"

hiss!
Old Thirteen, who was clattering on an abacus at the side, suddenly looked up and looked at Jia She in surprise.

"You are really ruthless. Even if you sell the Ottoman Empire, they still can't raise this amount."

The Ottoman Empire has declined. According to information collected by Western countries in recent years, there is serious corruption within the Ottoman Empire, and its military is in disrepair. Their Sultan is able to maintain the rule of the empire today by relying on religious oppression to keep the people ignorant.

Fifty million taels of silver?

Perhaps it could be taken out, but in that case, it would have to be snatched from the Ottoman religious nobles.

But by doing so, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire would surely die, even though he was the nominal leader of the empire.

"We should not be too ruthless. What we need most now is not silver, but land. If we really want to build a canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea according to Jia Cong's original plan, we must get Mecca!"

The Thirteenth Prince’s idea was simple: a backward and weak Ottoman Empire was more in line with the interests of the Celestial Empire than a divided and chaotic Ottoman Empire.

As long as the Ottoman Empire ceded the land that the Celestial Empire wanted and agreed to the Celestial Empire's conditions, the Celestial Empire could even help it eliminate the unstable factors within the Ottoman Empire and stabilize the rule of the Ottoman Sultan.

There seems to be nothing wrong with renting the Celestial Empire's musketeers to the Ottoman court...

Jia She thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case. He walked to the emperor's desk and lowered his head to study the map.

"Here, here, here, and here. If we can get them, we will basically control the main sea routes between the eastern and western continents. Your Majesty, when the time comes, I will first ask for a compensation of 10 million taels of silver. I think the Ottomans will eventually agree to cede the land!"

What a huge sum of ten million taels of silver! Even the emperor was shocked by Jia She's huge request.

He took a deep breath, picked up his pen and circled four areas on the map.

Aden, Mecca, Alexandria and Cairo. The Celestial Empire only needs to capture these four cities and the lands around them to completely control this important waterway after the canal is successfully dug.

As for whether a canal can be dug, that’s a joke. Just look at the Grand Canal!
Although the accompanying master craftsman from the Ministry of Industry had not yet conducted an on-site inspection, he was so confident in his skills that even the most powerful person could not question his level.

On the New Year's Day of the sixteenth year of Yuanyou, big red lanterns were hung everywhere in the city of Mecca.

Apart from the disappearance of the priests in the temple and the fact that the great God no longer sent down oracles, the people of Mecca seemed to be living a better life.

The black-haired and black-eyed Celestial Empire army had never done anything to cause public resentment in Mecca. Instead, they would exchange gold, silver and treasures for the supplies they needed.

It is said that the emperor of heaven who lives in the temple will bestow light and blessings on this day.

Regardless of whether it was true or not, the people of Mecca gathered in the square in front of the temple out of curiosity.

The huge temple square was already crowded with tens of thousands of people.

When the sun rose and shone on the high stone steps of the temple, the emperor changed into a black dragon robe with gold patterns on it. With the golden crown shining in the sunlight, he appeared in front of everyone like a god.

"Long live Long live Long live!"

"Long live Long live Long live!"

"Long live Long live Long live!"

……

Twenty thousand black-armored soldiers of the Celestial Empire, led by Liu Yi, Liu Ke and Jia She, knelt on one knee in unison and shouted "Long live the emperor" to the emperor in front of the temple.

The shouts of "Long live the Lord" were deafening. The uniform half-kneeling and the loud shouts completely shocked the people of Mecca who came to watch the ceremony.

They were infected by the atmosphere at the scene, and some of them couldn't help but kneel down. Then, like dominoes, they all knelt on the ground, bowed down to the godlike man, and muttered scriptures that were supposed to be to their God.

The blessing from the Celestial Emperor is not something illusory, but a real existence.

For example, all the people of Mecca who come to watch the ceremony today can get a small bag of tea from the Celestial Empire, a bag of rice, a bag of snow salt that can only be produced in the Celestial Empire, and a bag of candy that will make people happy...

There were even poor and helpless old people who received gold coins with the image of the Celestial Emperor engraved on them.

It is said that by holding this gold coin, these poor people abandoned by Allah can get houses granted by the Heavenly Emperor in Mecca, and receive support from the Heavenly Emperor from then on until their souls return to heaven.

The New Year's blessing in the 16th year of Yuanyou seemed to have opened a new era for the city of Mecca.

It was the first time that the people of Mecca felt the blessing of God and tasted the saltiness of salt and the sweetness of sugar...

"Your Majesty is wise and wise. The people of Mecca have begun to accept the rule of our Celestial Empire!"

In fact, both Jia She and Old Thirteen had always doubted whether the Celestial Empire could truly make the people of Mecca submit.

The people of this land have been controlled by religion for thousands of years. In the words of the second brother Liu Yi, even if a knife is placed on the necks of these people, they will only kneel down and beg for the coming of Allah...

But the emperor did not think so. In his view, no matter whether it was the people of the Central Plains or the people of Mecca, as long as they could have enough food and clothing, any god or false god could not be better than the one who could give them a stable and prosperous life.

Today's New Year's blessing is one of his attempts.

Judging from the information gathered by the spies, the effect is very good...

"This is just the first step. Next, we will use the money sent by Osman to win the hearts of the people and turn Mecca into a link in our Great Wall of Steel!"

……

It’s New Year’s Day again, and the court ceremony is still as lively as ever.

Jia Cong dodged countless fists and slipped into a relatively safe corner. He took out a bag of melon seeds from his sleeve and watched the show while crunching the seeds.

The first shot fired by the Censorate at the beginning of the year was actually aimed at their own people.

Ever since old man Zhou Jiong, who had been in seclusion for two and a half years to compile a book, traced the origin and sought the truth, and criticized the current Lijiao severely, there have been people who have been constantly impeaching the New Ritual School headed by Zhou Jiong.

Especially Mr. Bao, every now and then someone would find various reasons to criticize him.

Originally, someone was planning to find trouble with Master Bao today, but he didn't expect that the other party would suffer the consequences.

After the process was basically completed, Master Zheng walked out of the team at the Metropolitan Censorate, holding a memorial on his board, and said loudly: "Your Highness, I, Jia Zheng, the Left Vice-Chief Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate, impeach Li Qiuchun, the Censor-in-Chief of the Ministry of Rites..."

The reason for the impeachment was simple. Last autumn, Li Qiuchun, who came to Beijing from the local area and took up the post of Censor of the Ministry of Rites, accused Jia Zheng's son of a false crime.

It is clear that his son Jia Baoyu advocated following the etiquette of Confucius, but how come in Li Chunqiu's mouth, the etiquette and music collapsed?

Also, you, Li Chunqiu, said that my son, Jia Zheng, is obsessed with women and bullies men and women, but my son has only one wife and one concubine so far, and has never been to places of brothels.

On the contrary, you, Li Chunqiu, a lowly seventh-rank official, have eight concubines at home. When you were working in the local government, you often stayed in brothels at night...

So Li Chunqiu, the "Gentleman Li" who always talks about etiquette, actually went to the brothel to talk about the way of saints with those prostitutes!
Jia Cong, who was eating melon seeds and watching the play, suddenly felt that what his second uncle said made a lot of sense. Baoyu was really a rare flower among the young men in the capital. This guy had only been to brothels a few times, and he was dragged there by force. He listened to some music and drank some wine, and went home before dark.

Of course, this was also due to Baoyu's obsessive-compulsive disorder. He probably thought the women in the brothel were dirty...

As for the matter of bullying men and women, that is even more ridiculous. Given his small physique and courage, it would be more convincing to accuse Jia Cong of this crime than Baoyu.

At least, Jia Cong knows a little bit about fighting...

Monthly ticket recommendation ticket

　I’ll stop here tonight and continue tomorrow. Good night!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)