The fourth year of the Republic of China, the year 4342 of the Chinese calendar, and the year 1645 of the Western calendar.
According to the original history, the Manchu and Qing armies at this time had occupied the entire north, and the Dashun Dynasty only had part of Hubei territory left. Zuo Liangyu was on the side of the Qing emperor, and Zhang Xianzhong was fighting hard against the Nanming in Sichuan.
By the way, Tsarist Russia is coming!
Although the easternmost city built by Tsarist Russia was Ust-Kut in the northwest of Lake Baikal. However, a group of 100 Cossack cavalry fought all the way to the mouth of the Heilongjiang River.
The population along the route was reduced by the Manchus, and the Cossack cavalry seemed to be in an uninhabited land.
They don't want food, they only grab what they can eat in the short term.
The natives had no gold and silver for them to rob, so they focused on the furs. They ordered the Beishan savages, Sauron natives, and Saharian natives along the way to offer the furs that should have been left to the Manchus. If they couldn't get them, they would engage in massacre.
Tsarist Russia expanded thousands of kilometers in Siberia, and the driving force was to obtain fur.
At this time, it was the Little Ice Age, Europe was frighteningly cold, and furs were very expensive. The fur business was the economic backbone of Tsarist Russia, which relied entirely on the sale of furs to support the army and the royal family.
In the first half of last year, Beishan savages came to snatch it.
In the second half of last year, the Tsarist Russian Cossack cavalry came again, and the robbery route was very similar.
The Manchu nobles were very angry and sent out cavalry to pursue them again.
But the Tsarist Russian cavalry had already fled, and could not even touch the fur. The Cossack cavalry only lost two people (who were frozen to death and frostbitten), and they retreated to Lake Baikal loaded with stolen furs.
During the New Year period, the Ministry of War sent urgent military information.
"Your Majesty, the false emperor of Yunnan has removed his imperial title and brought Mu Tianbo with him to request to join our court!"
"what happened?"
Zhao Han was extremely surprised when he heard this. He grabbed the military report with one hand and discovered that the emperor of Yunnan had been killed by the chieftain and fled in panic. Kunming had been occupied by the chieftain's army.
The rebellious chieftain was named Sha Dingzhou.
Sha Dingzhou's father was Sha Yuan. During the Wanli period, he made great contributions in fighting against the Annan invasion. Since the Annan Chief's Suit was abandoned, all the territory under the Annan Chief's jurisdiction was awarded to Sha Yuan by the imperial court.
That piece of land is Mengzi, Yunnan.
During the reign of Tianqi, during the She'an Rebellion, Sha Yuan made great achievements again and was promoted to Xuanfu envoy by the imperial court.
During the Chongzhen period, Yunnan chieftains rebelled from time to time. Under the guise of countering the rebellion, Sha Yuan continued to plunder the surrounding areas and accumulated countless money and grain.
After Sha Yuan's death, his eldest son Sha Dinghai succeeded to the throne. Due to his ignorance and incompetence, the Sha family chieftain gradually declined.
The local magistrate of Ami Prefecture is generally known as a chieftain rather than a chieftain. After this man's death, his wife Wan remarried to Sha Dinghai. His second son, Sha Dingzhou, secretly had an affair with his sister-in-law, and the two conspired to expel Sha Dinghai and become independent.
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After expelling Sha Dinghai, the adulterous uncle and sister-in-law murdered Wan and her first husband's son, and directly annexed Ami Prefecture.
In other words, in order to help her lover, Wan expelled her second husband and killed her own son with her first wife!
Sha Dingzhou now owned two pieces of chieftain territory, and he helped Mu Tianbo fight the war loyally. Mu Tianbo did not expect at all that Sha Dingzhou would rebel, and he was completely unprepared for this guy.
Last winter, Sha Dingzhou suddenly launched an army, and like his dead father, he kept pretending to quell the chaos.
Mu Tianbo was still very happy, feeling that Sha Dingzhou was indeed loyal, and took the initiative to help the court suppress the rebellion. As a result, they were killed all the way outside Kunming City, and Mu Tianbo was caught off guard, and he quickly escaped with the emperor and ministers.
They counterattacked many times but were repulsed by Sha Dingzhou. They had no choice but to retreat to the Yunnan-Guizhou border and request to surrender to the Datong court.
Historically, Mu Tianbo fought for two or three years, but was unable to defeat Sha Dingzhou. Sha Dingzhou even counterattacked into Guizhou. It was Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo who defeated Sha Dingzhou and helped the Nanming court regain Kunming.
After Zhao Han discussed with the cabinet ministers, he immediately gave a reply: he would accept the submission of the Yunnan Puppet Emperor and Mu Tianbo, but all their titles and official positions would be stripped away. If they wanted to be officials, they would come to Nanjing to receive ideological education. From now on, they can
The mayor of the town started to do it. As for their land, they will be distributed to the farmers according to the rules in the future, but they are allowed to keep an extra twenty acres each.
As for the treasures and food, haha, they were all taken over by Sha Dingzhou in their hasty escape.
Now Mu Tianbo still has more than 10,000 troops, but he can't even pay them. The soldiers are all hungry and waiting for food. Mu Tianbo can no longer hold back, and many officers lead their troops to plunder everywhere in northern Yunnan, just to plunder
One bite to eat.
The imperial court's reply was immediately sent to Yunnan. Zhao Han and the ministers did not care whether the puppet emperor and Mu Tianbo accepted it or not.
What is a pack of water dogs worth?
If before the fall of Kunming, they offered the whole territory of Yunnan, that would be considered a real meritorious service, but now they are just begging for mercy.
The Lantern Festival is here in a blink of an eye, and this year’s lantern show is extremely beautiful.
Zhao Han spent tens of thousands of taels of silver from his own funds to purchase lanterns from the public. With the sponsorship of merchants, they worked together to make two large Ao lanterns.
The largest Ao lantern is fourteen meters high, like a building.
There are many small lamp groups around the lanterns, and the name of the sponsor is written on the lamp plate: Fu Ruixiang Jewelry, Shengchangtai Bank, etc.
This kind of commercial sponsorship is not considered Zhao Han’s first initiative.
It has been around since the mid-Ming Dynasty. Merchants made lanterns to present to the emperor. Although they could not directly display their brand, they could send people to promote it next to the lanterns. Zhao Han just made this kind of commercial advertising more obvious.
At the same time, Zhao Han prohibited local officials from presenting lanterns to the emperor!
That kind of approach can easily lead to comparisons and eventually turn into a disturbing behavior.
On the night of the fourteenth day of the first lunar month of the lunar calendar, lighting tests have begun in various places in the city, and the entire city's police are on standby because the police also have firefighting duties.
In the more than 200 years of the Ming Dynasty, fires were caused by the Lantern Festival more than once or twice. During the Zhengde period, the lanterns presented to Zhu Houzhao by King Ning burned down the Emperor's Qianqing Palace. Zhu Houzhao ordered to put out the fire while watching from the tower.
It was so lively that he even joked: "What a big fireworks display!"
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival was officially held.
The whole city turned into a sea of lanterns, and the imperial city was partially opened to allow people to come in and watch the lanterns. This was a continuation of Zhu Yuanzhang's practice and expressed the joy of the emperor and the people.
The streets and alleys were full of people, and many people from the outer city also came in. Although they could watch the lanterns by Xuanwu Lake, it was not as lively as the inner city, and everyone still wanted to enter the imperial city.
That night, millions of people moved inside and outside Nanjing.
The retail industry is booming to the extreme, with countless small traders and hawkers popping up. As for those mobile stalls, they cannot be managed during the Lantern Festival, and the government is too lazy to send people to collect taxes.
For some fixed stalls, the business tax has become particularly heavy, and bidding is required to occupy them. These are prime seats opened during the Lantern Festival and are located close to Ao Deng.
In the stores along the street, the owners spontaneously put up lanterns to attract passers-by. When there are customers, there will be sales.
"Don't crowd, don't crowd, line up and enter the imperial city one by one!" The Imperial City guard was very anxious.
The common people entered the imperial city through Donghua Gate. If the imperial examination was still there, all the champions would have passed through Donghua Gate.
This section of the street is completely blocked, and it is a "rudder" in the physical sense.
The nearby stalls are also very expensive. People who watch the lanterns can't walk. They can't go into the imperial city to see the lanterns. It's difficult to go to other markets. They just watch other lanterns on the roadside and spend money at those stalls.
"This is the palace?"
"It's still early, the palace is inside, this is just the imperial city."
"The lights in the imperial city are just more beautiful than those outside."
"Look, your Majesty is here!"
"..."
Zhao Han's imperial guard of honor suddenly appeared on the east wall of the Forbidden City.
"Long live your Majesty, long live, long live your Majesty!"
"The empress is a thousand years old, a thousand years old, a thousand years old!"
The people watching the lanterns in the imperial city knelt down one after another. In addition to shouting "Long Live the Mountain", there were also random shouts of excitement.
"Boom~bang!"
"Boom~bang!"
Fireworks were set off in the Forbidden City, and the fireworks bloomed in the sky. People looked up to watch, and many children jumped and clapped their hands and laughed.
Zheng Sen took Zhao Zhenfang back to Beijing to report on his work. His new position was to be the magistrate of the state. This promotion speed can be said to be very fast. First, Zheng Sen himself has outstanding abilities. Second, he worked as a secretary for Zhao Han. Third, he also has a consort.
identity of.
After taking Luzon, Zhao Han fulfilled his promise and conferred Zheng Zhilong as the Duke of Nanhai.
At this point, Zheng Zhilong completely withdrew from the political stage and became a duke in his hometown.
"I haven't been back for two or three years, and the Nanjing Lantern Festival is getting more and more beautiful." Zhao Zhenfang looked around. Zheng Sen helped her block the crowd, and behind her was a nurse holding her son.
Zheng Sen nodded and sighed: "Yes, Nanjing is still lively."
Next to them were Zhao Zhenlan's family. Zhao Zhenlan had already given birth to a son and a daughter.
The two princesses were traveling together, and their husbands were also chatting. Unfortunately, an official and a merchant were more than ten years apart in age, so they had nothing in common.
Zhu Cixiang also took his younger brothers and sisters to watch the lanterns and play in the market.
Zhu Cixiang had just turned sixteen and was not admitted to Jinling University last year. But Zhao Han lent him money so that Zhu Cixiang could go to university at his own expense. As long as he got his diploma, he would get the same diploma from now on.
Zhu Yusuo was also fifteen years old. She was of a slim appearance, but her academic performance could only be regarded as average.
The younger brother stood in front of the stall and seemed to have his eye on a gadget.
Zhu Cihong bought it with a smile, and bought some things for his other brothers and sisters. The emperor lent him ten taels of silver. The purchasing power of the silver was sufficient. As long as it was not luxury goods, they could spend whatever they wanted tonight.
"Brother," Zhu Ailao said with a smile, holding a lantern, "when I make money in the future, I will repay the money borrowed by Your Majesty with you."
Several French envoys stood in the street with dumbfounded eyes, with crosses on their chests and said: "God, have we arrived in your kingdom?"
These French envoys were sent by Louis XIII.
They didn't know yet that the king was dead and that the current French king was the young Louis XIV.
The leader of the mission was stuck in the crowd and moved forward with difficulty: "It's unbelievable. It seems that as many people as half of France are crowded into one city tonight."
Of course not that many. Although Europe is vast and sparsely populated, France and Italy have very high population densities.
"Boom~bang!"
"Boom~bang!"
The second round of fireworks was set off over the Forbidden City, making this year's Lantern Festival extremely lively.
