Zheng Tong is the leader of the Zheng State. A little over half a year ago, his kingdom suffered an unprecedented setback. The Mirage declared war on the Zheng State and then easily defeated the Zheng State's army.
The opponent used advanced bolt-action rifles, which had a faster rate of fire and stronger firepower. His infantry lost 10,000 people in one day, and the 70,000-strong army only lasted 3 days before collapsing.
The subsequent naval battle against Zheng Guo was even more miserable. Zheng Guo's navy was originally very powerful, but a fleet of 40 sailing ships was attacked by 20 paddle steamers from the Mirage Navy. As a result, the entire army was annihilated and the sea control was lost.
Zheng Guo, who suffered successive setbacks, had to bow his head and sue for peace, because the Qi State and the Chu State on both sides were also eyeing it. Losing a Dongwan Island was nothing that could not be achieved, at least it was better than losing the royal city.
The various problems that followed made the ruling class of Zheng unable to breathe, and the barely maintained state of rule was rapidly falling apart.
The administrative system that was barely adequate during peacetime could no longer boost its spirit after the defeat. Although Zheng Tong had been working as a patron, he could only survive in the end.
However, in the past two months, the kingdom seems to have regained some of its vitality, and the coastal area seems to have recovered.
This made Zheng Tong feel a little relieved that his efforts had finally paid off, and those ineffective bastards still knew more or less that the country was the most important thing.
When crises come, these officials who are usually corrupt at least know how to share the country's worries, which shows that they still have a sense of shame.
It is not in vain that he has been generous to others for many years, and it seems that he has accumulated some popularity for Zheng Guo. God bless Zheng Guo, he has survived this time.
Coastal areas, which originally thought nothing would happen, actually paid part of their taxes last month. Although local officials defaulted on about one-fifth for various reasons, the remaining four-fifths were returned to the treasury as scheduled.
This greatly eased Zheng's economic pressure, and also gave Zheng Tong the capital to stabilize the frontier army. After the frontier army received a large sum of military pay, Qi and Chu no longer wanted to take advantage of the situation, and the situation was no longer
Once under control.
Since there was no danger of national subjugation, the big people in the court naturally drank and danced, and they just acted out a peaceful scene of singing and dancing to bring peace to Yao, Shun, and Yu.
Since those dwarfs in the Mirage Kingdom can't fight in, then we shouldn't be greedy and form cliques. Losing the Dongwan Island will not affect our serious fight for power, nor will it affect everyone's salary.
A respectful daily life.
I don’t see you, even Zheng Tong, who is sitting on the throne, really believes that he is the master of ZTE. So what reason do others have for not cooperating with this capable King?
The Prime Minister of the State of Zheng was named Zhang Ming, and he was the head of the Zhang family, the grandfather of the young master of the Zhang family who was planning to rob Le'er on Bunas Street.
The Zhang family master originally planned to lure Tang Mo back to Zheng State so that he could get whatever he wanted, but in the end, because he really had no ability to operate, he basically did nothing and returned to Zheng State.
When he returned home, Zheng Guozheng was being beaten, which frightened the Zhang family master and made him go around a lot, but he finally returned home by luck.
Now, the son of the Zhang family was also among the ministers. Because he had been to Bunas, he was summoned by Zheng Tong for questioning, and then he was given an official position so that he could seek advice on the Datang Group.
As expected, this young master lived up to expectations. Because of his bad impression, he disparaged Bunas. He was regarded as a comrade of the Free War Bureau with outstanding achievements and outstanding achievements.
The great general of the Zheng State is named Li Jun. He is also the head of the Li family, a powerful family. He is in charge of the military affairs of the Zheng State. It has been experiencing great ups and downs recently, which makes it hard to see.
This general first lost the land battle on Dongwan Island against the Mirage Kingdom, and then pulled out the navy and sent out a wave of casualties, which made Zheng Guo almost wet his pants.
But more than two months ago, General Zheng's men sent back the news that they had recovered the lost territory and retaken all the islands except Chudongwan Island.
Although those islands were not snatched back from the Mirage people - Zheng Guo did not have the guts to start a war with the Mirage Kingdom again, but they were taken back, and this cannot be faked (probably).
With the tax revenue from these islands, although it is not much, Zheng Tong can live a more comfortable life.
Therefore, Li Jun, who was originally responsible for the defeat, still sits in the position of general, and the Li family is still the largest force under the Zhang family.
Zheng Tong sat on the throne and listened patiently to the quarrel among the ministers and workers below. The core of the quarrel revolved around the Datang Group.
The envoy who went to Bunas to ask for Dongwan Island has sent back the news that the person in charge of the Datang Group has no intention of returning Dongwan Island.
This is a result that anyone can guess. If we can only regain the lost ground with a few words, then the army will be of no use.
That's why the ministers had this debate. Some people believed that Zheng should prepare for war and regain its glory. At least it should defeat the mirage and maintain its dignity.
Others believe that they should please the Great China Empire, let Great China protect Zheng from the threat of war, and then recuperate and restore national strength.
People on both sides seemed to have their own reasons, and they were talking about state affairs, but to Zheng Tong's ears, it sounded like another large-scale party dispute.
That’s right, partisanship!
Those who want to prepare for war and avenge the mirage are not talking about strengthening national defense and training the army. What they are actually talking about is buying guns to expand the army and enhance the strength of the military.
People who talk about recuperating and enduring humiliation are not talking about reviving people's livelihood and restoring national strength. What they are actually talking about is appointing new officials and giving civil servants more say.
It seems that both sides are competing for national destiny, but in fact they are shouting about the size of the piece of cake in front of them. But Zheng Tong has no good way, so he can only follow the rules of the game.
Although he is the king of the country, he cannot afford to offend either side. At this moment, he can only sit on his throne and act as a totem, a symbol, and a clay Bodhisattva.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! He had also asked Mr. Zhang from the Zhang family who had been to Bunas before, and from some of the details vividly described by him, he learned a little bit about Bunas.
Mr. Zhang said that there was a lot of entertainment and extravagance there. Taverns were everywhere, and women were half-clothed and shameless. The streets and alleys were full of casinos and brothels, and the breakdown of etiquette and music was unsightly.
He also said that the air there smelled suffocating and choking, the chimneys outside the city were smoking all the time, the people on the street were disrespectful to the nobles and lawless, and some women even carried pistols.
Every word he said was true, but when combined, it didn't seem quite right. Zheng Tong was fooled by his words all afternoon, and felt that it was impossible for such a magical city to be able to grow in just a few years.
Within it, it has the power to compete with a country.
While Zheng Tong was taking it for granted, below the throne, the general representing the military was still speaking. He confidently and loudly stated in the main hall the reasons why weapons should be purchased: "The Mirage defeated us before because our armaments were weak and our weapons were weak.
Falling behind! If we don’t organize and train the army and continue to strive for self-improvement, we will still suffer losses!”
"Suffering a loss? You finally have some money in the national treasury, but you are clamoring to buy weapons and recruit soldiers. In my opinion, you should revitalize people's livelihood and resume production first! Only when a country is rich can its army be strong, and the people's support is the greatest
Weapons!" The minister on the other side disagreed and immediately retorted.
"People's hearts? Can you use people's hearts to destroy Mirage's armored warships? Can you use people's hearts to block Mirage's new guns and cannons?" The general snorted coldly, and immediately said disdainfully and sarcastically: "I'm afraid it's the people of Mirage who came in.
At that time, your heart...may not be loyal, right?"
"You are a slanderer! What nonsense! I am so loyal that I can show it to the sun and the moon! You are the one who is greedy for life, afraid of death, and afraid of war! When the people of the Mirage took over Dongwan Island, why did General Han die in the battle, but you ran back?
?Huh?" The minister was not to be outdone and immediately fought back.
The general couldn't keep his face, his voice was raised several times, and he cursed inappropriately: "You say I'm afraid of death? You deserve it! If I weren't here, I would have chopped you off today, you despicable and shameless villain!"
"Am I a villain? I am strong-willed and not afraid of power! If you dare to kill me, come and try! If you don't kill me, you will be like this..." The so-called civil servants over there don't have any dignity, and they don't seem to have a professional background.
, full of foul language.
Zheng Tong actually agreed to buy some weapons. Since both the special envoy and Mr. Zhang said that Datang Group was not easy to get along with, it was logical to buy some Cyric's new weapons.
Didn’t Mirage just buy a lot of Cyric’s new weapons, and then push Zheng Guo to the ground and beat him up? Now Zheng Guo also bought some Cyric’s weapons, wouldn’t it be possible to regain his position?
This may be the simplest logical deduction: if everyone has the same weapons, then Zheng Guo will never lose so ugly.
Therefore, Zheng Tong and Li Jun secretly have a military procurement plan, and this procurement plan has already begun operations.
Zheng Guo ordered a large number of arms and supplies from Cyric, including rifles, cannons, paddle steamers, etc., which were expensive. This was also Zheng Tong's move to support Li Jun and counter Zhang Ming.
Because of this matter, Zheng Tong also had an unpleasant quarrel with Prime Minister Zhang Ming, because Zhang Ming strongly opposed this matter.
The debate now is whether the next batch of larger-scale procurement plans should continue. If so, where will the money come from?
According to the military's idea, in the next two years, the army will equip 100,000 bolt-action rifles, equip 400 advanced artillery pieces, and purchase at least 50 paddle steamers.
It is a pity that Zheng Guo cannot afford the money for such a large procurement project. This is why officials from the Zhang Ming faction are now strongly opposed to it.
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There is nothing going on today, and I am writing very slowly. The second update will be very late, so you can read it tomorrow morning. I will postpone the supplementary update for now, for fear that I won’t be able to write it.