Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 489 There is never absolute fairness!

And this is exactly the reason why Chai Zhixin has such a subtle expression.

Well, because he knew that the Japanese were really going to make a killing with gold coins this time!

Datang is indeed the big brother, but he is not your biological father and has no obligation to help you for nothing.

If you want the big brother to help you, at least you have to pay the protection fee first!

When Chai Zhixin heard the shogunate elders' attempts to retain him, he did not agree directly, but instead kept it in suspense.

"We will discuss this matter later. For now, I need to report the changes in Japan to the court as soon as possible..."

Upon hearing this, the several shogunate elders on the opposite side had no choice but to nod in agreement.

However, their expressions were obviously not good at this time.

Because they all understood that the Tang Dynasty might make huge demands on them.

They probably have to prepare for heavy bleeding!
"If I had known this would happen, my shogunate should have trained a new navy."

After Chai Zhixin left, Abe Masahiro slammed the table heavily, his expression filled with indignation.

It's not that Japan didn't have a navy at that time, but its navy was too weak.

At this time, Japan's navy was mostly composed of old ships such as the Atakabune, most of which were antiques from several centuries ago.

When it comes to combat effectiveness, it is probably not as good as our Qing Dynasty during the same period.

Not to mention competing with the British fleet!
The gap here is really like the difference between heaven and earth.

Upon hearing this, Masamune Horida let out a long breath and then continued.

"Well, it's easy to say, but the cost of training a new navy is something the shogunate can't afford."

As we all know, the navy is a costly branch of the military.

From shipbuilding, to training, to building naval ports, to logistical support, each item costs an astronomical figure.

And nothing can be missing. If any one of them is missing, the navy will not be able to form combat effectiveness.

With the current financial capabilities of the Tokugawa shogunate, it is already stretched to the limit to support a division of the shogunate's new army.

Even the entire shogunate had to tighten its belts to barely meet the needs of the shogunate's new army for weapons and food.

There is simply no money to build an even more expensive navy!
Even if you sell out the shogunate, you probably won't be able to build a fleet.

An Teng Xinzheng, who was standing by, heard this and spoke.

"I remember that the Tang Dynasty said some time ago that it would eliminate a number of old ships in the fleet?"

"Can my shogunate obtain a few old warships from the Tang Dynasty at a low price and use them for training personnel first?"

"Once the personnel training is almost complete, we will borrow money from the Tang Dynasty to purchase new warships to form a fleet..."

When the Tang Dynasty's fleet was first formed, its main force was sailing battleships and sailing warships equipped with steam-assisted power.

Later, they gradually became steam-powered ironclad ships and new steel battleships.

As time passed, the first batch of battleships and sailing ships equipped with steam auxiliary power had almost lost their actual combat value.

In order to save military expenses, the Tang Dynasty began to prepare to eliminate a batch of old ship types.

However, the old ship types here are relative to those of powerful countries like the Tang Dynasty and Britain.

For the vast majority of other countries in the world, even the ship types that the Tang Dynasty is about to eliminate are still advanced equipment that they can never reach.

Not to mention anything else, the marine steam turbine on the warship alone is a real good thing.

When An Teng Xinzheng said this, everyone couldn't help but look at each other, but in the end they all nodded in agreement.

"Well, that's feasible!"

"Let's send someone to contact the Tang Dynasty first!"

"Yes, if Japan had a few steamships now, we wouldn't be so suppressed by the British..."

At this moment, the old centers of the shogunate could not help but come up with the idea of implementing large-scale reforms.

But soon, this idea was suppressed by themselves.

reform?

To put it nicely, it was reform, but in reality, it was the death of the shogunate that was to be overturned.

No matter how pessimistic they are, these vested interests under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate will not take the initiative to reform and revolutionize themselves!

……

Beijing!

Datang Royal Hospital.

Outside the hospital, a convoy drove in.

With a screeching sound of brakes, the convoy stopped in front of the hospital gate.

As soon as the car stopped, the door was opened and Li Yi couldn't wait to step out of the car.

Kong Jing, the current director of the Datang Royal Hospital, stepped forward and saluted.

"Your Majesty, may your Majesty be blessed!"

Li Yi came forward, stretched out his hand to support Kong Jing, and asked anxiously.

"How is Concubine Yun doing now?"

Hearing this, Kong Jing took a deep breath and replied.

"Your Majesty, rest assured. Although Concubine Yun accidentally fell, she is in good health and is not seriously injured."

"As long as the doctor prescribes a few doses of medicine to keep the fetus safe, everything will be fine..."

Li Yi came to the Tang Royal Hospital this time not for inspection.

It was because one of his concubines accidentally fell and had a miscarriage after becoming pregnant, and was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment.

Although Li Yi is currently the emperor, he cannot be as indifferent to his children as those famous emperors in history.

Because now he only has two children, a son and a daughter, and Concubine Yun is pregnant with the third child.

Compared with his status as emperor, Li Yi indeed had too few offspring.

It's like this with everything. If you have too much, you won't care about it. If you have too little, everyone will naturally treat it as a treasure.

Therefore, as soon as Li Yi received the news, he rushed to the Royal Hospital to visit, fearing that he would receive some bad news.

After hearing Kong Jing's answer, Li Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He patted Kong Jing's shoulder and spoke in a gentle tone.

"Well done!"

"I will reward everyone handsomely later..."

After saying this, Li Yi signaled Kong Jing to take him into the ward for a visit.

After Li Yi confirmed his arrival, the Royal Hospital was cleared out.

Well, to be precise, all patients and their families were required to stay in the ward and were not allowed to move around at will.

Even doctors and nurses were required to stay at their posts and not to leave without permission.

Only a few attending physicians and management of the hospital were allowed to receive him.

Several armed guards are on duty in each aisle.

The purpose is to ensure Li Yi's safety.

Li Yi walked through the corridor and led people to the area of Class A wards.

After arriving here, the security level has obviously been raised to a higher level, and guards can be seen everywhere.

Li Yi walked over and the guards saluted him one by one.

Shouting "Long live His Majesty!"

Finally, Li Yi arrived outside a ward in a detached villa and walked in.

Soon, he saw Yun Fei with a pale face lying on a bed in the ward.

Yun Fei's full name is Yu Shilin. She is a beauty selected from the public during Li Yi's last talent show.

She has a slim figure and an ethereal temperament, and her eyebrows and eyes are somewhat similar to those of the Fairy Sister. Of course, she is a thinner version. Such an extremely outstanding beauty was deeply loved by Li Yi after entering the palace.

Although Li Yi did not favor her exclusively, he would often spend the night with her every three to five days.

Now that she is lucky enough to have a dragon seed, Li Yi is naturally concerned.

Li Yi walked to the bed, sat down on a chair that was brought over, then reached out and held Yun Fei's soft and boneless little hand.

"My dear, how do you feel now?"

"How did you fall? Did someone hurt you? Tell me, and I will seek justice for you!"

After learning that Concubine Yun had fallen, Li Yi subconsciously thought that maybe the harem abortion team was online and someone wanted to harm her?
It's no wonder Li Yi was suspicious. He was forced to watch "Legend of Zhen Huan" many times with his ex-girlfriend before he traveled through time. When he encountered something, he would subconsciously think in that direction.

Yun Fei's big eyes were wet like a hurt deer, and she stared at Li Yi without blinking. This look made Li Yi's heart melt.

Under Li Yi's gaze, she shook her head gently and spoke in a gentle voice.

"Your Majesty, I am fine."

"This time, I slipped because of my own carelessness. I cannot blame others. Please, Your Majesty, have mercy on me and do not vent your anger on the maids and eunuchs around me..."

After hearing this, the anger on Li Yi's face eased a little.

"What on earth is going on? Why did you fall down when you were fine?"

"Didn't I tell you to take good care of your baby and not to be too active?"

Upon hearing this, Concubine Yun said a little embarrassedly.

"I received a letter from home saying that my brother is useless and has caused trouble. I am worried."

"That's why I accidentally fell and had a miscarriage."

"I know I was wrong, and I will never do it again..."

While saying this, Yun Fei continued to stare at Li Yi with her deer eyes without blinking, her eyes filled with a mixture of pleading and grievance.

Upon hearing this, Li Yi smiled and said, "Okay, okay, don't worry about these things, just focus on taking care of your baby, and I will take care of the rest."

As he spoke, Li Yi touched Concubine Yun's face, his eyes full of doting.

After hearing what Concubine Yun said, he understood what was going on.

Concubine Yun fell down, maybe it was true.

But it shouldn’t cause a miscarriage.

Li Yi judged that the reason why she did such a thing was probably because her incompetent brother had caused trouble and wanted to ask Li Yi for mercy.

Li Yi was a little angry about this.

But now Concubine Yun is pregnant after all, and it is hard to say whether she is really having a miscarriage, so Li Yi really can't get angry with her.

If Concubine Yun was frightened by his anger and really had a miscarriage, it would be too late for Li Yi to regret it.

Facing the current Concubine Yun, Li Yi can only comfort her with kind words.

Well, although this woman is a little stupid, she used this kind of thing to joke with Li Yi.

But she is really beautiful, and she is pregnant, which is like having a hostage in her belly.

Li Yi couldn't even vent his anger!

After patiently talking to Concubine Yun for a while, Li Yi used the excuse of being busy with government affairs to lead his people away from the Tang Royal Hospital.

On the way back, Li Yi sat in the back seat of the car and casually instructed Zhang Zhidong who was sitting in the passenger seat.

"Xiaoda, go check what happened at Yunfei's house."

"After you get the results, report to me as soon as possible!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhidong immediately nodded to show that he understood.

……

Soon, the car drove all the way back to the Old Summer Palace.

Li Yi walked back to his study and began to deal with government affairs.

Not long after, Zhang Zhidong came back to report.

"Your Majesty, I have already found out that something did happen in Concubine Yun's family."

As he spoke, he handed a report to Li Yi and began to explain.

"There are currently three people in Concubine Yun's family, namely her father, mother, and an elder brother."

"At present, Concubine Yun's parents and brother have been arranged to live in the capital."

"Half a month ago, Concubine Yun's brother had a conflict with several other guests while drinking wine in a brothel, and a fight broke out."

"Afterwards, several guests who had clashed with him were stabbed to death in the streets of Beijing."

"After the Patrol Police investigated, they determined that Concubine Yun's brother was the murderer. Several eyewitnesses can prove that it was indeed him who led the group to commit the crime in the street."

"This is the information we have so far!"

After reporting this, Zhang Zhidong began to carefully observe Li Yi's expression.

Looking at the changeable expression on Li Yi's face, Zhang Zhidong didn't know what to say.

This Yun Fei's brother is really stupid!
Do you have to kill someone yourself?
What if you even hire someone?
There are a lot of desperadoes these days, it won’t cost much to hire one!
As long as you hire someone and pass the buck, things here will work out very well.

But now?

Killing someone in the street, with witnesses and evidence everywhere, you can't make excuses!

"Your Majesty, how should this matter be handled?"

Zhang Zhidong asked Li Yidao.

Li Yi's expression darkened slightly as he asked.

"According to the newly edited Tang Dynasty Criminal Law, how should we deal with someone who kills someone in the street?"

Zhang Zhidong thought for a moment and then said.

"In reply to your Majesty, according to Article 12 of the newly compiled Tang Criminal Law, murderers can be sentenced to death, life imprisonment, imprisonment of ten years or more, or exile, depending on the severity of the circumstances and the severity of the impact..."

"If someone holds a title, his title can be stripped to pay for his crime."

The reason why different punishments are imposed for the same crime of murder is mainly due to the different circumstances.

For example, revenge killing and murder are two completely different situations.

According to the criminal law of the Tang Dynasty, if a child kills someone to avenge his parents' blood feud, his sentence may be reduced at the discretion of the court, but the most likely sentence is ten years or exile.

If it is murder, rape, or even serial killing, which has a more serious impact, then the death penalty is likely to be imposed.

The crime committed by Yun Fei's brother was clearly a homicide, and he killed several people in the street, which had an extremely bad impact.

In addition, according to the current rule in the Tang Dynasty, no one can be granted a title without military merit, so Yun Fei's family does not have any title to atone for the crime.

There is no escape from the death penalty!

However, Zhang Zhidong finally gave an answer.

"Based on Brother Yun Fei's situation, he should be exiled!"

He understood that given Concubine Yun's current condition, it would be impossible for Li Yi to sentence her brother to death.

If that was the case, Zhang Zhidong, as the secretary, would naturally have to give Li Yi a way out.

Hearing this, Li Yi took a deep breath and said expressionlessly.

"Just exile? Considering the severity of this case, I think the minimum punishment should be death penalty or life imprisonment!"

Zhang Zhidong was obviously confused when he heard this.

What does it mean that he can’t get the emperor!
You know, Concubine Yun is pregnant now!
Just when Zhang Zhidong was confused, Li Yi continued.

"However, if we can obtain a letter of forgiveness from the victim's family and reduce the impact of the case, then according to Tang Dynasty law, the sentence can be reduced."

Again, the law has always been a tool for rulers, not for maintaining fairness and justice.

The same case, committed by different people, is punished completely differently, which is common throughout history.

Because this world has never been fair!
As a feudal ruler and the biggest vested interest in the ruling order, Li Yi would naturally not hypocritically pursue fairness.

All he really needs to do is to maintain superficial fairness as much as possible to ensure the stability of the ruling order, nothing more.

If he really wants to pursue fairness, the first thing he should do is to step down from the throne.

And this is, of course, impossible!

As soon as Li Yi said this, Zhang Zhidong immediately understood.

Then, Li Yi continued with a blank expression.

"By the way, didn't Yun Fei's father just get a job at the Ministry of Water Resources? Let him quit!"

"He can't even teach his own son well, so why should he be an official?!"

The reason why Li Yi asked Yun Fei's father to resign was certainly not to give an explanation to the deceased.

More importantly, I want to use this opportunity to remind Concubine Yun not to try to be clever in front of him in the future.

Everything in the world belongs to her only if he, Li Yi, gives it to her.

If Li Yi doesn't give it to her, not only can she not snatch it, but she would be guilty of even thinking about it!

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhidong immediately nodded to show that he understood, and then took his leave.

Not long after Zhang Zhidong left, Zuo Zongtang found Li Yi again to report.

"Your Majesty, the latest news from Japan is that the Edo War between Britain and Japan has come to an end."

"The British army failed to capture Edo, but they did not give up the war against Japan. Instead, they used their naval power to harass the Japanese coast."

"The British fleet attacked Kobe, Osaka, Kanagawa, Nagasaki and other places along the Japanese coast, and achieved considerable results."

"The Japanese suffered heavy losses!"

While reporting, Zuo Zongtang handed the memorial in his hand to Li Yi.

Li Yi took the report and began to read it.

As he flipped through the pages, Li Yi's expression began to become uncertain.

After a moment, he curled his lips and said.

"Tsk, that's interesting."

“It’s really interesting!”

Seeing this, Zuo Zongtang asked with a slightly nervous look.

"Your Majesty, how should our Tang Dynasty deal with this matter?"

"Should we send troops to help Japan drive out the invading British fleet?"

After hearing this, Li Yi pondered for a moment and then spoke.