The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Accompanied by bursts of clear whistle sounds, a train broke through the rain and sped towards the capital. The wheels rolled over the rails, making a low clicking sound.

The raindrops hit the car window, the car curtains were drawn open, and a "non-human" face appeared on the window glass. It was Major William who had disappeared for a long time.

William sighed deeply as he looked out the window at the trees that were rapidly retreating. Five years had passed, and he was back to this place that frightened him. On that day, his uncle was beheaded by the Tang army, and more than 10,000 Westerners with the same skin color, hair color, and appearance as him were brutally slaughtered by the Tang army.

He is often awakened by nightmares in the middle of the night, and this nightmare has haunted him for five years.

Five years ago, he fled here as a loser, and now, he returned here as a loser again.

He came to make peace.

Thinking of this, William smiled bitterly. When he first set foot on this land, he knew that he must not provoke this behemoth. But his uncle and the group of nobles naively believed that they could defeat this "corrupt and backward" Eastern Empire.

But the reality slapped them hard in the face. Not only did they not gain any advantage, but they also paid a heavy price.

According to the Tang Dynasty calendar, it is now mid-February of the fourth year of Jianwu. Five months ago, at the beginning of October of the third year of Jianwu, five steel behemoths emitting black smoke appeared on the sea of ​​Annan, annihilated their fleet with a crushing force, rushed into the port, destroyed the artillery and docks, and finally left the territorial waters of Annan in a swagger.

According to the surviving naval officers and soldiers, their artillery shells could not cause much damage to the Tang army's warships, while the power of the Tang army's artillery shells was incredibly great. Once hit, a big hole would be created. Moreover, the Tang army's artillery fired very quickly. Often, they would be hit by three shots from the enemy after only firing one shot. They were passively taking the beating the whole time.

Some people suspected that the Tang army's warships had iron hulls and their artillery were breech-loading guns. These were new technologies they were developing, but they were preempted by the Tang army.

In addition, the displacement of Tang's warships was between 6,000 and 7,000 tons, while their first-class sailing warships had a maximum displacement of only 2,500 to 3,500 tons, which was simply incomparable.

Not only was the coalition force completely defeated at sea, but it also suffered setbacks in the war on land. Before setting off, William received a battle report from the East India Company that the Tang Army's Southern Xinjiang Corps had completely wiped out the East India Company's reinforcements to Burma, captured the capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, and captured the Konbaung royal family.

The East India Company said in the war report that the troops fighting against them were not the real Tang army, but the Tang vassal army, the Japanese. Although the Japanese were short in stature, they were extremely powerful and brutal.

However, they did not seek peace because of their defeat. They discovered a bigger threat, a threat that could threaten their homeland at any time, the Ming Dynasty.

This is a new empire spanning across the Eurasian continent, a regime that combines politics, military and religion. Due to their firm beliefs and fanaticism, although their weapons and equipment are poor, their combat power is extremely strong, and there are even exaggerated scenes where a team of dozens of people chases hundreds or thousands of Rakshasas.

Originally, they did not take the Ming Dynasty seriously until a great battle eight months ago.

Because of that group of usurers, Luosha and Daming came into conflict. Over the next two years, the two sides would engage in firefights at regular intervals, nearly a hundred times in large and small clashes, with both sides suffering losses.

The Rakshasa Queen has been mobilizing troops, preparing to wipe out the Ming Dynasty in one fell swoop.

The Ming Dynasty was also accumulating strength in preparation for a decisive battle with the Russians.

This war started a year ago. Relying on advanced weapons and equipment, the Russians defeated the more numerous Ming people and forced them to flee in panic. They then pushed all the way to the Ming capital, the Holy City.

Just when everyone thought that the Ming Dynasty would be destroyed, the war situation took a shocking turn. The main force of the Ming Dynasty suddenly appeared behind the Russians, cut off their food supply, and defeated them so badly that they fled in panic.

Everyone then realized that Queen Rakshasa had fallen into Shui Rong's trap!

Faced with the two-pronged attack from the Ming Dynasty, the Russians suffered a crushing defeat, and the Russian queen fled back to Russia in a panic with only a part of the cavalry.

This battle made them realize Shui Rong’s shamelessness. Such a villain must be eliminated.

They decided to form an alliance with the Russians, march eastward, destroy the Ming Dynasty, eliminate this heresy, and take back their land.

Therefore, they had to negotiate peace with the Tang Dynasty and cease fire.

Of course, the ceasefire is only temporary. After destroying the Ming Dynasty, we will slowly deal with the Tang Dynasty and destroy it.

At this time, the door of the box was pushed open and a Westerner walked in.

The Western Yi people said: "Major, we are about to arrive at Luhe Post Station, get ready to get off the train."

William nodded, picked up the bag he was carrying, turned around and walked out.

Accompanied by a few clear whistle sounds, the train slowly stopped. William and several Westerners boarded the carriage prepared by the Ministry of Rites and then drove towards the capital.

William opened the curtain beside the train and looked at the workers who were adding coal and water to the train. His eyes flashed. This thing eats coal and water, unlike horses and mules that need to rest. Once a war breaks out, troops can be assembled quickly, and soldiers no longer need to travel long distances. They can immediately go into battle when they arrive at the battlefield!
The Tang Dynasty laid railway tracks directly to the Tianjin Wharf. They landed at the Tianjin Wharf on the Tang Dynasty navy's warships and then took the train to Beijing. Although they had to stop several times to refuel with coal and water, it was still much faster than taking a car or ship, saving a lot of time.

They must have this weapon of war.

Thinking of this, William lowered the curtains and closed his eyes to rest.

This was the first railway in the Tang Dynasty, running from north to south, starting from Tianjin Port in the south and ending at Shengjing in the north. If you wanted to go to Beijing, you had to get off at Luheyi.

The reason why the railway was not laid to the capital was that the civil and military ministers opposed it, believing that it would affect the dragon veins and destroy the feng shui. Another important reason was safety. As the speed of trains became faster and faster, the cabinet and the Ministry of War were worried that if a rebellion broke out, the rebels could use the trains to directly attack the capital.

Although Luhe Post Station is only a few dozen miles away from the capital, these few dozen miles give the capital time to react and deal with the rebellion.

Li Hu agreed to the advice of the cabinet and court officials not because of these two points, but because of the future development of the capital. Of course, he would not demolish the city wall, but just build a few rings around the wall.

At the same time, a train stopped outside Wanping City, and then a group of people who could be seen at a glance as "not of our race" got off the carriage. They were the Konbaung royal family.

In the past three years, with the rapid economic development and technological progress of the Tang Dynasty, the lives of ordinary people have undergone tremendous changes.

State-owned textile factories were opened all over the country, which led to a surge in textile production, reduced costs, and enabled more people to enjoy high-quality and low-cost textiles. Not only that, but it also provided a large number of jobs.

In addition, the Royal Academy also invented the steam tractor, which significantly improved agricultural production efficiency. In addition, the scientists that Li Hu hired from the West at great expense invented chemical products such as fertilizers and pesticides, which also brought revolutionary changes to agricultural production.

With the continuous improvement of the railway network, the abundant agricultural products in the south are continuously transported to the north by train. Due to the reduction of transportation costs, not only can the people in the north taste rich and affordable agricultural products, but also bring rich income to the people in the south.

Of course, there are pros and cons.

In the early days of the operation of state-owned textile factories, a large number of high-quality and low-cost textiles flooded into the market, impacting traditional hand-spinning households and leaving many people engaged in hand-spinning textile processing unemployed, especially those in small family workshops.

This caused a commotion, and a protest march broke out in Jiangnan, spreading to several provinces. Some people even shouted "smash the machines, and prohibit machines from replacing workers in production." The Qingliu group also wrote letters to the government, demanding that state-owned textile factories be banned from competing with ordinary people for profits, etc. As a latecomer, Li Hu naturally understood that every major technological innovation would be accompanied by controversy and pain, and he certainly would not compromise.

In addition, there was a conspiracy behind this incident. It was a large-scale political event deliberately created by a series of vested interests, including textile factory owners, wealthy merchants, and the Jiangnan gentry behind them.

Li Hu was not the emperor of the former Ming Dynasty, and he would not compromise once the gentry from Jiangnan started making trouble. Besides, he had moved all the gentry from Jiangnan to the capital, breaking up their complicated network of relationships.

At the instruction of Li Hu, the Censor of Jiangnan Province submitted a memorial to the court, exposing that the gentry of Jiangnan had colluded with local officials, taken advantage of their power to default on the court's taxes for many years, secretly resisted officials, and occupied more land.

Li Hu ordered a thorough investigation and recalled Heshen from Korea. With the cooperation of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he carried out a purge of the gentry and landlords in Jiangnan. He also made it clear in the imperial edict that no matter how much money and grain they owed, they would all be severely punished.

He Shen and Kong Qingxiang strictly followed Li Hu's imperial edict. Not only the gentry and landlords, but also some scholars who owed only a penny were arrested and sent to the capital to be punished. The case implicated many people, dozens of Jiangnan officials were killed, and more than 10,000 gentry, scholars and landlords were exiled to Korea, including many Jiangnan literary giants.

Li Hu used this case to recover millions of silver in taxes, crack down on the gentry and landlords in Jiangnan, nationalize the land in Jiangnan, and by the way clean up the local officials in Jiangnan, thus killing two birds with one stone.

However, this incident also brought Li Hu a lot of criticism, because the gentry and landlords in Jiangnan owed taxes to Dashun.

In order to stabilize the people's hearts in Jiangnan, Li Hu opened state-owned farms and factories in Jiangnan, providing a large number of jobs for local people. He also promoted the construction of government-run community schools, taught enlightenment readings such as "Hundred Family Names" and "Thousand Character Classic", as well as basic knowledge such as classics, history, calendar, and mathematics, and popularized basic education.

Nowadays, ordinary people can basically understand notices written in vernacular, and no longer have to beg officials or people with honors in a humble manner.

During these three years, in addition to the rapid development of the Tang Dynasty's economy and technology, the royal population also grew by leaps and bounds.

Li Hu is now the father of seven children. Xue Baochai gave birth to the second prince, Hubo gave birth to the third prince, Xiangling gave birth to the eldest princess, Princess Le'an, and last year Lin Daiyu gave birth to a daughter for Li Hu, who was named Princess Shouchang. Then Jia Tanchun gave birth to the fourth prince, and Jia Yingchun gave birth to the third daughter, Princess Jingyi.

In addition, Li Hu conferred the title of Concubine An on Jia Tanchun, hoping that she would be like her sister Jia Yingchun, be law-abiding and live a harmonious life.

Li Hu was in Jia Yingchun's palace at this time, holding his third daughter, Princess Jingyi, and talking to Jia Yingchun.

"The old lady was so happy when Yun gave birth to a son that she even said that if Baoyu could pass the imperial examination again, it would be worth it even if she died immediately." Jia Yingchun still spoke slowly and calmly.

Li Hu smiled. As expected, Jia Baoyu, who was fooling around with Miaoyu in the garden, did not pass the imperial examination. He married Shi Xiangyun last year and had a big fat boy this year.

Thinking about Jia Yingchun's words, Li Hu blinked his eyes. Should he arrange a special examination to help Jia Baoyu pass the exam and fulfill Grandmother Jia's oath?

Jia Yingchun paused: "Xiren was driven out of Rongguo Mansion by Baoyu"

Li Hu's eyes flickered: "Because of Miaoyu?"

Jia Yingchun nodded.

Li Hu shook his head slightly. Since Jia Baoyu failed to pass the imperial examination, Jia's grandmother vented her anger on Miaoyu. She "invited" her to leave and sent people to tell the temples around the capital not to take Miaoyu in. She wanted to force Miaoyu to leave the capital and stay away from Jia Baoyu.

But Miaoyu was also a person of great perseverance. Adding to her master's last words before his death, she bought a house in Huazhi Lane, more than two miles away from the Jia Mansion, and settled down there.

It is said that Grandmother Jia was very angry, but she did not want to bully a weak woman, so she had to restrain Jia Baoyu and not allow him to go out, even to the Imperial College.

In the end, Xiren took on everything!

Hey, wouldn’t Xiren still marry Qi Guan?

Just as he was thinking about it, the little fat man's voice came from outside the palace: "Your Majesty, the Western Barbarians' envoys have entered the capital, and the Burmese royal family has also been sent to the Street of Nations."

Li Hu: "Where is He Shen now?"

The little fat man: "Your Majesty, He Shen should be at home with the Tenth Princess right now."

Li Hu: "Tell He Shen to talk to the Western Barbarians slowly as we have agreed before. Also, let Wang Wenzhao follow He Shen for some experience."

Little Fatty: "Yes."

Jia Yingchun asked with a gossipy look on her face: "I heard that the tenth princess is pregnant?"

Li Hu laughed: "When did you learn to gossip?"

Jia Yingchun blushed and was about to speak.

Princess Jingyi in Li Hu's arms woke up. Babies are like this, they cry when they wake up, either because they are hungry or need a diaper change.

Li Hu touched the diaper skillfully, and then said to Jia Yingchun: "My daughter is hungry."

Jia Yingchun said "hmm", picked up her daughter, turned and walked into the bedroom.

There has always been a rule in the palace that concubines are not allowed to feed their children themselves. There are many reasons for this, but the two main reasons are that the prince cannot be too close to his biological mother, otherwise the prince will be deeply influenced by his biological mother and will pose a threat to the imperial power. In addition, there is a concern that concubines are young and weak and cannot provide adequate nutrition, which is not conducive to the growth of the prince.

Li Hu would not do such a thing that violated human ethics. As for the so-called taboos in the palace, they were nothing but violence and oppression imposed by the imperial power. By distorting the mother-child relationship, the emperor strengthened his control over the princes and consolidated feudal autocracy. How could a small child be affected? As for nutrition, just add a few more.

Li Hu's children were all raised personally by Lin Daiyu and others.

Li Hu picked up the tea bowl and took a sip, then smiled. Heshen finally "caught the ashes". He was moved by the Tenth Princess's persistence, fell into her tenderness, and made a mistake.

Li Hu couldn't help laughing when he thought of Heshen kneeling outside the study.

At this moment, the little fat man's voice came from outside the palace again: "Your Majesty, Yang Qilong has entered the capital."

Li Hu's eyes lit up. The two families actually came together! This was good. The more lively it was, the better for Datang.

He had already thought about it. In the next war, the Tang Dynasty would remain neutral, conduct arms trade with both sides, sell weapons and equipment and supplies to them, and make a fortune from the war. He would use their money to support the development of the Tang Dynasty's military industry, speed up the Tang Dynasty's pace of industrialization, and let the people of the Tang Dynasty live a prosperous life.

When both sides are exhausted, the Tang Dynasty will come out and reap the fruits of victory. (End of this chapter)