Chapter 33333335【Building Railways】

At the end of the fourteenth year of Qianlong's reign, Julmot Namzal was indeed unable to restrain his wolfish ambitions, and began to go against the grain, killing loyal people, killing, confiscating, and dismissing those whom his father relied on for his trust, and even asked the minister stationed in Tibet to withdraw the officers and soldiers stationed in Tibet. .

Fu Qing saw that he had exposed his ambition, so he immediately invited him to the upstairs of the Office of the Minister in Tibet, recounted his crimes face to face, and drew his sword to kill him.

After receiving the news, Zhuermot Namzal's party members refused to surrender. They also wanted to rebel and besiege the office of the Minister in Tibet. As a result, they were shot at by the officers and soldiers stationed in Tibet with powerful firepower. They suffered heavy casualties and were beaten to pieces. In the end, all the remaining party members were captured alive and executed by hanging.

When the news came, Xiang Nan was very happy. He named Fu Qing a first-class uncle, Labutun a loyal and brave Batulu, and a first-class baron.

In order to prevent similar incidents from happening again, Xiang Nan not only sent troops to Qinghai-Tibet, but also promulgated the 29th Article of the "Regulations on Dealing with the Aftermath in Tibet", abolishing the king's title, establishing the Kashag (local government), and appointing four Kalons (three lay people and one monk). ) to decentralize power and coordinate Tibetan affairs under the control of ministers stationed in Tibet and Tibetan monks.

This move greatly strengthened the power of the Minister in Tibet, concentrated all powers in the Minister in Tibet, and established an administrative system with the Minister in Tibet as the main body in the form of legal provisions, making the Minister in Tibet the highest administrative chief in governing the local area. From then on, new local political, taxation, economic, military and other systems were established.

 …

In February of the fifteenth year of Qianlong's reign, Xiang Nan ordered his four elder brothers, Yong Huang, Yong Cong, Yong Qi and Yong Cang, to patrol the world on his behalf. Yong Huang went to the east, Yong Cong went to the west, Yong Qi went to the south, and Yong Cang went to the north. Inspect official corruption, people's livelihood suffering, river construction and water conservancy, grain storage reserves, etc.

This move is to broaden the horizons of the princes, lest they grow up in a deep palace and have their knowledge restricted by the Forbidden City. He doesn't know what is good and what is evil, he doesn't know what is wise and what is foolish, and he is played by the ministers in the midst of applause.

Like Emperor Daoguang, when the foreign powers invaded, the Ming and Qing armies were defeated, but he received good news of victory in the palace. Therefore, they were completely kept in the dark and their arrangements were ineffective, leading to a series of disastrous defeats.

Second, although Xiang Nan continued to implement the secret system established by Kangxi and Yongzheng when he first ascended the throne. But to be honest, in recent years, the secret discount system has gradually become ineffective.

Most of the secret reports submitted by the ministers were trivial and trivial, and there were almost no major family and national affairs.

Seeing this, Xiang Nan was naturally very disappointed, so he sent his four sons to inspect the local area on his behalf, fight against corruption, promote integrity, punish evil and promote good.

 The most important thing is to take the opportunity to observe the character of the four sons. After all, when the prince leaves the palace and lives among the people, there is no reason why the local officials should not flatter him.

 At that time, food, wine, beauties, gold, silver, jewelry and cultural objects will not be delivered like a stream of water. If you can't resist the temptation now, if you ascend the throne in the future, the temptation will increase dozens or hundreds of times. How will you deal with it then?

 So for the next half year, Xiang Nan’s thoughts were almost entirely on anti-corruption.

From the princes and nobles to the low-ranking officials, to the thieves of the country, to the local ruffians, as long as there are those who steal from the government, harm the public and enrich themselves, oppress the good, and harm the people, as long as they are found, those who deserve to be beheaded will be beheaded. Those who deserved to be demoted were demoted, those who deserved to be exiled were exiled, and those who deserved to have their homes confiscated were confiscated.

 Even those who show favoritism, fail to repay knowledge, help others to do evil, and eat without food will also be punished.

 In the end, tens of thousands of people were beheaded during the Autumn Festival alone. The officials in various provinces were deposed and had their hats removed, ranging from 100,000 to 50,000. The total number of those who had their homes confiscated and exiled was hundreds of thousands, and they were all sent to the border of Yili.

After this incident, the atmosphere in the court changed drastically. All the ministers and workers were trembling with fear and no longer dared to be paralyzed and slack off. Reports on family and country affairs, corruption cases, and social phenomena finally appeared on the secret folder, which made Xiang Nan finally breathe a sigh of relief.

In the 16th year of Qianlong’s reign, three more warships were launched for trial sea trials. Xiang Nan named them Zhenyuan, Dingyuan and Weiyuan respectively.

 They are of the same model as the Zhiyuan. They are both ships with a displacement of less than 5,000 tons. Their size and configuration are basically the same.

Xiang Nan then used these four warships to form the Nanyang Navy, which he drilled day and night, hoping that this navy could drive away the great powers entrenched in Nanyang.

 These four large ships are considered to be the top battleships in the world, not to mention in East Asia. First of all, this is the only four warships made of steel. In comparison, most of the other warships are made of wood.

Even during the Ming Dynasty, Japan produced a kind of iron-armored ship, which was just some iron plates nailed to a wooden ship. In terms of defensive power, it was far behind.

Second, these four battleships all use steam engines, which allows the battleships to move even in the absence of wind, with both tailwind and headwind, and their speed is much faster than that of sailing ships.

 This makes it extremely flexible when fighting enemy ships. In addition, it is equipped with the most advanced artillery, which is not only powerful but also has a long range. With one shot, the ship was missed. Therefore, you can use kite tactics. It can hit other ships, but other ships cannot hit it, so it is naturally invincible in the world.

 …

 In the same year, Xiang Nan also prepared to build the first railway in China between Jinmen and Beijing.

 Because he was ready to use sea transportation instead of river transportation to transport grain from the south of the Yangtze River to the capital by sea. After the grain was unloaded at Jinmen, it was transported to the capital by train, which was naturally much more convenient than using horse-drawn carriages or ships.

To this end, he has sent cadres from the Ministry of Works to measure the land, design the route, and strive to build the railway as soon as possible.

 At that time, not only can grain be transported, but Jinmen is now one of the ports for foreign trade.

Once the train is built, a large amount of goods can be transported from Jinmen to the capital, or from the capital to Jinmen. After all, the capital is a distribution center for export and grassland goods, and there is a large amount of goods that can be transported.

After the Beijing-Tianjin Railway is completed, it can be built to the northeast, northwest, and south China in the future... to connect all parts of the country.

 At that time, logistics will flow smoothly, people will flow smoothly, and economic development will be greatly accelerated. Even if there is a famine, drought or flood, railway transportation of materials can quickly resolve the disaster and save more people.

 The more critical point is that the railway not only has an economic role, but also has unrivaled military advantages.

 In the past, when there was a rebellion in a certain place, it might take more than a month just to mobilize troops to put down the rebellion. If there is a railway extending in all directions, military power can be quickly deployed within a few days.

 At that time, when the heavenly army arrives, some rebels will not be afraid at all. Especially in the northwest, southwest, and northeast border areas, which border foreign countries, border conflicts often occur.

If the railway is connected and a conflict breaks out, the army will arrive immediately and beat them to pieces. Therefore, building railways is a must-do.

 (End of this chapter)