Quick Transmigration: When Can I Just Lay Down and Wait to Die?

Chapter 351 "The Legend of Zhen Huan" - 4th Uncle 11

There are priorities, and within three days, the Fourth Master decided on the people to govern the small island nation. Those brothers with particularly big ambitions could not be sent out for the time being.

The Qing Dynasty is currently in the initial stage of expansion, so we need to offer them a carrot to lure them into working for us.

What if we let them out now and they never come back?

Therefore, in the end, the Fourth Prince entrusted the governance of the small island nation to the Fifth Prince Yunqi and the Twelfth Prince Yuntao. Of course, their wives and children remained in the Qing Dynasty.

The two could keep an eye on each other and take turns returning to the Qing Dynasty. They would bring all the necessary officials and troops, and also bring several warships as a deterrent, and also to ensure that the gold and silver of the small island nation would be continuously transported back to the Qing Dynasty.

As for trade with Mongolia? Over the years, the Mongolians have gotten used to it, so there shouldn't be any changes now. Of course, to appease the fifth brother, the fourth brother still entrusted the matter of trade with Mongolia to the ninth brother.

As for the Eighth Prince, it's clear he cares a lot about having offspring. The Fourth Prince put him in charge of investigating the dangers of consanguineous marriage and early childbirth, and once he found out the truth, he was to formulate a new set of rules.

As for the decrees that "encourage widows to remarry" and "abolish foot binding," they were issued the very next day.

He also instructed the third prince to arrange for some quick-witted and linguistically gifted Manchu bannermen to learn English, Portuguese, German, and French, with the plan that the third and eighth princes would later take this group on a trip to Europe and America.

He'll find a way to bring back Western scientific and technological knowledge, whether through "stealing, robbing, buying, learning" or other methods; he only cares about the results. He'll also have to persuade those scientists to come back.

Don't worry about them not being able to do it. When it comes to strategy, all the countries on Earth combined can't outwit China. That's how confident we are!

The College of Science is also under construction. This college is similar to the Imperial College, except that it trains only science talents. The teachers are craftsmen from the Ministry of Works, alchemists, and some Western missionaries.

As for textbooks, we don't have any yet. We still need to explore and refine them gradually in teaching. These are long-term tasks that can't be perfected in a day or two.

The research and development teams for firearms and warships continued to absorb new talent, and as the Qing Dynasty amassed more and more overseas confiscations, the pace of product updates and replacements accelerated.

As long as we have samples, there is nothing that our Great Qing Dynasty cannot produce. If the samples can be diversified, then our products can combine all the advantages.

After arranging these matters, the Fourth Master finally breathed a sigh of relief. He needed to catch his breath. In the past few years, he had been so busy that he was practically running around like a headless chicken. Not to mention the concubines in the harem, even his two newly born young sons could only see him during the Chinese New Year each year.

As for the three older ones, the Fourth Master arranged for them to study in the Imperial Study in the morning and rotate through the Six Ministries (Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Rites, Ministry of War, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Works) in the afternoon.

They weren't given any tasks, but were simply asked to understand the structure and responsibilities of various departments and how officials at each level acted.

Those who are clever will naturally cultivate good relationships with officials in various departments. Whether through observation, subtle questioning, or intimidation, they will always be able to figure out how the Six Ministries operate, such as Hongli and Hongzhou.

If someone is stupid, they'll be treated like royalty by the ministers of the Six Ministries, coming and going as they please, completely ignorant of the affairs of the Six Ministries, like Hongshi.

As the days went by, Hongli and Hongzhou thrived in the Six Ministries.

With his intelligence and humility, Hongli interacted well with the officials and quickly became familiar with the affairs of the Six Ministries.

Hongzhou would occasionally use his cleverness to subtly extract a lot of useful information.

Meanwhile, Hongshi remained oblivious to everything. Whenever he visited the Six Ministries, the ministers treated him with utmost courtesy, and he was happy to enjoy his leisure time, never taking the initiative to learn about the affairs.

The Fourth Master secretly sent people to observe their behavior, not only observing but also recording it, noting down everything, good or bad.

He planned to show these records to his second brother, Yinreng, so that he could choose one of Hongli and Hongzhou to keep by his side and train him. After all, only his second brother had been personally taught by their father, the Emperor, and had been taught the way of being a ruler since childhood.

If you insist on saying that his father, Emperor Kangxi, ascended the throne at the age of eight and had no formal training in how to be an emperor, yet he still did a good job, then what about the fact that he had Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang to help him?

If you look at the history books, you'll find that when mentioning Emperor Kangxi, they always mention Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang. Emperors who didn't have anyone backing them up usually didn't have good endings!

If his second brother insists on choosing Hongli, well... let the imperial physicians try their best to help his second brother live a few more years. Then we can look at the sixth and seventh sons later; maybe there will be someone more suitable among them!

On Lao Ba's side, through extensive visits and investigations, a large amount of data on the harms of consanguineous marriage and early childbirth was collected. Working day and night to organize the data, a formal written report was finally formed.

The Fourth Master had his written report sifted through, selecting content suitable for the public to see. Many copies were made and, along with the decree prohibiting marriage between relatives within three generations and stipulating that men and women must be at least eighteen years old to marry, posted at the entrances of government offices throughout the country. He also arranged for people to explain the decree to the public.

During this period, the decrees "encouraging widows to remarry" and "abolishing foot binding" also caused some controversy, but the Fourth Uncle was firm in his attitude and had people vigorously publicize the benefits of these decrees, gradually guiding the people to change their mindset.

On this day, during the morning court session, the Fourth Prince was listening to his ministers report on their work. A young eunuch rushed into the hall and presented an urgent report.

After reading it, the Fourth Master's expression changed slightly, and he said in a deep voice, "There is a small country in the West that, upon hearing that we have conquered a small island nation, has sent people to warn us not to expand further, otherwise they will unite with other countries to deal with the Qing Dynasty."

Everyone was surprised to hear this. What gave this small country such courage? The fourteenth prince stepped forward and angrily said, "They dare to warn us! Fourth brother, let me take the fleet and wipe them out too!"

The fourth uncle waved his hand, "We must not act rashly. Although we have strength, we cannot underestimate these small Western countries. We need to send someone to find out their strengths and weaknesses first." Thus, the meeting revolved around strategies for dealing with these small Western countries.

Some suggested trying diplomacy first, then resorting to force, and sending envoys to negotiate; others advocated directly demonstrating the Qing Dynasty's military might.

After weighing his options, the Fourth Master decided to take a two-pronged approach: on the one hand, he sent envoys to the West, and on the other hand, he accelerated the research and development of weapons and warships and the training of the army to prepare for a possible war.

"Prince Cheng, how are your Eight Banners soldiers doing with their Western language learning? Are they able to communicate directly with foreigners?"

"Your Majesty, only a small number of people can communicate without barriers; the others need to continue learning for a period of time."