binnovel Chapter 112 The Legend of Zhen Huan 7
Chapter 112 The Legend of Zhen Huan 7
As soon as the funeral ended, taking advantage of the fact that no one dared to offend him, Yongzheng launched sweeping reforms, devoted himself to developing science and technology, and even established an Academy of Sciences, carefully selecting many people to study what he had previously memorized.
Actually, while it's called research, the main thing is to put the data above into practice.
With the emperor watching them with predatory eyes, the people at the Academy of Sciences dared not slack off in the slightest. Although they wondered in their hearts whether the data was true or false, they were all giving it their all.
Seeing that the Academy of Sciences was on the right track, Yongzheng began to shift his attention elsewhere.
In his previous life, he first quelled internal troubles and then eliminated external threats. By destroying the Yu clan, he directly launched a westward expedition to bring back advanced Western knowledge to the East and devoted the nation's resources to developing industry and the military.
But this life is different. Although he is now vigorously promoting the Industrial Revolution, internal and external troubles have not been eliminated.
The Dzungars have repeatedly rebelled; the Tsering War, which began in the fifth year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign, remains unresolved. The Miao people of Guzhou are also stirring. Not to mention the future troubles in the Han region, Tibet, the Greater and Lesser Jinchuan, Taiwan, and Ili.
Just like in his previous life, Yongzheng was faced with a series of battles.
Emperor Yongzheng was not afraid of war!
His headache was that there was no one in the court who could lead troops to conquer the world.
As the old saying goes: The weakness of an army lies with its generals, not its soldiers.
The original owner was a person who had a difficult time gaining the throne. In order to ensure the stability of imperial power, he suppressed the development of military power in various ways.
Back then, Nian Gengyao had made great military achievements and his prestige was growing day by day. In order to prevent any potential trouble, the original owner of this body did not sacrifice family ties and cruelly aborted his own flesh and blood.
Later, in order to sever any blood ties between her descendants and Lady Nian, a large amount of musk was added directly to the Huan Yi Incense used by Consort Hua, completely eliminating any hope that Consort Hua would have a child.
In the imperial court, the original owner also pressed Nian Gengyao step by step, gradually weakening his power, fabricating charges, and finally dismissing and executing him.
The lesson of Nian Gengyao was still fresh in everyone's mind, and all the military generals in the court took it as a warning. Whenever there was a battle, they acted cautiously and with many concerns, fearing that volunteering would arouse the original owner's suspicion and that they would follow in Nian Gengyao's footsteps.
In response to this situation, Yongzheng adopted a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, he bestowed favors upon military generals to win them over and alleviate their underlying unease and alienation. On the other hand, he continuously demonstrated to his court officials his grand ambition to conquer the world and expand the territory.
The civil and military officials never expected that the emperor, who had been a coward for half his life, would still have such thoughts in his old age.
Yongzheng's sudden ambition caught many officials, who were used to a stable life, off guard. The military officers had nothing to say, but the civil officials had quite a few complaints.
Perhaps they worried that the imperial court's military strength was insufficient to cope with the turmoil from all sides; perhaps they were concerned that the national treasury was insufficient to support the army's expedition; or perhaps they felt that the emperor's 'ambition' was out of step with the times and might shake the foundation of the country.
In response to their concerns, Yongzheng said: These are not problems!
The Academy of Sciences has completed the development of advanced weapons and has begun mass production. They will soon be equipped by the army, and advanced weaponry can largely make up for the lack of manpower.
As for the problem of an empty national treasury...
Emperor Yongzheng set his sights on the bondservant families, raising his sword and indiscriminately slaughtering them. He skillfully began to purge the bondservant forces, confiscating their property, which amounted to several years' worth of national revenue.
The first two problems were perfectly solved. When it came to the last problem, Yongzheng, with his experience, wrote an imperial edict for Zhang Tingyu, granting him the right to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple after his death.
Upon receiving the imperial edict, Zhang Tingyu was moved to tears. He rushed to the palace that very night to express his gratitude, kneeling on the floor tiles of the Hall of Mental Cultivation and shouting, "Your Majesty's grace is boundless! This old minister will surely devote himself to the cause until his dying breath!"
With a body ten years younger, Zhang Tingyu unleashed even greater power than in his previous life, making him far more terrifying. He had become a pawn in Yongzheng's hands, firing wherever Yongzheng pointed.
For court officials who opposed Yongzheng's expedition, he not only addressed them in court during the day, but also chased them to their homes at night to persuade and mediate.
Finally, thanks to Zhang Tingyu's powerful and effective efforts, the last problem was also perfectly solved.
After half a year of intensive preparations, the imperial court finally began to officially send troops.
First, he beat the area where the rioters were jumping around, and then Yongzheng ordered the army to begin advancing along the route taken in the previous life.
The Qing troops, armed with advanced weaponry, were extremely powerful and invincible wherever they went, with their morale soaring.
Soon, the rebellions in various parts of the country were quelled one by one, and the Yu clan was brought back as usual. During the campaign, they even passed through the island nation that they had wanted to take advantage of in their previous life. However, it was a small island nation, and the army easily wiped it out. The captured soldiers became the vanguard of the Qing Dynasty.
Myanmar, Vietnam, and Tsarist Russia, which were eyeing the country covetously, also suffered a beating. However, they were not as lucky as in the previous life, because ceding territory and paying reparations could no longer satisfy Yongzheng's appetite.
In the end, each of the three families lost half of their territory and had to submit to the emperor and pay tribute every year.
This was only because Emperor Yongzheng feared they would fight back desperately and take leniency.
In the blink of an eye, it was the thirteenth year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign, which was also the year the original owner died.
After examining his body, Emperor Yongzheng found that he was in good health and that the recuperation he had received over the past few years had been very effective. He estimated that he could live for another ten years or so without any problems.
Under Yongzheng's ambition to expand the territory, the western expedition officially began. In the previous life, the imperial court was slightly inferior in military equipment, but it was still able to achieve a great victory. How much more so in this life with strong troops and advanced weapons.
Thus, the westward expedition began smoothly and ended just as smoothly.
The same arrangements made in the previous life will be repeated in this life, nipping their revolutionary fervor in the bud and forcing them to obediently become their Western barbarians.
With internal and external troubles eliminated, peace and tranquility prevail throughout the land, and everything is renewed.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences is also reporting a string of good news!
Revolutionary inventions such as the steam engine, automobile, electric light, telephone, and phonograph followed one after another, ushering in a new era of human civilization.
Emperor Yongzheng did not have much time left in this life, so he no longer let the world develop as he had in his previous life. Instead, he accelerated the process to bring it up to the level of his previous life so that he could continue to observe.
Due to the rapid development of the industrial sector, factories of all kinds have sprung up all over China.
Faced with this new era, women's consciousness is rising just like in the previous life. They are unwilling to be confined to the inner quarters and are actively throwing themselves into this wave of the times. Economically independent, they no longer need to depend on men for survival.
The distorted patriarchal ideology has been shattered once again.
Until the 20th year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign, in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, a woman formally proposed gender equality and organized a group of like-minded progressive women to vigorously promote feminism. They also established a girls' school so that women could attend school and study like men.
After the court learned of this matter, countless memorials from ministers flooded onto Yongzheng's desk, but Yongzheng turned a deaf ear to them all, using an iron fist to withstand all the pressure. He even made an exception and added a special examination for women in the imperial examinations of the twentieth year of his reign.