18th century total war

Chapter 384 War Changes Everything

"I didn't expect to taste French food in Athens."

"Your Majesty, in the high society of Greece, everyone likes the food from France."

The Governor of Greece clarified.

What the emperor of the Europa Empire in front of him dislikes the most is that the people below are extravagant and wasteful for some insignificant face-saving projects.

Now the entire Europa Empire is tightening its belts for armaments, producing new weapons and equipment for refitting, and the anti-corruption bureau not long after the establishment of the empire is expanding again and again. To curry favor with the other party, I specially brought French local delicacies, I guess my own governor will be the end...

After all, for Emperor Li Wei, this was just a light trip.

Of course, the most important point is that Levi doesn't particularly like French food, even though his hometown is there...

"I remember that there are not many French people in the Greek government. Why?"

Li Wei put down the knife and fork and asked curiously.

The Greek governor who has been enlightened by the administration in front of him will naturally not lie, and replied in a straightforward manner:

"Because everyone thinks that everything in France is beautiful and powerful. After all, His Majesty rose from France and conquered the whole world."

"Hehe, I never thought that a military conquest would change the food culture of a region."

"Your Majesty is too modest.

In fact, military conquest can change anything in this world.

Not just politics.

Because people worship the strong, especially those in the upper class, they will instinctively pursue the strong, including the cultural customs of the strong and even basic necessities of life.

Your Majesty, not only in Greece, but in any part of the empire, I think there will be no shortage of high-class people who pursue French cuisine and culture.

They are proud of this, just like their loyalty to His Majesty, it is the belief they have pursued all their lives. "

"Then, what about the original Greek food?"

"No, Your Majesty.

That's not called gourmet food, it's just food for the lower class people in Greece.

Just like the traditional culture of Greece, except for those low-level Greeks who are still following it, any noble Greek gentleman will change his self-cultivation to be more in line with the atmosphere of the upper class of the empire.

For example, officials like to use French as their daily communication language. "

Li Wei nodded thoughtfully.

This change was indeed beyond Li Wei's expectations. Although he promoted the unification of the language, he did not insist on promoting French. As for food and local customs, Li Wei let nature take its course and did not intend to interfere at all.

Unexpectedly, the ethos of the upper echelon of the empire has become to the extent that France is respected.

In the court of Versailles, no one had ever told Li Wei about this kind of thing. Of course, this had a lot to do with Li Wei never asking.

After all, in Paris, Li Wei would not specifically ask why the place is full of French style, it would look stupid...

As for the food that Levi enjoyed, in the court of Versailles, Levi's internal affairs department searched for famous chefs from all over the world for Levi. Levi could even spread out the world map and point to a certain location on the world map to order something. meal.

Naturally, Li Wei didn't know that the upper echelon of the empire had regarded French food culture as the standard of the upper class...

To put it bluntly, Li Wei's luxurious emperor's life made him disconnected from the upper class society of the empire.

After all, any occasion where Li Wei appeared was arranged according to Li Wei's personal preferences, and he would never be able to see the so-called 'local characteristics'.

During his trip to Greece this time, Li Wei was able to eat the French cuisine of the Greek upper class, thanks to the fact that Li Wei dressed lightly and kept the place from being extravagant and wasteful.

As for the reason why the entire empire is tightening its belt and saving money for armaments and war, why does Levi live such a luxurious life...

In the Europa Empire, it is the national government, capitalist bureaucrats, the masses of the people who save money, and even everyone must contribute their own part to the war of the empire, regardless of your origin!
There is only one exception, and that is Li Wei, the unique and supreme ruler of the Europa Empire!
While Li Wei strictly ordered the Anti-Corruption Bureau to step up its efforts and be directly responsible to himself, he even stipulated that the performance of the Anti-Corruption Bureau was directly linked to promotion and departmental assessment!

But he still lives a luxurious and luxurious life. The harem houses thousands of women from different regions and ages. Every year, a group of women are deported due to age or other problems, and there are also a group of new products every year. 'Enter the newly built 'Crystal Palace' behind the Palace of Versailles.

Such a huge harem, one can imagine how expensive it is!
Not to mention, Li Wei has never been stingy with his women, even those harem women who 'retire' due to old age can often get a decent sum of money to settle down, or enter the government to serve as an iron rice bowl .

This kind of life that I live like throwing money, but let the people under my hands be strict with themselves and not allow corruption, that's what Li Weineng, who has mastered the great law of administrative enlightenment, does.

If any leader who hadn't cheated on him played like this, the final outcome would be alienation!

In the government of a country, the problem of corruption has been repeatedly banned. To put it bluntly, the people above turn a blind eye. After all, they work for you and even stand in line to work hard. You still don’t let others stretch out their hands to fill their own pockets. Who wants to follow such a boss? ?

Even those wise political bosses wish their subordinates would be more corrupt, so that these subordinates can hold the handle in their own hands. If one day they do something wrong, or have a dissatisfaction, they will directly report the evidence of corruption to him. A slap on the face, don't you think you can knead it by yourself?
You can even report it through the news media, make a note in the country's anti-corruption record, and gain the hearts of the people.

This is no longer a simple benefit that kills two birds with one stone!
Therefore, a monarch like Li Wei who does not give the people below him a way out of corruption and does not lead by example, cannot be found in the entire history of mankind...

However, Li Wei has cheats, so he naturally has the confidence to do so!

After all, the stolen money found from corrupt officials every year is not a small amount, and it is invested in the armament production line, not to mention how delicious it is!
As for bureaucratic vacancies...

Hehe, no matter what era or country, there is no shortage of intellectuals who want to be officials!
In the era of Li Wei's previous life, hundreds of people would compete for a civil servant position, let alone a powerful official position?
what?
Being an official has no way of corruption and no money?
The biggest gain of being an official is not corruption and bribery, but the development of personal connections!
If there is someone in the government in the family, doing business and doing business will naturally become more prosperous. In the officialdom, everyone will carry a sedan chair. Although everyone is not in the same department, who can guarantee that there will be nothing to ask each other in the future?

So, open the door of convenience, hello, hello, hello, everyone, harvesting favors from each other, how harmonious!

The common people hate the mutual protection of officials and officials, but they don't know that the mutual protection of officials and officials is just like ordinary people's personal relationship network. It is an instinct of human nature, and it can never be eliminated.

Li Wei, who originally only wanted to come out to relax, unexpectedly gained a different insight.

Li Wei knew that the situation in Greece was by no means a special case, and he only needed to use his words to get the Secret Service to submit a detailed report on the atmosphere of the upper class in each region.

Just because Li Wei was born in France, people spontaneously pursue everything in French culture, and even the upper class can change their food culture for this!

Military conquest can really change everything about human beings!
Li Wei, who was full of emotions, couldn't help but think of the society he lived in in his previous life.

Western food is expensive but still pursued by people, not because Western food is delicious, just because the military power of Europe and the United States is strong enough.

Everything of the strong will be labeled as beautiful in the eyes of the weak, triggering people's blind pursuit.

It is even regarded as a high-end endorsement.

The so-called cultural lack of self-confidence is actually more like a lack of self-confidence in the military. This cannot be compensated by the economic level alone. National self-confidence can only be achieved by fighting, not bought with money...

"The food in France is not delicious at all. Maybe I should change the atmosphere of the upper class in the empire. After all, it is really unreasonable to let the specialties of other places be defeated by French cuisine for this reason.

Food is innocent after all. "

Li Wei thought to himself.

The travel time is not long. Although the Europa Empire is peaceful, the Far East has already been beaten into zombie brains, and blood flowed like a river.

Thanks to the perfect cabinet system, even if Li Wei went out to travel and relax, the operation of the empire did not have any problems.

In fact, Li Wei is a hands-off shopkeeper. He only frequently discusses matters with the cabinet when he is at war. The rest of the time, Li Wei's office routine is just listening to reports.

Even so, Levi will only let people filter out those 'big things' that deserve his attention.

And when Li Wei returned to Versailles in Paris, there happened to be a major event to be reported to Li Wei.

"Your Majesty, as of August 1824, the undead corps in the Far East had swept over half of the northern regions of the Qing Dynasty.

The Undead Corps annexed the entire Shaanxi-Gansu region to the west, and the Great Northeast and the Korean Peninsula to the east. Due to the weak resistance of the Korean Peninsula, the Undead Corps did not lose many troops, forming a snowball effect.

For this reason, the Undead Corps used the large amount of supplements received from the Korean Peninsula to repeatedly defeat the Mongolian tribal coalition forces and annexed the entire Monan region.

When the Undead Corps went south, it suffered the most heavy losses, and formed a stalemate war of attrition with the Qing government.

It was precisely because of the setback of going south that the Undead Corps had to abandon its expansion in other directions and instead concentrate its main force to attack the densely populated southern area of ​​the Qing government and the southeast coastal area.

In order to resist the main force of the undead corps going south, the Qing government recruited strong men everywhere. In the area close to the front line, the local rich and squires were quite cooperative. In order to keep their land, they took the initiative to join forces with the Qing government to gather and train young men. Mobilize, join the reserve army and engage in productive activities.

However, in areas such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Yunnan and Guizhou, the Qing government's forced expropriation of local materials and young people's behavior caused a backlash from many local tyrants and powerful gentry.

Several large-scale resistance struggles even broke out, especially the chieftain tribes who had not been assimilated by the Qing government and were very hostile to the war regulations promulgated by the Qing government.

Those chieftain tribes were huddled in the mountains and forests, and it was difficult for the Qing government to wipe them out. On the contrary, it weakened the Qing government's control over these areas.

Especially in the Yunnan-Guizhou region, the rebellion was the most serious. The Qing government even launched a massacre there to frighten the young people and suppress the rebellious chieftains. "

“Are all the top officials of the Qing Dynasty fools?
Now their main opponent is the undead, and they actually engage in a policy of massacre and suppression in their own back garden? "

Li Wei rubbed his brows and said.

"Your Majesty, the Qing government gave a reason for doing so. They don't want these uncontrolled chieftain tribes to become the nourishment of the undead army in the end.

In the eyes of the Qing government, people and power organizations that do not stand on their side should be eliminated.

However, the ministers believed that the Qing government was only looking for excuses for its plunder of materials and population.

Compared with the areas near the front line, the local snakes in the rear who did not have a strong sense of crisis responded mediocrely to the Qing government's call for war. In order to raise enough war materials, the Qing government could only resort to thunderous means.

Almost all the troops used by the Qing government to suppress the South were trained by young men recruited from the northern war zone.

The Qing government cleverly allowed the northerners to suppress the southerners, retained its own military power, and deterred the ready-to-movement people in the south. "

Li Wei knew that the northerners in the Qing government mentioned by the cabinet ministers were no longer northerners in the true sense. At this time, the northerners under the Qing government were either displaced and fled to the south, or became members of the undead corps or their stomachs. nourishment.

The Qing government's concepts of northerners and southerners have long since changed.

Northerners mostly refer to the population of Huguang, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shu, and the northern provinces along the southeast coast.

Southerners mostly refer to the population of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Yunnan-Guizhou.

At this time, the theater of battle between the Undead Corps and the Qing government mainly stayed in the Central Plains, concentrated in the Yellow River Basin.

Therefore, the province where the southerners are located is relatively safe.

After listening to the reports from the cabinet ministers, Li Wei understood why the Qing government acted in this way.

Fighting against the undead corps gave the Qing government a righteous name, after all, it is the sworn enemy of all living people.

With a righteous name and a group of northerners who had to pledge allegiance to the Qing government in order to defend their hometown, the Qing government could naturally expropriate the relatively stable south.

And it's not just an ordinary extortionate tax!

What is the virtue of the Qing government?
The higher-ups ordered the collection of one tael of silver, which was apportioned layer by layer, and it was estimated that it would be ten taels of silver on the heads of the common people!
War never makes the government clean, it only makes corruption more natural!

Thanks for the details, there is a reward of 1500 starting coins.

(End of this chapter)