Great Tang Southern Emperor

As for the fiefdoms assigned to the ministers, Li Zhen has already determined that it is the Siberian wasteland, which is sparsely populated and icy, similar to the African continent, or even worse than the African continent. After all, the climate on the African continent will not freeze Dead people, but people can really freeze to death here.

Now it is a barren place, and the imperial court does not have enough strength to develop it (mainly due to the serious shortage of population), so it just happens to be handed over to the officials to take care of it. After a few generations, it should be developed here, and the imperial court will take it back , In this way, the officials got the fief, and the court also developed Siberia, which can be called the best of both worlds.

Moreover, with high-yield grains such as potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes, and the inexhaustible grains of Nanyang, the population of Datang will be calculated in at least hundreds of millions after a few generations, and may even exceed one billion. By then, Datang has a sufficient population, just enough to occupy Africa and Siberia.

And there is another point, that is, Siberia is also very close to Datang. Even if a descendant of a courtier has unreasonable thoughts, Datang's army can quickly arrive to suppress it.

In the sixth year of Zhengwu, news came from the Spice Islands that their fleet discovered a huge continent with countless rare treasures, but there were also many treasures, including countless gold, silver, copper and iron deposits, but such a treasure land was only occupied by some indigenous people. What a waste of money.Li Zhen was overjoyed after hearing the news, named this huge continent Australia, and dispatched a larger fleet to land and occupy it.

After preliminary exploration, it was found that the Australian continent is simply a cornucopia, with countless minerals on it, especially iron ore, both in terms of reserves and grades, far surpassing the iron ore in the Tang Dynasty. In addition to iron ore, Australia's copper mines and gold and silver mines The reserves are very rich, and the reserves that have been explored so far are enough to support the construction of Datang—and this is only preliminary exploration, and the exploration is only in the fringes of Australia, and no one has entered the interior of the mainland.It is believed that if more detailed exploration is carried out, the quantity data of these minerals will have to be increased by at least ten times.

After this news came out, the whole country was immediately ebullient. It is well known that the iron ore of Datang is not of high quality. It is well known that the weapons smelted from such low-grade iron ore are already the best in the world. If If it is replaced with high-grade and high-quality iron ore like Australia, wouldn't Datang's weapons be even more terrifying, and Datang's combat effectiveness will be further improved.

Moreover, the discovery of Australia is not only beneficial to Datang itself, but also a great opportunity for the people of Datang.You must know that this is a complete continent. There is no civilization on it except for some indigenous people. However, this continent is still a treasure land with rich resources. If you can settle there in advance, you can definitely make a fortune. He said that if a large iron mine is discovered in the place where he lives, then he will become a vicious mine owner, and he will directly rise to prosperity and become a master.

So much so that when Australia was discovered, countless people began to look forward to the policy of the imperial court, hoping that the imperial court could issue the Australian immigration policy as soon as possible.But what they don't know is that the imperial court actually has no plan to immigrate to Australia in a short period of time. The reason is very simple - that is, there is no one in Datang...

To be precise, the population is not enough. You must know that in the early years of Zhenguan, the population of the Tang Dynasty was only over 2000 million. Although the interior of the Tang Dynasty has been peaceful for more than 20 years and the people live and work in peace and contentment, it can only grow in 20 years. In one generation, 4000 million people are already counting too much, and the real number may not be so many.

4000 million people seems a lot, but don't forget the area of ​​Datang at this time, it has conquered the entire known human world, the entire Eurasian continent is the territory of Datang, how big is Eurasia? More than 5000 million square kilometers, such a large area, throwing 4000 million people into it just listens to the sound, and on average, less than one person is allocated to one square kilometer.

Even the Eurasian continent, which is like a lair, has not been governed well, let alone Australia, which is like a land of no man. Let’s let it go for a while. Anyway, at least counting down for 500 years, there should be no one who is Datang It is more suitable for Australia to develop slowly in such a place. In the early stage, at most, a few cities will be built near the mines to provide housing for mining workers.

In addition, since Australia has been discovered, there is no need to hide the Americas. Anyway, they are unowned lands. Just develop them slowly, so as to save yourself from dying one day, and future generations will not know about America. If there is no existence, it will not be fun.Therefore, in the same year when Australia was discovered, Li Zhen organized another elite fleet, headed by Xue Rengui, the Duke of Qi, and guided by the Indians, Sai Tigers and others, and set off to search for the American continent.

In the seventh year of Zhengwu, Li Zhen started the tax law reform of the Tang Dynasty, exempting the agricultural tax. From now on, all the citizens of the Tang Dynasty will no longer pay taxes for farming. Not only that, the court will also subsidize agricultural production as appropriate.As soon as this method came out, the people suddenly boiled, and countless people shouted long live, and Li Zhen's popularity reached its peak.

The commercial tax has also been reformed. Datang's commercial tax 5 is no longer one size fits all, but divided into levels. The more income, the more tax to pay, and the less income, the less tax to pay.

In the eighth year of Zhengwu, a rebellion broke out in the only surviving countries in the Western Regions in Asia. The 36 countries in the Western Regions headed by the nine surnames of Zhaowu raided the Imperial Guard of the Western Regions, killed the Protector of the Western Regions, and blocked the Silk Road. If you stay west of Congling, you will not be able to return east.

Li Zhenl immediately worshiped Xi Junmai, the general of Zuojinwuwei, as his commander, and led 36 troops to pacify the Western Regions. It took three months. It officially became the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and was divided into two states with Tianshan Mountain as the boundary, and the governor was appointed.

In the ninth year of Zhengwu, after several years and the hard work of tens of thousands of people, Australia was initially developed. Nine cities were established along the fringes of Australia, all of which were built along the distribution of mines. All of them added up to about 10 people Left and right, most of the people living in it are miners, and there are also some garrisons, but this is already the extreme that Datang can do at present. In the next five years at least, Australia will not even think about large-scale expansion.

In the same year, the fleet that had been sent by Li Zhen to search for the American continent finally returned. They really found the American continent and brought local specialties, countless mineral specimens, animal and plant specimens, and exchanged with the local aborigines. All kinds of goods, especially rubber tree seeds, are loaded with a whole ship, and the amount of rubber cut is even more, there are a full twenty large cargo ships. These rubbers, together with the ones that Datang has cultivated, are enough to The steam engine was manufactured on a large scale.

It’s just that the fleet encountered a big storm on the road, and many ships sank. There were originally more than 300 merchant ships, but when they returned, there were less than 250 ships left. Li Zhen personally rewarded the officers and soldiers who participated in this operation. As the captain of the team, Xue Rengui was rewarded heavily by Li Zhen.

In the tenth year of Zhengwu, the first steam locomotive of the Tang Dynasty was opened for trial operation in the outskirts of Chang'an. When they saw that the locomotive was pulling more than a dozen carriages, but it was still running faster than a horse-drawn carriage, the onlookers were all excited. Celebrate like crazy.Because they know very well that when this kind of machine that does not eat or drink spreads all over Datang, it will be the time when Datang will rise completely, whether it is distant Europe or Siberia that is close at hand, will be completely controlled by Datang In Yes' hands, it will become an inseparable part of Datang forever.

In the 11th year of Zhengwu, Yuezhou Shipyard successfully produced a battleship made of pure steel. This battleship used steam engines as power instead of sail power. The place where the original mast was found was a thick black chimney. The power of the Eastern Ship, which followed immediately after the ship appeared, was taken off the ship for the first time.

However, although there is the manufacturing technology of steel warships, with Datang's current strength, it is still impossible to replace all the fleets of Datang with steel warships. At most, each fleet will allocate one or two ships. At the same time of combat effectiveness, it also allows the navy to adapt to steel warships in advance, and accumulate experience for future large-scale refitting.

Chapter 1271 The Finale

Chapter 237 Finale

In the 12th year of Zhengwu, the life of the Great Tang Emperor Li Shimin came to an end, and he passed away in the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Li Zhen was deeply saddened and ordered a national funeral for nine days. Finally, Li Shimin was buried in the royal cemetery and named Zhaoling.What made Li Zhen even more sad was that the Empress Dowager Yan followed Li Shimin away, and Li Zhen was even more sad. The two people who loved her most in her life finally left her. Under the persuasion, it was announced again that the whole country would fast for nine days and not go to court for seven days. Empress Yan was buried in Zhaoling.

In the 15th year of Zhengwu, after the funeral, Li Zhen announced that he would leave the prince Li Huang to supervise the country, and he would patrol the world. On the one hand, he wanted to change his mood, and on the other hand, he also wanted to see his own country. After the whole world was brought down, He hasn't even looked at it properly.

This tour took a full two years, whether it was distant Europe and Africa, or the more remote and desolate Australia and America, or Lingnan, Nanyang and the Nanyang Islands that he was in charge of before, all of them were shown by him. He even made a trip to Greenland.

And the officials who followed him on the tour were also shocked by this vast world. They knew that the territory outside the mainland of the Tang Dynasty was very large, but it was difficult to have an intuitive impression just by looking at the numbers on paper. , This time following Li Zhen's tour, they finally understood how big this world is and how vast the territory of the Tang Dynasty is.

And this time Li Zhen also completed an achievement during his tour, that is, traveling around the world. You must know that he took the equator at the beginning of the tour, from Datang to Europe, and then sailed from Europe on a warship, landed on the American continent, and crossed America, from the east coast of the Americas to the west coast, and finally boarded a ship from the west coast to Australia. After visiting Australia, I visited the Nanyang Islands, and finally landed from the Nanyang Peninsula, took the repaired railway, and returned directly to Chang'an. At the same time, it can be said that his round-the-world travel has gone through both water and land, which is more thorough than Magellan's just drifting around the sea.

It has been Zhengwu's 17 years now, and Li Zhen is already 40 years old. From a physiological point of view, 40 years old is the peak time for a man. Both physically and mentally mature, it is time to work hard for his career. when.However, after returning to Chang'an, Li Zhen made a shocking decision. He actually wanted the throne of Zen, so that Prince Li Huang would inherit the throne.

This decision can be said to have broken everyone's glasses, and there was an uproar all over the court. For a while, everyone asked Li Zhen not to abdicate, but Li Zhen was unmoved at all. He felt that he had already done it. Peak, the whole world is now Datang's territory, there is no place to conquer, and Datang has also entered the era of industrialization. Under his guidance, the first industrial revolution has begun, and the germination of capitalism has been born In the future, it only needs to develop step by step, and Datang can develop at least 800 years in advance to the level of the later 21st century.He thought he had done well enough, and he dedicated the first half of his life to Datang, and then he felt that he had to live for himself.

In other words, Li Zhen felt that he had reached the pinnacle of his life and had lost his goal of struggle. If Datang wanted to continue to develop, he had to go to outer space, but this was destined not to be seen in his lifetime. , it would be better to let go of everything in time and spend the rest of my life comfortably.

And once the idea of ​​losing the goal of life is born, it is also very dangerous for an emperor. For example, Qin Shihuang, after he unified the six kingdoms, he suddenly lost the goal of struggle, and then the whole person drifted away, and he was refining elixir again. He was building the Great Wall again, not to mention laboring the people and wasting money, and tossing the country was also suffering unspeakably. The final direct result was that the Qin Dynasty was overthrown at the hands of his son.

If only someone could have given him a map of the world...

Maybe he can fight to the ends of the earth, and his achievements may not be as good as Li Zhen.

In addition, there was Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who was even more drifting in his later years. Not only did he personally kill the heir he had cultivated for a long time, but he also emptied the country, and the people were in dire straits.

There is also Li Shimin in history, who did all kinds of stupid things in the late period, refining elixir, asking immortals, and almost doing what a stupid king should do. Fortunately, his heirs did not. As cheating as Hu Hai is, he finally helped him get his way and didn't ruin the country.

Even the three famous emperors in history have done all kinds of stupid things in their later years, which shows how dangerous an emperor without a life goal is.On the contrary, although those emperors with goals are not as successful as the three, they seldom do stupid things.

Li Zhen felt that he was inferior to the above three in terms of mentality, and he was worried that he would regret something after he drifted away.Fortunately, he has no other skills, but he knows how to be willing. Since he didn't know what he would become, he simply gave up the throne and tried to minimize the loss.

What's more, he has been working on state affairs for more than ten years, and he is already exhausted. If he doesn't take a good rest, he will probably follow in the footsteps of other kings, either exhausted to death, or tortured to death by illness, and Regardless of any of these two ways of dying, Li Zhen is unwilling to see it. What he hopes more is to die in bed, and dying without a problem is the best.

Moreover, Li Huang has grown up now, and under his training, he is no worse than himself in handling affairs, and has already become a qualified prince.With the experience of supervising the country in the previous two years, he left a lot of impressions in the hearts of the courtiers and established a lot of prestige. After inheriting the general rule, no one would bully him when he was young—or this is Li The third purpose of Zhen's inspection of the world.

The day of the Zen position finally came. Seeing that Li Zhen was determined, the officials stopped admonishing her, but put away the sadness in their hearts, and performed the Zen position ceremony to perfection.

When the Chuanguo Yuxi was handed over to Li Huang by Li Zhen himself, he suddenly felt a burst of relief. This kind of relaxation does not only refer to the body, but the all-round relaxation from the body to the soul, as if a weight has been lifted. The heavy burden, even the bones are so light, as if it is about to fly.

Of course he didn't really want to fly, it's just that the Tang Empire had been pressing on him for more than ten years, and he was really overwhelmed. Fortunately, he did a good job and successfully completed the succession of the throne. It's up to Li Huang.

As for himself?

The world is so big, he hasn't finished it yet.

(End of the book)

Finish this testimonial

It's finally finished. This is not the first completed book of Bensan, but after writing the three words, my heart is still empty for a while.

From August 17 to March 8, "Southern Emperor" took 19 months, and everyone accompanied me for 3 months. To be honest, I was very reluctant.

At the beginning of "Southern Emperor", Ben San felt that it was okay, but then he didn't know why it suddenly collapsed. Many friends abandoned the book, but Ben San still gritted his teeth and decided to finish it.Fortunately, Ben San's perseverance is good, and I finally made it to the end of this book, which I find incredible.

In the later part of the book, there are a lot of people scolding Ben San, and those who scolded Ben San didn’t dare to read the comments, so many of them who donated rewards didn’t receive Ben San’s thank you letter, so I would like to say sorry here.

To be honest, Ben San is not the kind of person who likes to join in the fun. Although he has finished two books and is considered an old author, he still doesn't understand some things on the website very well, and made a lot of jokes. Now that I think about it, I find it funny.

The category of the next book has not yet been decided, but it should be between martial arts, history and Erdi. You can leave a message to me which category you want to read.

That's it, see you in the next book.