Chapter 364: The Three Kings of the West

In Zhao and Ju's plan, after Bianliang stopped to rest and inspect for seven days, his special train continued westward until Chang'an, and then turned north and rushed to Yanjing.

But the situation changed far faster than he imagined, and the public opinion he aroused in Bianliang City immediately turned into an uncontrollable frenzy after it was transmitted back to Lin'an, and this frenzy spread to all parts of the Great Song Dynasty with the newspapers. Almost all the students of Lin'an University, Jinling University, and Liuqiu Higher Education Hall were inspired by this public opinion, and either wrote books or published articles to express their praise and support for the Son of Heaven to promote the reform of the official system.

The "warning of natural disasters" that had been very loud in the past immediately disappeared. Those with vested interests are all smart people, knowing that if they still run out at this time, they are the real mantis arm as a car, even if the Son of Heaven is lenient and does not hold them accountable, but the angry people are enough to ruin their reputation.

As Xie Yue said, the time, the place, the people, Zhao and Ju all occupied, and it is already the general trend to further promote innovation in greater depth. The people's thinking is very simple, since the experience of the past ten years has proved that innovation is a good thing, then innovation should be insisted on and promoted, otherwise how can they live a better life?

With this "momentum", it is of little significance for Zhao and Ju to continue to move westward. And at this time, a telegram made him have to return to Lin'an as well.

The westward expedition fleet sent to Europa in the winter of the tenth year of Yan Huang finally returned after a long journey of more than four years. The telegram estimated that they would return to Huating Port in mid-March, and calculating the time, Zhao and Ju would rush back now, just in time to meet them at Huating Mansion.

If the Eastern Expeditionary Fleet led by Lin Xi meant to find wealth and expand territory for the Great Song Dynasty, then this Western Expeditionary Fleet shouldered the mission of spreading the national prestige of the Great Song Dynasty and opening up the Great Song Dynasty commodity market. The Great Song Dynasty, which had entered the late stage of industrialization, produced so many products every year that it was the world's largest market with a population of 250 million, and it was impossible to consume all the products. Therefore, Da Song had to find a market for the operation of its own machines.

After more than ten years of operation, Nanyang, Wa and Goryeo have completely become a member of the Great Song market, not only politically, all the countries that still exist here are subject countries of the Great Song Dynasty, and they all recognize the Great Song Dynasty as their emperors, and their lords can only be called princes at most, and economically, they have all become part of the Great Song economic system, or provide resources such as Goryeo and Nanyang, or provide labor such as Goryeo and Wa, and the Great Song merchants can freely trade and sell between these countries, All the markets in these countries are completely open to the Great Song. At the same time, with fine orchid as a bridgehead, the Great Song Dynasty was also effective in the economic penetration of the Tianzhu countries, the Tianzhu countries had a huge population and rich resources, and at the same time they failed to form a unified country, the Great Song Dynasty supported all the countries of Tianzhu without discrimination, so that their power tended to be balanced, neither any country was strong enough to threaten all the neighbors, but also did not make any country weak enough to be swallowed up at will.

The Persian Great Food States were once an important trading partner of the Great Song Dynasty, but this partner has recently been more inverted, the Mongols have come like a tide, destroying one country after another, and even the once famous old man in the mountains was forced to surrender by the Mongols, and after he came out of the mountains, a massacre that had been prepared for a long time made this organization known for assassination and terror completely disappear. The successive wars made the standard cold weapons made by the Great Song Dynasty become a sought-after commodity in this land, and as for the gunpowder weapons of the Great Song Dynasty, a small amount also entered the market.

Then there is East Africa, where the Great Song Dynasty has very close ties with the countries here, and economic exchanges are also frequent, and even bold scholars have begun to set up schools here to teach Chinese characters and Song dialect. The African Merchants Bureau, which is composed of Jaken Skye, a merchant who is a naturalized citizen of the Great Song Dynasty, is very active here, and Zhao and Ju have a headache for this private business group, but they have no plans to intervene for the time being.

And the return of the Western Expeditionary Fleet means that South Africa, West Africa and Europe have begun to raise their dresses for the Great Song Dynasty.

Zhao and Ju's special train returned to Lin'an on March 13, the 15th year of Yanhuang, and hundreds of people spontaneously went to the station to greet them. This is not so much to pat the Son of Heaven on the back, but to express his position to the Son of Heaven on the major issue of deepening innovation. Zhao Youju and the officials all knew it, so when Zhao Youju saw that Wei Liaoweng was finally in high spirits, he patted him on the shoulder with emotion and said, "For more than a year, Qing has been tired. ”

"I don't feel tired when I can see today." Wei Liaoweng said with a smile.

"Qing will leave a name in history." Zhao Youju said with a smile.

"It is a great blessing for the ministers to attach His Majesty's tail." Wei Liaoweng rarely patted Zhao Yiju on the back.

In the past year, because of natural disasters, Wei Liaoweng's pressure was even greater than that of Zhao Heju. Zhao Youju's pressure was just that he could not carry out the reform of the official system, and Wei Liaoweng was reprimanded for "confusing the Son of Heaven with evil words to make an example to the heavens", and it was light to ask him to resign automatically, and some people even asked Wei to behead Weng to thank the world.

But now, no one dares to do this anymore.

"I received a telegram saying that the Western Expeditionary Fleet has arrived in Guangzhou, when will I be able to reach Huating Mansion?" Zhao Youju asked again.

This is an important reason for him to return to the south in advance, after Wei Liaoweng heard it, he immediately replied: "There are telegrams sent along the way, anchored in Xingqing Mansion last night, and you can get to Huating today." ”

"Have you arranged a greeting?" Zhao Youju asked again.

"Your Majesty can't come in person, so naturally the specifications are lower than when the Eastern Expeditionary Fleet came back, but Chen Guiyi has already gone to Huating Mansion in advance as the envoy of the Son of Heaven."

Hearing this arrangement, Zhao Heju was very satisfied, and Chen Guiyi went to greet him as a political participant, and it could not be said that he had insulted the soldiers who returned from the expedition. However, he still had some regrets in his heart, although he began to rush back as soon as he got the news, but after all, he was not able to meet the Western Expeditionary Fleet in person.

On March 15, the spring of the fifteenth year of Yanhuang, Lin'an City was cleaned in front of the Chaotian Gate, and Huo Chongcheng walked slowly on the royal street with his hands behind his back.

Since the wife and children of Tuo Lei were sacrificed to prisoners, this Chaotianmen has not been so lively for a long time, after all, now Siyi is in service, there is a war on the frontier, and it is just a small fight, and there is no enough weight of prisoners to send to the Taimiao Temple. For example, Li Ye and Wang Qinian's last expedition to the west, Temujin's daughter led the remnants to surrender, and she could have offered a prisoner, but the Son of Heaven thought that the other party was not at the end of the rope, but took the initiative to attach it when she could still escape, so he set her the nature of a righteous uprising, and the rest of the tribal leaders were not big people at all, and they were not qualified enough to sacrifice prisoners, so they failed to hold a prisoner sacrifice ceremony.

This time, I heard that the Western Expeditionary Fleet swept through Europa, supported some local nobles to fight with several powerful countries in Europa, and captured quite a few of them, and even captured more than ten famous kings, and it was inevitable to sacrifice prisoners.

Huo Chongcheng didn't know much about the countries of Europa, it was too far away, so of course he didn't know who the famous kings of Europa were brought this time.

"My lord, is Europa farther away than Dongshengzhou?"

One of his subordinates was very curious about Europa and asked next to him.

"It's almost the same, but one in the west and one in the east." Huo Chongcheng was a little unsure, and replied casually.

The people of the Great Song Dynasty, although they are now open to the world, the pride of the Heavenly Empire has always been in their hearts. They are also proud of this qualification, and although the translated foreign books over the years prove that there were once brilliant wise men in Europa, Tianzhu, Boji, and Dashi, it now turns out that only the Great Song was the victor. Since the Great Song Dynasty is now the strongest and richest country in the world, then the civilization and values of the Great Song Dynasty are of course the most correct - in this regard, the people of the Great Song Dynasty embody a certain commonality that belongs to all mankind, that is, to judge whether the reason is correct simply by the result, without considering those objective factors, just like the time and space that Zhao and Ju traveled through, the so-called Western values are supreme, isn't it because the world's largest country at that time was a Western country, Those who talk about and praise the yellow-skinned and white-hearted bananas who have made the West strong precisely because of these values do not say a word about the evolution of Western values in the past three hundred years, and in their opinion, it seems that Western values have been great, glorious, and correct since the time of Greece.

It is precisely because of this pride in the Celestial Empire that the people of the Great Song Dynasty are more focused on their own country, and they are all interested in what new technologies have appeared in the country, a new railway has been built, and a new mine has been discovered, but for places outside the Great Song Economic Circle, their thinking is just the wilderness of the barbarians living in the wilderness.

"I heard that Fang Zhixing is going to be promoted and go to Europa as a governor, but I don't know if it's true or not...... In such a far and backward place, why did the Son of Heaven send someone to keep an eye on it? The man muttered again.

"Less nonsense, more practical work!" Huo Chongcheng glared and drank, and the man was so frightened that he shrunk his neck and trotted away.

Of course, Huo Chongcheng knew the purpose of the Son of Heaven, with the return of the Western Expeditionary Fleet, there was no longer any obstacle between the Great Song Dynasty and Europa, so the ships of the Great Song Dynasty would be full of various industrial products, and the poor mineral resources, agricultural products, and precious metals of the Europa people would be exchanged in a steady stream. Since it will become the market of the Great Song Dynasty, then there will be the interests of the Great Song Dynasty, and since the interests of the Great Song Dynasty exist, then the Great Song Dynasty court must exist!

This is the courage of a strong country, and wherever there is the existence of its national interests, there must be its national strength. Shrinking his neck to keep his head in obscurity, as a temporary strategy, it is acceptable, and as a strategy for eternity, it is no less than the self-harm trick of the anti-sword palace.

There are many kinds of forces, the Western Expedition Fleet is one of them, and the secret spy agency represented by Fang Zhixing is also one of them.

While he was thinking, he suddenly heard a bell, and then in the distance in the direction of the train station, firecrackers rang out. Huo Chongcheng's spirits perked up: the team of prisoners had arrived.

"God, oh, God!"

Henry did not consider himself a prisoner in the slightest, and as a European nobleman, it was not a shame to be captured, let alone by a near-invincible opponent. When he walked out of the train station and saw the radiant city before him, he did not at all look like a monarch in his thirties who had been a king for more than twenty years, but rather like a child, without a word of meaning other than the two simple words "God" and "oh".

The people who appeared in front of him in this magnificent city alone were more than the entire population of his national capital, and Henry even doubted that there were more people on either side of this long street than in his entire country.

These men were dressed in fine silk and cloth, and were dressed in simple and proper clothes, and they were both men and women, and each of them was white-faced, and looked nobler than any nobleman in Europe. Henry had no doubt that they were all nobles, although he felt that there seemed to be too many nobles in the country.

In fact, these are just the people of Lin'an who came to see the excitement.

Henry is like this, his great enemy, Louis, who is seven years younger than him and less than thirty years old Chinese New Year's Eve, is not much better, of course, with the two of them is also a year younger than Henry's Jaime, this person is even more unbearable, even drooling out.

King Henry III of England, King Louis IX of France, and King Jaime I of Aragon, the three most important monarchs of Western Europe, together with more than a dozen of their vassals, became the object of the Great Song Dynasty's sacrifice of the Taimiao. There were deep contradictions between them, but when they faced the huge force of the Great Song Western Expeditionary Fleet, they had to choose to unite, plus the Knights Templar and other forces, forming an army of 6,000 knights and 30,000 infantry, and fought a big battle with the Song marines, and the result of the war was to make them prisoners.

In fact, this was also forced to this step by Duncan Polo, when Duncan was appointed as the governor of the Western Expeditionary Fleet, the voice of criticism has been endless, Duncan himself is also well aware, and when he was a merchant in Venice, he was jealous of these nobles to enjoy their lives, so after arriving in Europe, he can be said to spare no effort for the persecution of these nobles, but he was afraid that someone with the ship would beat him after returning to the Great Song Dynasty.

When the three kings were pushed in front of Zhao and Ju, they were so shocked by what they saw that they couldn't keep their usual composure. Without waiting for the guards to urge, they fell to their knees respectfully, and even tried to kiss the dust on the tips of Zhao and Ju's boots.

Zhao and Ju, who are wearing the uniforms of the Guards, are at the best moment of their lives, the heroic posture of adolescence can still find a shadow in his body, and the maturity and stability of the middle-aged man gives him a sense of immobility and solidity, he is almost a perfect combination of aggressiveness and prudence.

In the eyes of the three kings of Europa, this man, who is closer to God than the Pope, may be God's messenger on the earth, God's favorite son, otherwise how can he rule this Eden-like kingdom?

Their muttered compliments were translated into Song dialect, and Zhao and Ju smiled after listening to them.

"I have nothing to do with your God, if there is a god who created my people of Huaxia, that god's name is Nuwa, if there is a god who created this world, that god's name is Pangu."

"All mortals who call themselves holy and divine in the world are heretical, and all mortals who call prophets and messengers of God are hypocrisy."

"I have heard that the countries of Europa are fighting endlessly, fighting each other, the people's livelihood is withering, and the heavens have the virtue of a good life, I am really uneasy, so I have ordered my Great Song Navy to organize a second fleet of westward expeditions, and prepare to expedition Europa again to maintain peace between the nations, and the other three kings, are you willing to be loyal to me and drive for me?"

The three kings of Europe couldn't help but look at each other after listening to the translation.

"This is not in keeping with traditional ......," muttered King Louis.

"Remember, in the future, there will be only one tradition in this world, and that is the tradition of the Great Song Dynasty, and there is only one order, and that is the order of the Great Song Dynasty." Zhao Youju said coldly.

Note 1: Historically, the old man in the mountains did surrender under pressure from the Mongols, but he was still exterminated.

Note 2: The information of these three monarchs in Europe comes from Baidu.