Due to Zuo Zongtang's retreat in Fujian, the Fujian problem instantly changed from a military issue to a political issue. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

It is not easy to govern Fujian, and the local forces here are too strong.

Chen Zhiting's attitude is to send officials here.

But Zhu Jinglun refused, he sent Fang Shan to Huairou, let Wu Chongyao from Fujian such a merchant family cooperate, and invited the local prestige squire of Fujian to serve as a magistrate, he believed that local autonomy is a good way to restore stability to a place as soon as possible, after appointing hundreds of officials, large and small, Zhu Jinglun let these officials negotiate with local forces, he hoped that the local Tuanlian could sign the documents he prepared, on behalf of their families, clans to declare allegiance to the Ming Kingdom, but it was difficult, These areas, which had just escaped from the rule of the Qing court, could not accept the reality of changing the dynasty for a while, and they were also worried that the Qing army would come back to settle accounts with them.

Zhu Jinglun is not in a hurry, he knows that with the victory of the Ming army again and again, the people will accept Daming with peace of mind, and with the improvement of the economic level, the people will sincerely support Daming, and he is not anxious about this, because he is confident that he is only engaged in the economy, and the Chinese in later generations will already be model students in the world in engaging in the economy.

After incorporating Fujian's less tightly controlled territory into the territory, the next target was naturally Guangxi, Jiang Yili did not stalemate with the Ming army in Wuzhou, I don't know if he got Zuo Zongtang's order, or heard the news of Zuo Zongtang's defeat, overnight, Jiang Yili withdrew the army for thirty miles, and then continued to retreat, until Guilin.

The Ming army has been fighting continuously for more than half a year, and Zhu Jinglun means to let everyone rest until next year and launch a new military operation, but the officers are extremely active, and they are very high-spirited after easily taking Fujian, thinking that Guangxi can also be easily won, so they ask for war again and again.

This was a thing that made Zhu Jinglun very happy, he knew that he had formed a very high prestige in the army, and in a less authoritarian military system, his prestige could not be replaced by a single officer, so the possibility of rebellion was very small.

The morale of the civilian officials is also very high, and they also hope to send troops to Guangxi as soon as possible, mainly because they hope that Zhu Jinglun will ascend the throne as soon as possible, and Zhu Jinglun hopes that after the situation stabilizes, he will ascend the throne and build a high wall to slowly become king, so the civilian officials also hope to take Guangxi as soon as possible, so that the two Guangxi can be integrated, the defense can be unified and coordinated, and the basic land will be stabilized.

When the morale of the civil and military forces was so high, Zhu Jinglun still asked everyone to attack Guangxi after February, because this year's New Year was on January 27, Zhu Jinglun asked the soldiers to go home in rotation for a year, and gave each soldier a big red envelope of ten taels of silver, and printed more than 100,000 greeting cards to their families, which were stamped with Zhu Jinglun's private seal.

After Xu Rongcun completed the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire, he entered the Red Sea from Egypt and returned to China as a British steamer, but he still did not catch the Chinese New Year.

However, what made him happy was that Zhu Jinglun held a grand welcome banquet for him, and invited hundreds of civil and military officials in Guangzhou to celebrate him, he was a businessman, and for the first time he felt the country's respect for him, the feeling was very subtle and indescribable, but it was not all joy, and he also felt a faint melancholy, which was a change in the world view, and from then on he would no longer be able to work only for his own personal interests, but must take the interests of the country to heart.

Zhu Jinglun did not break his promise, and asked Chen Zhiting to draft an edict and canonize Xu Rongcun as a baron, and he also became the first official to be knighted after the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

Just after the New Year, and the battle against Guangxi had not yet begun, Zhu Jinglun decided to visit the United States.

This is a high-level diplomatic activity, and one of the most important reasons is that the United States has never recognized the legal status of the Ming Dynasty, and Wu Chongyao has been negotiating with the US minister since last year, but the United States has always insisted that the Qing government is the only legitimate government of China.

The reason why this is so is because the United States is anti-separatist at this time, if they admit that the Ming State split from the Great Qing State, it is tantamount to slapping themselves in the face, for the United States, quelling the southern rebellion is their most important thing at this time.

Therefore, Zhu Jinglun's visit was to put pressure on the Americans, and as for adopting such abnormal methods, it was also because Zhu Jinglun believed that in the next ten years, the United States would be the most important friend of the Ming Dynasty.

The Americans are embarrassed, they do not establish diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty, but they do not oppose trade, they do not recognize Zhu Jinglun as the emperor, but they do not object to Zhu Jinglun visiting the United States in a private capacity.

As the emperor, Zhu Jinglun called the largest warship of the Ming Dynasty, the Guangzhou, a 5,000-ton sail steam warship.

God appreciates the face, the journey was smooth, Zhu Jinglun asked for full firepower, and the speed was amazing, and he arrived in New York in two and a half months and took the train directly to Washington.

"Your Majesty, what do you think the foreigner's president looks like?"

Zhang Rou has always been worried about meeting Lincoln, as a woman, she feels that it is very inappropriate for her to meet foreigners, as if she does not abide by women's morals.

"What do the foreigners you have seen in Guangzhou look like, their presidents are similar, maybe older than the foreigners in Guangzhou, and their eyes are blue."

"It's just like ordinary foreigners!"

Zhang Rou seemed quite disappointed by this.

Zhu Jinglun laughed: "Then what do you think the president of a foreigner looks like?" Isn't our emperor different from the common people? ”

Zhang Rou chuckled: "Now you are the emperor." ”

Zhu Jinglun said: "Do I look different from others? ”

Zhang Rou had reverence in her eyes: "Of course it's different." ”

Zhu Jinglun was a little curious: "What's the difference?" ”

Zhang Rou said: "You have a destiny in you. It's the same as ordinary people. ”

Zhu Jinglun smiled bitterly and shook his head, rumors are flying all over the sky, and they can't be stopped, in an era of superstition, you can't make miracles yourself, and the people will make up for it by themselves, not to mention that Zhu Jinglun has miracles, and being struck by lightning on the wedding day is a miracle, but no one said that he was struck by thunder, but that day with the rolling thunder, the dragon circled around Zhu Jinglun, he couldn't help but think of this kind of scene, and he felt quite domineering.

He was very helpless about this kind of thing, even if he had always maintained, even some deliberately maintained his previous habits, such as no matter how Fang Shan reminded him, he would never call himself "I", and he would always communicate with people with equal titles like "you, me", but the aura added to him was still more and more.

The Washington train station was lively, and the welcome ceremony arranged by the Lincoln administration was quite solemn, but there were no banners, which was too Chinese and not popular in this era.

The Lincoln administration's secretary of state, William Henry Seward, in his welcoming remarks, said that he welcomed Zhu Jinglun, a distinguished guest from China, and his wife to the United States, without mentioning Zhu Jinglun's identity.

Later the Americans said that this was the regret of their history.

Zhu Jinglun also looked at Seward twice, because in history, it was this guy who strongly advocated the purchase of Alaska, because at that time, the Americans felt that it was not a good deal, thinking that Alaska was nothing but ice and snow, and called Alaska Seaward's refrigerator.

This guy really mentioned Alaska, and he congratulated Zhu Jinglun on buying such a large piece of land in his private capacity, it seems that he is really a guy who has long been ambitious about where.

Later, Seward expressed President Lincoln's greetings to Zhu Jinglun, and he regretted that President Lincoln could not receive Zhu Jinglun in an official capacity, but President Lincoln was willing to invite Zhu Jinglun to go to the opera in a private capacity.

And the theater where he watched the opera was called Ford's Theater, Zhu Jinglun's heart couldn't help jumping, isn't this the theater where Lincoln was assassinated, it can't be such a coincidence, he also specially asked Seward US time, and sure enough, it was April 14th.

Well, it was quite possible that he had witnessed the assassination of Lincoln, a dangerous place, so he refused to allow Zhang Rou to follow him, and asked Seward to help arrange a hotel, saying that his wife was too tired to go to the opera.

Seward was very sorry, saying that they had not thought about it so much, and he said that if Zhu Jinglun was tired from the journey, he could not go, and he believed that Mr. President would be very considerate of the difficulties of the distinguished guests.

But Zhu Jinglun insisted on going, joking that this kind of historical scene is not something that can be experienced if you want to experience it.

Lincoln watched the opera this time, in fact, it was also an American celebration, five days ago, the United States South signed the instrument of surrender, the American Civil War officially ended, Lincoln attended a series of celebrations, this time invited the United States Commander-in-Chief General Grant, to celebrate the great achievements of the general.

Lincoln introduced Zhu Jinglun to a group of high-ranking American officials, including General Grant, and also introduced Zhu Jinglun to these people wearing a blue Chinese robe, and he introduced Zhu Jinglun as his good friend in China, but in fact, everyone knew his identity, but no one would expose it.

At such a gathering of high-ranking officials, Lincoln felt that it was a high courtesy to Zhu Jinglun, and at the same time, it was an evening opera performance, which would not make people over-interpret the political significance. Later, when he watched the opera, Lincoln specially invited Zhu Jinglun to sit in his box and sit side by side with him.

The actor who performed the opera "My American Cousin" was very focused, and the victory over the South greatly boosted Lincoln's prestige, helping him win the presidential election a dozen days earlier, and the love of many Northerners.

Everyone watched the play very attentively, and Lincoln was not smiling, but he was more explaining American art to Zhu Jinglun, but Zhu Jinglun couldn't appreciate this art at all, first, he didn't think that the opera thing had any elegant taste, and second, he was always waiting for the arrival of the assassin.

Finally, he felt a creature moving not far behind him, everyone was watching the play, and this person was coming from far and near, towards Lincoln's box.

This is the assassin, Zhu Jinglun thought to himself, and at the same time thought in his heart, should he save the guy who was having a foolish pleasure next to him. (To be continued.) )