In the night of the Tangshan Hot Spring Town Railway Station, a train slowly entered the platform. www.biquge.info The railway line from Shanghai to Nanjing originally did not pass through the hot spring town, but after Zhu Jishi regarded it as the permanent residence of the Ming court, the China Railway Company built this branch line connecting the Beijing (Nanjing) and Shanghai railways.

Zhu Jishi sat on the luxury carriage of the special train, just looking at the scenery outside. It was very dark, and only a few street lamps lit it, which was the light of electricity, symbolizing that the Ming Empire was the first in the world to enter the era of electrification. In this faint light, I saw the soldiers of the Fourth Division of the Ming Guards standing straight with their backs to the train. The 4th Guards Division was a newly formed unit after the main force of the Guards left for North America, and they relied on them to defend the city of Nanjing and the town of Hot Springs.

Nanjing's civil and military officials and celebrities from all walks of life did not come to the station to greet them, this is the rule set by Zhu Jishi, and they should be as frugal as possible. It's not all because of a few Chinese dollars, but because he doesn't want to deal with those meaningless and cumbersome etiquette, and in his opinion, that kind of grand greeting and sending etiquette is too wasteful of his time and that of his officials.

Zuo Zongtang, who was opposite him, was holding a telegram in his hand and smiled at him while reading it: "Your Majesty, the crown prince and several princes are a little itchy when they see the achievements of King Donghua, and they also want to go into battle to show themselves." ”

Zhu Jishi smiled: "They only watched Juan's achievements in North America, and they didn't see that his whole person was dark and thin, let alone look at the responsibility of commanding a million-strong army to fight a decisive battle with the enemy." ”

Zuo Zongtang's smile stiffened slightly, but he covered it up well. Among Emperor Zhu's princes, in addition to Juan, there are several who studied military affairs. There is Feng Yuniang's son, Navy Colonel Zhu Guoguang. There is Hong Xuanjiao's son, Zhu Guoxuan, the king of Xihua. There are Oyuntana's son, Army Major Zhu Guoan, and the son of Imperial Concubine Zheng Shi, Army Lieutenant Zhu Guowei, and the son of Imperial Concubine Zhou Xiuying, Army Engineer Major Zhu Guoliang. It is only natural for these princes who graduated from military schools to ask for war. But the crown prince, who studied law, also wanted to conquer Nanyang in person, which was really a bit unbearable and wanted to compete with Juan.

Although he is already a semi-retired adviser minister, his granddaughter is Zhu Guoxiong's side concubine, and she can be regarded as Zhu Guoxiong's elder, so she has to help him say a few words. Seeing that Zhu Jishi was vaguely unhappy with the crown prince's overzealous war, he couldn't help but feel a little worried about the royal father-son brotherhood.

He smiled and said, "Your Majesty." The crown prince also needs to familiarize himself with military affairs and make friends with some young generals in the army. Although I am the king under the law, after all, it is still the constitution of the real monarch, and the crown prince is the future emperor, how can he not be in military affairs? According to the old minister, it is enough to let the prince go to Hong Kong in the name of the commander-in-chief of the Southern Army. The prince's old ministers know it, he is extremely old-fashioned, and he can also listen to the opinions of others. Besides, doesn't the crown prince also hang the rank of marshal of the Ming Empire? ”

Zhu Jishi just smiled and sat there without speaking. No matter how much he restricts the imperial power. It is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to become a constitutional monarchy in later generations. In fact, there is also a gradual evolution of this constitutional monarchy. Right now, it's the UK. The royal family still wields considerable power. Therefore, the future Ming Dynasty will inevitably be a situation in which the emperor and the parliament rule together. It may take hundreds of years of evolution to become a true constitutional monarchy. Therefore, it is actually necessary to make the crown prince more prestigious, and to have some connections in the army.

But the situation in the southern theater was very complicated, even more than in North America. The North American battlefield is divided into seven parts military and three parts political, and military is a decisive battle on land. Juan played very well. As for politics, with the help of Mathilde I, there would not be too much of a basket. On the same day that Zhu returned to Shanghai, news came from North America that Louisiana and Texas announced their withdrawal from the Confederate States of America on the same day, with the former announcing the establishment of the New Kingdom of France, inviting the French and Roman Emperor Napoleon IV as kings, and sending invitations to the other states of the Confederate States of America. The latter proclaimed the Grand Duchy of Texas, and Mathilde, the Empress of Mexico, became the Grand Duchess of Texas.

However, the situation in the southern battlefield was not so simple, and there was no Mexican empress and ordinary Bonaparte brothers to help Zhu Guoxiong.

As soon as the train stopped, the crown prince of Daming stepped onto the train with a respectful attitude, and several luxury carriages stopped in front of the platform. When Emperor Zhu saw that his son came to pick him up in person, he smiled, didn't say any kind words, and put a fur hat on his head. He staggered off the train. It was the beginning of January 1876, it was winter, there was still a deep snow on the station, and his calfskin boots creaked on the snow. He didn't get into the carriage right away, but walked in the snow. I don't know what I'm thinking. Zhu Guoxiong followed behind him and did not speak. He knew that Zhu Jishi must have a lot of questions to ask, and he had already prepared the answers with the help of his staff.

"What do you think about fighting in the South?" Zhu Jishi stood still, squinted at the crown prince, and seemed to have a confident look.

"Erchen has no idea about war, and the generals sent by the War Department and the Navy Department are responsible for military affairs.

"The answer is good, people are self-aware, and you are not only inferior to Juan in the ability to decide between the two formations, but even a second lieutenant who has just graduated from the military academy is much better than you."

This is not pouring cold water. It's not easy to be a second lieutenant in the Ming army now! It usually takes more than five years of training in a junior military academy, plus three years of army officer school, and about a year of military internship to get the rank of second lieutenant in the army! The knowledge required is no less than that of a successful lawyer - and the same is true of the training process that officers in most European countries of this era had to go through, which is probably why the modern European-style army in the 19th century far surpassed the traditional feudal army in terms of combat effectiveness, and the quality of the officers between the two was really not the slightest difference.

"If you don't command directly, what's the use of you leading the Southern Army?" Zhu Jishi asked lightly.

"Sons can do things that generals can't do, such as appeasement and marriage." The crown prince replied with a smile, "Erchen thinks that the Battle of the South is different from the Battle of North America. In North America, the war relied on solid military warfare, while the southern Nanyang, India, Australia, and other places were mainly political, supplemented by military affairs. ”

"That's a good point, but what are the specific plans?"

"It has not been a day since Erchen studied the situation in the south, and he has already learned something." Zhu Guoxiong said, "Erchen found that everything in Nanyang and India is inseparable from religion. For example, Myanmar is a Buddhist country, and if you want to take Myanmar, you need to get the support of the three major Burmese Sangha such as Dodruma, Shwejing, and Dabhara. ”

"How do I get the support of the monks?"

Zhu Guoxiong said with a smile: "Erchen often deals with monks, and he knows that money can make monks grind. ”

"Haha, that's interesting." Zhu Jishi smiled, "With the support of the monk, it should be easy to take Myanmar, right?" ”

"It's easy to take Myanmar, but how to govern Myanmar takes a lot of thought." Zhu Guoxiong glanced at his father, "Father, the land of Burma is not a land directly under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, right?" ”

"Well, the kingdom of Burma should be one of the summers. As for the king...... Do you have a candidate? ”

"You can make Brother Wei the king of Burma."

"Concubine Zheng's son? Burma and Siam are feuds! ”

"Siam is just a grudge with the Burmese," Zhu Guoxiong said, "and the Burmese natives are also divided into many ethnic groups, not all of them are Burmese, many of them are the same as the people of Siam, they all think they are Chinese and have always been at odds with the Burmese, and most of the chiefs of the Tusi of Myanmar Miaoxiang (the Shan State Plateau is called the Miaoxiang Plateau by the Ming court) are the imperial court, but they are the Ming vassals, and they regard themselves as the descendants of the Ming army soldiers who followed Emperor Zhaozong into Burma in the past." Speaking of which, after my Ming Dynasty loyalty, with the help of the Tusi of the Miaoxiang Plateau (Shan State Plateau), and the Kingdom of Siam as the backing, it was easy to pacify Burma. And Burma has acquired, and the land of Manipur, where the British Imphal Great Fortress is located, is like a bag. ”

"Imphal is still hundreds of kilometers away from northern Myanmar, so I'm afraid it's not advisable to explore it, right?" (To be continued......)