In the summer of the thirtieth year of Longhan, there was no rain and the heat was unbearable. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Emperor Liu Jun also moved to Beihai early, hunting while avoiding the heat, and at the same time summoned the feudal princes of the Monan, Mobei and Xipol reservations.

Since the fifth year of the Longhan Dynasty, the emperor would move to the North Sea every three years to hunt for the summer and gather the princes of the Northland.

Today, it has been 30 years since the founding of the Han Dynasty, and it has never been more prosperous than ever before. But the emperor still has the heart to, but fortunately, Liu Jun also knows how to let go in a timely manner, and with the assistance of several sets of teams such as the cabinet, he can also be a lot easier.

"Alright, so be it."

Liu Jun stood by the lake, the blue sky and white clouds and green water of Lake Baikal in summer, the huge lake absorbs a lot of summer heat, like a huge air conditioner, cool breeze, cool lake water. Now Liu Jun has to swim in the lake every day, and Liu Jun, who is over fifty years old, after taking off his clothes, reveals the excellent figure that he often exercises and maintains.

The emperor jumped into the lake and began to swim freely, and a group of guards was already swimming beside him, and two dragon boats were not far away.

Huang Zongxi, the first assistant of the cabinet, saw that the emperor had swam away, so he said to a few colleagues on the shore, "Send out Your Majesty's will today." ”

"Okay." The envoy replied with a smile, "Yuanfu won't go to the lake today?" ”

Huang Zongxi stroked his long beard and shook his head, "I don't dare to go into the water every day, and I don't have this time." ”

As the first assistant, Huang Zongxi is indeed a great opportunity, and he is much busier than the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. The emperor only listened to briefings every day and made ideas about major matters, but he, the head of the cabinet, was in charge of the entire cabinet and was responsible for the administrative operation of the Han Empire.

Today's Han Empire, 30 years after its founding, has 100,000 miles of rivers and mountains, and 50,000 people. The territory has expanded to the seaside on the east, south, and north, and has expanded to the east coast of the Black Sea in the west, turning the Caspian Sea almost into the inland sea of the Han Dynasty.

In the southern sea, the once desolate and untouched province of Tiannan Province in the New World has also begun to bear fruit, with a population of more than 3 million, and three prefectures and nine counties have been established along the southeast coast. Tiannan Province has become the largest wool producing area in Dahan, and its mining industry is also thriving, and the supply of iron ore and pig iron is increasing year by year.

Even in the east of West Ball Province, across the Bering Strait in Alaska, on the west coast of North America, in South America and other places, the Han Dynasty has also obtained many colonial strongholds from Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Britain, France, etc. through trade, commercial loans, war loans, etc. with European countries in recent years.

The expansion of the empire was unattained by any dynasty in the Central Plains in the past, and even the former Mongol Empire was inferior to today's Sacred Han Empire.

But managing such a huge empire is very hard.

Huang Zongxi has been serving a full term for four years this year, but he feels that the first assistant in the past four years has consumed a lot of his energy, and he is even considering whether he wants to continue to be re-elected for the next term.

"The southern shore of the Caspian Sea must not be abandoned, especially the Caucasus, and it must be captured." Zhang Huangyan, the secretary of the Ministry of War, said that this young general at the time of the founding of the country has now become a veteran in the army. Thirty years have passed, and he has also entered the center from the Western Regions for a long time, retired from active service, and became the secretary of the military department with the rank of sergeant of Kabu Yingden University.

The Caucasus, located at the junction of Europe and Asia, is a mountainous region between the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Azov. The Xingyue Sect and the Cross Sect coexist here, and its special geographical location makes it the focus of contention among all parties.

For the Han Dynasty, since the emperor drove westward and destroyed Dzungaria in World War I, he then took advantage of the momentum to advance westward, and successively destroyed the small khanates of Central Asia, such as Yarkand, Khiva, Bukhara, Kokand, and Kazakh, and pushed the western frontier of the empire to the Black Sea.

The Caucasus is no less significant for the Han Dynasty. In order for the empire to control the Kazakh steppes and the Transoxiana region west of the Tien Shan and the Green Mountains, it had to occupy the Caucasus.

The Greater and Lesser Caucasus Mountains, together with the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, have a unique mountain and sea situation, which can become a natural barrier between the Dahan River and the Kazakh region.

In order to control these regions, the Han Dynasty has been using troops in the Western Regions for all these years.

It took three years for the Han to completely destroy the Dzungar Khanate. It took another three years to destroy the Uzbeks in the valley who had occupied Kyrgyzstan without faith but refused to hand it over to the Han as promised, incorporated the Fergana Valley and Kyrgyz into the imperial territory, and established Dawan Province and Shaye Province.

After that, the Han fought with Bukhara and Khiva for the Kazakh steppe.

The war lasted for five years, and first seized control of the entire Kazakh steppe and large areas handed over to the Dzungars by Tsarist Russia, such as the Ob River and the Ortysh River.

After that, the Han army invaded the Hanzhong region, and Khiva and Bukhara appealed to the Ottomans and Safi for help.

The Great Han fought with these Star and Moon Sect allies, and fought seven wars before and after, the first three wars destroyed Khiva and Bukhara, and the last four wars laid down the current western border.

It has also been ten years since the Han entered the Caucasus.

But the unruliness of the Caucasian people is also far beyond the expectations of the Han people, and since the Han army entered the Caucasus, there has not been a day of peace.

The topography of the Caucasus consists of two columns of mountains running east-west. There is a mountain gorge between the two mountain ranges, and two rivers flow east and west into the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, respectively. The Northern Mountains and their northern slopes, often called the North Caucasus, are inhabited by the Ingushetia, Chechen, Ossetian and other ethnic groups; The Southern Mountains and their southern slopes, also known as Transcaucasia, are inhabited by numerous ethnic groups: Azerbaijani, Armenian, Iranian, Turkish, Kurd, etc.

Since ancient times, the Caucasus has been a major artery between east and west and north and south. It connects the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, and connects southern Europe, central Europe, and North Africa; It is bordered by the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea in the east, and traverses the hinterland of West Asia; the Northern Toural Mountains, deep into the Russian landscape; South towns of Iran, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and the Middle East. The neighboring peoples have always attached great importance to the Caucasus, and for many years they have been fighting for the Caucasus, and in terms of the density and intensity of war, the Caucasus must be the largest in the world.

Historically, the Assyrian Empire, the Persian Empire, the Macedonian Kingdom, the Roman Empire, the Arab Empire, the Mongol Empire, and the Ottoman Empire all touched the Caucasus and incorporated it into the imperial map.

After annexing the Dzungaria, Yarkand, Kazakh, Bukhara, Khiva and other khanates in Central Asia, the Han also advanced its territory to the lower reaches of the Volga River, and then fought with Russia and Poland successively, receiving the lower reaches of the Volga River originally occupied by the Turks, and then seizing the east bank of the lower Don River to the west.

After seizing the east bank of the Don River, the Han army immediately entered the North Caucasus.

To the east, the Han army seized the mountainous strip of land adjacent to the coast along the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, and then made a detour back to the Transcaucus, conquering the region, and bringing the entire Caucasus under imperial rule.

It's just that the resistance of these Caucasians made the big man a little surprised.

The Caucasus is a multi-ethnic region, and a valley is sometimes a tribal people. The tribes in these areas have always been called barbarians, and although the Han people settled in, these people did not obey.

Although the Ottomans lost, they refused to admit defeat and give up the region.

At the same time, both Poland and Tsarist Russia wanted to recapture the occupied areas of the lower reaches of the Don and Volga rivers, and the Caucasus, so it became a key point for all parties to fight.

The North Caucasus alone is home to more than 80 ethnic groups and more than 80 languages, both Orthodox and Sunni.

Liu Jun often talks about educating the four yi.

The land of the Western Regions was too far away, especially in areas such as the Transoconies and the Caucasus, and the imperial court could not completely remove people. In this situation, Liu Jun means to focus on eliminating the upper class, eliminating the strata that have mastered power, wealth, knowledge, history, and religious beliefs, supplemented by some immigrants, and some people moving out and then moving into some Han people, breaking the old social structure.

Without a leader, it will definitely be better to rule.

However, this strategy has been implemented well in the middle of the river, but it is difficult to implement it in the Caucasus.

These Caucasians already have many tribes, and they usually fight to the death, in their eyes, the Caucasus region is actually not a whole at all, it is completely a tribal war.

There are hundreds of tribes and hundreds of languages spoken.

Even tribes that speak the same language are fighting each other as well. There are no nations in their eyes, only tribes. Although it is located between Asia and Europe, the tribes here are simply barbarians. None of the empires that have occupied it in history have ever been able to truly conquer it.

The Great Han came, and it has been ten years, and he has not been able to conquer here.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals had formed a Star and Moon Alliance, while Tsarist Russia, Poland, Sweden, France, Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, and other countries had also formed a new Crusader Alliance. Even the two alliances of the Star Moon Sect and the Cross Sect have the intention of uniting, and many people are campaigning for this matter. ”

Huang Zongxi's brows were furrowed, full of worry.

The rapid expansion of the Han Dynasty in recent years, especially the entry of the Han Dynasty into Europe, has made Western countries feel a strong sense of power, and they can no longer even care about their original intrigues. The Cross Sect is no longer fighting over Protestantism and Old Religion, and is even willing to unite with its sworn enemy, the Xingyue Sect, just to curb the westward advance of the Great Han.

It is also an honor that the Han can make the whole of Europe tremble. But it is undeniable that if the whole of Europe unites against the Great Han, this is by no means a good thing.

The war was never fought alone, and if this anti-Han alliance was really established, as long as they no longer traded with the Han, it would be enough to make the Han suffer heavy losses.

Feeling that the atmosphere was a little heavy, Zhang Huangyan said with a smile, "Even if the entire Taixi is the enemy of my Han, as long as we hold the Caucasus, they will not be able to advance eastward." ”

"The Han Dynasty has occupied the Caucasus for ten years, but until now, it has not been able to really control these regions." Huang Zongxi shook his head and said.

"Ten years, it's been long enough. These Caucasian barbarians are really soft and hard, and there is nothing they can do about them. If you want me to say, it's time to use the thunderbolt tricks. ”

Zhang Huangyan has always been a military hardliner, and even if he now retires and joins the cabinet as the secretary of the military department, he still does not change his attitude.

"Use the last resort to carry out a sweep of the entire Caucasus, arrest all the Caucasian barbarians, and then transport them to the Central Plains to work as laborers. For those who dare to resist, they will be killed directly. As long as these barbarians are taken away, and some Han people are moved over, this place will naturally be settled once and for all. ”

But in doing so, it will inevitably force all the Caucasians to rebel. Don't forget, now that the countries of Europe are preparing to go to war with us, the Caucasus is in chaos, which is not a good thing. ”

Zhang Huangyan insisted, "There is no way to do this, and it will be useless to continue to consume like this." ”

Liu Hekun looked at the crumbling port of Aceh with a smile on his face.

At the western tip of Sumatra, southwest of the Strait of Malacca, this is the last island nation in the entire South Seas that is still rebelling.

But soon, this last rebellious island nation will also perish.

More than 100 warships from the Ninth Fleet blocked the harbor of Aceh, pouring shells into the harbor. On land, more than 50,000 co-operative troops from the Nanyang Islands and various parts of Central and South China rushed to Aceh City from the land in several groups.

The artillery on the harbors and fortified batteries of the Acehnese was also bombarded incessantly, and the charging co-followers were blown down from time to time, but it could not slow down their offensive.

In the rear of the co-subordinate army, the artillery units of the Han army also fired artillery on several artillery positions to cover the attack.

More and more soldiers and horses approached the fortress.

The destruction of the city is only in the moment.

The Sultanate of Aceh was also a powerful state in Sumatra, although these people were not indigenous. They were Cham people, and some of the Cham people fled after the destruction of the Cham state by Vietnam. At that time, the Cham people fled to various parts of Southeast Asia, and Aceh was an important foothold for them.

These outsiders soon took over Nestle and founded Aceh, where they converted to the Star and Moon religion and established the Sultanate. Because it occupies the southern shore of the Strait of Malacca, Aceh soon flourished.

In its heyday, it occupied almost half of Sumatra.

The island of Sumatra, known as Jinzhou in ancient China, is said to be rich in gold here.

Such a golden place, of course, Dahan will not let it go.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, it fought with Spain and the Netherlands, defeated these European colonists who came to Nanyang in the early days, and obtained the exclusive rights and interests of the protectors of the Nanyang countries. Since then, the focus of the Han Dynasty in the south has been on the conquest of Indochina, so the large and small sultanates of the South Seas have always lived in peace, mainly in commerce and trade, and secretly infiltrated.

When the Han Dynasty won a decisive victory in Indochina, it began to shift its focus to the South Seas. Through division and co-optation, and various kinds of sowing discord, the Nanyang Islands began to enter a period of 20 years of chaos, and the Han also took the opportunity to use means to gradually annex many island countries.

In the past few years, the Han Dynasty has no longer concealed its ambition to conquer the entire South Seas, and Shunchang has rebelled.

Banten, Mataram, Perak and other sultanates were finally conquered and conquered, and now, only Aceh to the west of Jinzhou remains.

However, now there is only one capital city left in Aceh.

Aceh was still very strong, whether it was Portugal coming east, or later Spain, the Netherlands, England, etc., they could not take advantage of them. Aceh even went north to attack Malacca and other countries on several occasions, and also fought with Portugal in an attempt to capture Malacca.

It's a pity that the strength of the big man is far beyond what Aceh can bear.

Another round of shelling.

Liu Hekun stood on the flagship, looked at it twice, then lost interest and turned back to the captain's cabin in the stern.

Liu Gekun, the eldest son of the Han Emperor, is over 30 years old this year, but he is not the crown prince.

In the 30 years since the founding of the Han Dynasty, there has not been a crown prince.

Liu Hekun, as the eldest son of the queen, did not stay in the palace all the time. He entered school at the age of three, left the palace to study at the age of six, and had already left the palace to live in the palace at the age of twelve.

After graduating from high school, sixteen-year-old Liu Hekun applied for the Han Imperial Army School and became a military cadet. Four years later, he graduated with honors and then entered service in the Imperial Army.

In the blink of an eye, he has been serving in the army for ten years.

Now, he is a military captain with four silver leopard epaulettes on his shoulders. As the eldest son of the emperor, he is a captain after ten years of fighting in the army, in fact, because he did not reveal his identity in the army, from studying to joining the army, he has always used another name, Liu Desheng.

No one knew that this tall young man was actually the eldest son.

In fact, His Majesty the Emperor has more than 30 sons, half of whom are adults, and almost all of these princes start from the bottom, either from the literary or military background, and they all use pseudonyms below.

Liu Desheng was promoted to captain in ten years with his military merits, which is already very good, in fact, Liu Desheng is very famous in the military circles, and he and the other two young captains are collectively known as the three heroes of silver.

Liu Hekun was originally in the army, and later transferred to the Marine Corps, and he has been fighting in the east and west over the years.

Aceh is finally over, and the war in the South Seas can be regarded as an end.

Liu Hekun thought that he could finally have a long vacation, just in time to rush back to Beijing to attend the fiftieth birthday of his mother Empress Lu. I think I haven't taken a vacation to return to Beijing for a year.

Liu Hekun really wanted to stay in Jingshi, and he wanted to be the prince even more. But he knew that he couldn't be a prince just by his background. His father is a very special emperor, Wen Cheng Wude, his merits are far better than that of Qin Emperor, Han Wu, Tang Sect and Song Zu, he spent 30 years to build a big Han Empire, and he has never set up a prince for 30 years.

The emperor once openly told them that anyone has a chance, and it depends on who is more prepared.

"If you want to wear a crown, you must bear its weight."

If he is willing to give up, the emperor will not be reluctant. Liu Hekun has more than 30 brothers, more than a dozen adult brothers, only one old thirteen has given up, he likes poetry and songs, likes to travel, and likes to do business. The emperor did not reproach him for his withdrawal, but praised him for knowing how to advance and retreat. The emperor gave Lao Thirteen a large sum of money, but the money was not given to him immediately, but was stored in the bank, stipulating when Lao Thirteen would be able to withdraw the money if he could rely on his own ability, start from scratch, and run his company to 10 million assets.

The emperor encouraged the princes to work hard and compete for the crown prince's position, but at the same time encouraged them to choose the life they really liked.

The last thing the emperor could tolerate was vicious competition.

Because of this, five princes have been deposed by the emperor and lost the inheritance of the empire forever. Become a commoner, be able to do business, maybe be able to become a rich and large landowner, but never have the opportunity to inherit this huge empire, and even be an official.

Of the thirty-three brothers, there are now nineteen adult princes, one voluntarily withdraws, five are deposed, and now there are thirteen adult princes competing for the crown prince.

He still has twelve brothers who are opponents, Liu Hekun thought in his heart, maybe after returning to Beijing this time, he will have to do activities. (To be continued.) )