Napoleon and Hikaru Otani took pictures of the Sacred Heavenly Taoist Temple in the east of Macau, and walked hurriedly along a back alley, before turning out and onto the main road, they saw a car slowly driving along the street. Now according to the Western calendar, it is only 1790, but cars have appeared in large numbers in Macau, a Ming colonial city located in Europa. However, camels, carriages, and donkeys, which were the means of transportation of the old times, had not yet withdrawn, but were competing with the cars for the not wide roads of the city. The automobile is an advanced means of transportation, and it does not show much superiority.

These cars are not all cars, but also a lot of trucks and buses - Macau's public transportation is relatively developed, not only buses, but also trams and horse-drawn carriages.

However, he became good friends with Napoleon in this time and space, and he is also an assistant professor at the Otani Medical College in Macau, and he is the sister-in-law of the Otani family, which is the head of the Eastern Hereditary Heavenly Taoist Sect in Dongying Province. His sister Otani Shu is the holy daughter of the Heavenly Taoist Sect in Dongying Province, and his aunt is the current head of the Great Sect of Dongying Province, so he is naturally a big young master with money.

So I got on the road, waved my hand directly, and stopped a taxi carriage. I also took out a small ticket with a face value of 50 wen, bought a copy of the latest publication of "Daily Current Affairs" from a newsstand on the side of the road, and then talked to Napoleon, a self-funded student from the Qing Empire. Bonaparte got into the carriage together.

The Qing Empire, founded by Zhu Sijiu and pushed to the peak by Zhu Chongba, is now the same as the Ming Empire, showing the fatigue of the old empire after more than 300 years of peace and ease.

The difference is that although the Ming Empire is known as "weak", it is still the world's largest industrialized country. Last year, steel production exceeded 80 million tons, and iron production was close to 150 million tons. This number may seem like nothing to people in the 21st century. But at the moment, it's quite staggering. That's about twice as much steel production as all other countries in the world combined!

That "much" steel was naturally transformed into railways all over the country and ships across several oceans.

Although the Ming Dynasty was trapped in the internal class struggle, it was also affected by the rise of the newly industrialized countries from the outside. Such as the challenge of the Huaxia Empire (the second largest industrial country in the world today), the United Kingdom of China (the third largest industrial country in the world), and the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom (the fourth industrial country in the world).

In addition, the Kingdom of West Africa (the world's fifth industrial country), the Kingdom of England (the world's sixth largest industrial country), the Kingdom of Italy (the world's seventh industrial country), Tianzhu Great Britain (the world's eighth industrial country), the Mamluk Sultanate (the world's ninth industrial country), the United Kingdom of Northern Europe (the world's tenth industrial country) and other countries have also completed or are in the process of industrialization. In the future, it may also become a challenger to the hegemony of the Ming Empire!

But in terms of comprehensive national strength, the Ming Empire, with 80 million tons of steel and a population of 1.1 billion, undoubtedly still has the strength to crush all other countries in the world - not one by one, but one country at the same time to crush the world!

And the Qing Dynasty, which once seemed to be competing with the Ming Empire, has really weakened. The country was first blockaded by Chen Zongdao, and then engaged in self-isolation, in order to restrict the rise of national consciousness among whites in the country, and engaged in a big retreat. At the same time, the dissemination and application of scientific knowledge are strictly restricted.

Compared with. Although the Qing Dynasty, a friendly country of the Holy Heavenly Dao that has been consistent for hundreds of years, restricts commerce and capital, it attaches great importance to scientific research and the application of various new technologies, and also uses the rich coal and iron resources in the country to embark on the road of industrialization - after all, they have been fighting against the Ming Empire for more than 300 years, and have fought a total of eighteen large-scale wars! If reform and progress were not known, the country would have been destroyed by the Ming Dynasty long ago.

If you want to find a comparison with the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom in another time and space, it is probably North Korea, and the Divine Heavenly Dao Country is an enlarged version with rich resources. In addition, North Korea retains a certain amount of private ownership. It has a population of 30 million and a relatively complete industrial system. The agriculture of the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom was based on a communal system—not invented by Kubalun, but inherited from Ancient Rus'. The aristocratic landlords or states of the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom could not lease land to individual farmers, but only to entire peasant communes. The important industrial sectors such as iron and steel, shipbuilding, and weapons are all state-owned, and finance and foreign trade are also monopolized by the state. Private individuals can only invest in light industry and domestic commerce.

Under this system dominated by the state-owned economy. The Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom now has a steel production capacity of more than 2 million tons, the total mileage of the railway operation is also more than 20,000 miles, and the military industry can also meet the needs of the Heavenly Dao Knights Army (the Divine Heavenly Dao Country's navy is relatively weak. It's basically an ornament). It also allowed the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom to withstand the Ming Dynasty, whose industrial strength was dozens of times stronger than theirs—of course, the current army did not have any advanced weapons. The tank plane has not yet been invented, but it is just a cannon plus a machine gun......

And the Qing Dynasty is west of the Atlantic. In the east, there is the barrier of the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom to block the Ming Dynasty, and the geographical situation is very favorable. The Holy Roman Empire in the south was defeated by Zhu Chongba's successor Zhu Yunwen more than 300 years ago, and split into the Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Spain (including Portugal), the Kingdom of Greece and the Kingdom of Serbia, and also lost the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, and was no longer able to compete with the Qing Dynasty.

As for the Kingdom of England to the north, it has been harmless to humans and animals for more than 300 years.

The Quartet is stable and has nothing to do, and the Qing Empire can naturally live a comfortable life behind closed doors. In 300 years, the number of people has multiplied to nearly 40,000! Looking at the world, it can be regarded as the second largest country, as long as the Great Ming Kingdom in the distance is still stumped by the messy things of the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom and the Ming Continent, it will not be able to come to Europa. It seems that the Qing Dynasty will be able to go on like this forever.

But things always turn out unexpectedly. Opium, a medicine from Tianzhu, became a headache for the Qing Dynasty about 60 years ago. This kind of medicine, which was originally used to relieve various diseases, became a hobby of the magnates and gentry of the Qing Dynasty for some reason. Swallowing clouds and spitting fog all day long is not counted, but also a large amount of real money and silver flowing out. It had a great adverse impact on the economy and national defense of the Qing Dynasty (many children of the Eight Banners and new European officers and soldiers also became addicts). So the Qing Emperor at that time, Zhu Shanhong, who advocated the prohibition of opium, and appointed Montesquieu, a European scholar, as the governor of the Balkans (the Balkans are the banner people, the governor of Asia Minor, the governor of Bulgaria and Romania, and the eastern capital is left behind. As usual, it is the flag man who is in charge, so the Balkan governor has always been a European one. to show the balance of the flag and Europe), responsible for the ban on smoking in the eastern capital of Constantinople. The Banner Minister Hai Sheng (after Hai Dawei) presided over the smoking ban in Rouen for the Governor of France.

The ban on smoking went smoothly, of course, with hundreds of opium dealers expelled and arrested in one fell swoop, and tens of thousands of boxes of fine Tianzhu opium were burned. But no one thought that this anti-smoking campaign would lead to a Balkan war!

The reason for the Balkan War was that there were two places where smoking was banned, and the target audience was different. The smoking ban in Rouen was mainly aimed at merchants from the Ming Empire, the United Kingdom of China, and the Kingdom of West Africa. The smoking ban in Constantinople was aimed at Italian and Arab merchants. Moreover, the losses of the latter were particularly heavy, not only was a large amount of opium burned, but also many merchants were killed - the Qing Kingdom was still a little jealous of the Ming Dynasty and the United Kingdom of China. The Italians and the Arabs have not been taken seriously at all.

However, with the covert support of the Ming Empire, the Kingdom of Italy pulled together the Kingdom of Serbia, the Kingdom of Greece, and the Mamluk Sultanate to form an anti-Qing alliance. Originally, they just wanted to bluff and force the Great Qing State to make some concessions, but the Great Qing State did not give an inch, which finally led to the outbreak of war. And the situation after the start of the war is a big surprise!

And the children of the Eight Banners, who have been raised by the Great Qing State for more than 300 years, are not at all opponents of the Mamluks and Italians at critical moments! However, the coalition of tens of thousands of men (Italy, Serbia, Greece, and the Mamluk Sultanate were not ready for war, they were only instigated and frightened by the Atlantic Governorate) after the war, and after the war broke out, they defeated hundreds of thousands of Eight Banner soldiers (all of them in the Balkans and Asia Minor). The methods of combat and weapons were very backward), all the way to the city of Constantinople.

In desperation, the Qing Emperor could only go to Kubalenburg (the new capital of the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom) in person to ask Chen Jialuo, the left envoy of light, for help. Invited the 100,000 troops of the Heavenly Dao Knights. Only then did the siege of Constantinople in the eastern capital be relieved - although the name of the Heavenly Dao Knights is old-fashioned, they can compete with the army of the Ming Empire, and their combat effectiveness is naturally undoubted.

But it's easier to please God, but it's hard to send God!

Because the Great Qing Kingdom performed extremely badly in this Balkan War. The Eight Banners of the Balkans and Asia Minor, which were originally regarded as heavenly soldiers, were unexpectedly ineffective. Crushed by coalition forces outnumbered much less than them. And the Daqing Mediterranean Fleet, which could once compete with the Mediterranean Fleet of the Daming Atlantic Fleet, has been calm for hundreds of years. Even the ability to go to sea is gone. As soon as the war began, it was completely wiped out by the navy of the Kingdom of Italy!

In this case, the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom naturally coveted the rich Great Qing Banner People Area - since the time of Zhu Chongba, the Great Qing Kingdom has pursued a policy of looting the European people and building the Banner People Area. For more than 300 years, the Qing Banner area was of course doing very well, although there was no industry, but it was full of rich peasant estates and pastures, and the various agricultural and animal husbandry products produced (wool, cotton, oilseeds, sugar, wine, all kinds of fruits and horses) were the main commodities exported by the Qing Dynasty.

For the Divine Heavenly Dao Country, which has relatively developed heavy industry, but is relatively backward in agriculture and light industry, and has long lacked export products, and has always been financially difficult, the allure of the Great Qing Banner Area is really difficult to resist.

Moreover, the banner people of the Great Qing Kingdom have always believed in the sacred sect of Tiandaoism, and nearly 40 million banner people living in the banner area are all believers of the holy sect. Therefore, it is very convenient for the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom to annex the Great Qing Banner Human Area.

Therefore, after the end of the Balkan War, the army of the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom relied on the Balkans and Asia Minor under the pretext of protecting the believers of the Holy Sect!

And such a move, of course, caused the rupture of the centuries-old alliance between the Great Qing Kingdom and the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom. Moreover, the collapse of the Great Qing State was also conducive to the annexation of the Great Qing Banner Region and the eastern territory of the Great Qing Dynasty by the Divine Heavenly Dao State. Therefore, the rulers of the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom also began to look forward to the fall of the Qing Empire......

At the same time, the countries that were originally taken in the former prestige of the Great Qing Kingdom and the armed forces on the Divine Heavenly Dao Powerful Continent also saw an opportunity to cut the flesh from the Great Qing Kingdom. Italy, Spain, the Mamluk Sultanate, Serbia and Greece, as well as the United Kingdom and the Chinese Empire on the other side of the Atlantic, and, of course, the Ming Empire, all pounced on the Qing Dynasty to seek benefits from the Qing Dynasty.

The door of the Great Qing Dynasty, which had been closed for more than 300 years, was opened overnight, and various unequal treaties were imposed on the Great Qing State one after another. If it weren't for the Ming Empire's policy of "maintaining the Great Qing Dynasty" in order to restrain the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom, the Great Qing Dynasty would probably have perished - there really are no eternal enemies in the world!

It can be said that the Qing Dynasty, which had been comfortable for hundreds of years, fell into an embattled situation almost overnight. So he had to start reforming and saving himself under the guidance of the Atlantic Governor's Office of the Ming Dynasty.

Decades of reform have also made certain achievements. It has established a new army of more than 100,000 bannermen, and has also established many arsenals in imitation of the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom, and has also created a "Beiyang Naval Division" through purchase and self-construction.

The Great Qing Kingdom seems to have a little cheering atmosphere. However, another problem, which had been suppressed by the Zhu Qing Dynasty for three or four hundred years, came to the fore with the reform of the Great Qing Dynasty.

The problem is the nation!

The Qing Empire implemented the "Yuan Rules, Qing Sui", although there were some improvements, but the direction of reform was not to promote ethnic integration, but to implement ethnic segregation.

Moreover, the ethnic segregation of the Great Qing State was very complicated. First of all, Europeans in the Qing Dynasty were not allowed to enter the Qiren area without permission. Except for the officials of the Balkan governor's yamen, European officials could not serve as officials in other yamen in the banner area.

Secondly, the flagbearers of the flag-man district are not the same as the flag-bearers of the European district. Although they do not have to pay taxes (all the construction and expenses of the banner area are covered by the taxes of the European area), they have no flag salary to pay, and they have to farm and graze their own cattle for production. Moreover, there are very few ways for the bannermen in the banner people district to become officials, and in fact they are a group of rich peasants and middle peasants.

And the flag bearers of the European area, especially those in Paris and Vienna, have many ways to rise as officials. Not only can you be an official in the European area, but you can also go to the flag people area to grab the errand of the Balkans and the flag people in Asia Minor! Moreover, all the banner people living in the European area were not allowed to engage in business (theoretically), so the Qing court would pay them flag salaries.

Therefore, there are now three ethnic groups in the Great Qing Dynasty: more than 2 million Europeans, 40 million, and 300 million...... (To be continued.) )