Compared with the empty Daming Palace, Li Fushou prefers to live in a dream castle, from here overlooking the glorious and magnificent Red River Valley City, a strong sense of accomplishment rises in his heart.

The Daming Palace, which cost a lot of money to build, because it covers a vast area and has many halls, has become a place to store a large number of treasures from Shenzhou, calligraphy, painting and antiques.

After the Eight-Nation Coalition broke through Beiping City, the Normandy trading house in Beiping City opened its doors widely, buying all the treasures, porcelain, calligraphy and paintings, jewelry and jade, and rare books looted by the officers and soldiers of the coalition army, and directly paid hard currency such as pounds, marks, rupees, and yen, and the good things received piled up.

These coalition soldiers don't know what is good, anyway, a porcelain vase snatched by a royal family is a pound, a painting is a pound, a book is a shilling, according to the size and how much appropriate increase or decrease, as for the antique furniture, it is 2~3 pounds sterling for a full match, a few pennies or a shilling or two for a non-matching, which is basically the same as the price of collecting rags.

The allied soldiers did not want to bring so many things back home, this kind of Qing Dynasty antiquities are not popular in Europe, of course, banknotes are better, convenient and trouble-free.

Therefore, more than 90 percent of the antiques and treasures looted by the officers and soldiers of Britain, France, Germany, Russia and other European countries were bought by the Normandy trading houses and exchanged for a large stack of banknotes, and everyone smiled happily and made a windfall.

In this war of aggression

The soldiers of the Eight-Nation Coalition were more like tireless bandits and porters, going back and forth between the palace and the mansions of high-ranking officials, looting countless antiques and even furniture, books and everything that could be sold, and more than 90% of them were sent to the Normandy trading houses to be exchanged for banknotes.

A small number of officers will leave some treasured items to take back to China as souvenirs of the expedition to the East, as too big and bulky to sell out, Europe and Asia are thousands of miles apart, and the transportation back and forth is too expensive and cumbersome.

The only thing that stood out was the Fuso army, as a member of the Oriental cultural circle, they knew that the value of Chinese antiquities was much higher than that of scrap, so a small number of inconvenient ones were sold to Normandy trading houses, such as antique furniture, books, Buddha heads, Buddhist scriptures, large porcelain and astronomical instruments, and most of the rest were brought back to China as war trophies.

For more than two months in a row

A fleet of convoys employed by the Normandy Comptoir runs between the ports of Peking and Tianjin, with a 5,000-ton freighter departing every two days, ending at a military base in the Red River Valley city on the Australian mainland.

Here, all the items will be re-registered and screened in different categories, part of which is used to improve the collection of the Imperial Museum, part of which is used to enrich the treasury of the Daming Palace, most of which is stored in the treasury of the military base, and part of which is not of high value into the market, driving the prosperity of large and small antique shops in Australia.

The middle and high-level groups who have become materially wealthy have begun to pursue a higher level of culture, and it has become a common practice to collect rare books and appreciate rare books, which is the inevitable development of society.

In recent years, wealthy aristocratic families have been frequent customers of antique shops, as well as at various large and small auctions.

They did not hesitate to spend a lot of money for the auction they wanted, and they also promoted the development of collectibles in the local Australian market, forming a large market.

Li Fushou knows that in the next few decades, the mainland will have social turmoil, warlords and wars, and the so-called treasures of the prosperous times and the gold of the troubled times.

Therefore, for the purpose of protecting historical and cultural inheritance, the rescue acquisition of a large number of antique treasures is really a last resort.

After the Gengzi National War, Normandy trading houses set up stores for the purchase of antiques in the concessions of Beiping, Tianjin, Huhai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Weihai and other countries on the mainland, as a normalized business existence, providing a steady stream of goods for the local antique market in Australia.

These antiquities rather than flow into the hands of Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries, it is better to import into Australia, only the descendants of Yan and Huang know the value of these antiques, each item has inherited a heavy history, brings together the wisdom and creation of the sages, is an inseparable part of Chinese culture.

Entering 1905, Li Fushou was already 45 years old, basically laid the vast territory of the Ocean Empire, realized the grand blueprint in his heart, and at the same time had a full house of descendants, including twelve princes, nine princesses, and more royal grandchildren in the future.

When there are more children, father's love will inevitably be weaker.

In the process of growing up for these princes and princesses, many ordinary people rarely saw the saints, and most of them gathered together to greet His Majesty during the holidays, so that they could see the holy face, and they were more in awe than family affection.

According to the rules of the royal family, an adult prince must go to the fief to settle for a feudal domain after marriage, and he is not allowed to leave the fief without a valid reason.

By the end of 1904

There are the eldest prince Li Siyuan, the Duke of Palawan, the second prince, the Duke of Wright, Li Sihan, the fourth prince, the Duke of Beibao, Li Sirui, the fifth prince, the Duke of Sulu, the fifth prince, Li Siwei, the Duke of Basilan, and the seventh prince, Li Sixuan, the Duke of Hawaii, etc., a total of six adult dukes are all vassal.

In addition, the Duke of Duluo, Li Siqi, the Ninth Emperor Prince Bao, and Duke Li Siwei, all of whom have reached the age of sixteen, is the age of study, and they have left the palace to live separately.

Now there are only three princes in the palace, namely the tenth prince Li Sixi as the Duke of Cebu, 13 years old this year, the eleventh prince Li Sidi as the Duke of Bannai, just turned 10 years old, and the youngest twelfth prince Li Sizhen is only 5 years old, but was born to the Italian favorite concubine Sophia, because she is young and has not yet been knighted.

Among the 12 princes, except for the crown prince Li Siyuan, the Duke of Shangri-La, who was crowned the prince, and the youngest twelve princes, Li Sizhen, has not yet been knighted, the other 10 princes are all dukes, and the fiefs of the eight dukes are in the Visayas, and the duke fief of the eldest prince is in Palawan, which is also very close to the Visayas.

Only the second in line to the throne, the seventh Duke of Hawaii, Li Sixuan, is divided into dukedoms in the archipelago of the Eastern Pacific region, 8,000 kilometers away.

Among the nobles of the Ocean Empire, many people can smell a different flavor from the current measures of the Holy Lord's division of the princes.

The entire Luzon Islands is a royal territory, with a total area of about 300,000 square kilometers and more than 7,000 islands, which are divided into three parts;

First, Luzon and its affiliated islands in the north, second, Mindanao and its affiliated islands in the south, and third, the Visayas and its affiliated islands in the middle.

The Visayas are located in the middle of the Luzon Islands, between Luzon and Mindanao.

It is composed of seven large islands and hundreds of small islands around the Sea of Visayas, the Sea of Sama and the Sea of Camotes, including Sama, Leyte, Cebu, Negros, Panay, Bohol, Masbat and Rumblon, with a total area of 61,077 square kilometers.

The geographical and cultural island is staggered with hills and plains, the altitude is mostly below 1500 meters, the climate is humid and hot, and the annual rainfall of each island is about 2000 mm.

This rainfall is about one and a half times that of southern Jiangsu, which has dense tropical forests, fertile land, minerals such as gold, manganese, copper, coal, oil and gypsum, etc., and is relatively rich in resources, which occupies an important position in the Philippine Islands.

Agricultural products include rice, sugar cane, corn, tobacco, abaca and coffee, etc., suitable for the development of large orchards, after years of development of coal mining, sugar, textile and cheese industries.

The main ports are Cebu, Zhonghai, Yilang, Bacolod, Pannai, etc., the natural environment is better, and the offshore navigation is mostly between a few kilometers and dozens of kilometers, and shipping is the main mode of transportation for each island.

If you get used to it, it's actually more convenient than the existing land transportation.

Among the princely fiefdoms, the large ones have an area of about 13,400 square kilometers, and the small ones have about 5,000 or 6,000 square kilometers, totaling about 100,000 square kilometers (including Palawan, Sulu, and Hawaii Island).

This accounts for about 1% of the empire's vast territory of more than 10 million square kilometers, and its influence is minimal.

Geographically

Surrounded by the Misaya Islands, Luzon to the north, Mindanao to the south, Sulawesi to the south, Shangri-La to the east, and Borneo to the southwest, all of which were within the boundaries of the Empire.

Each prince is divided into a large island, there is no territorial border between each other, naturally there are no territorial disputes, and the maritime rights and interests are divided according to the principle of half, which is clear and clear, which puts an end to unnecessary disputes.

If it grows into a principality in the future, it will only be able to cling to the Ocean Empire and become a submissive little brother, protected by its wings, and provided military and diplomatic protection by the Ocean Empire, which is an obvious thing.

As for the second in line to the throne, the seventh-ranked Duke of Hawaii, Li Sixuan, the dukedom is limited to the Hawaiian Islands, excluding Oahu and the most important eastern Pacific port of the Pacific Fleet ~ Pearl Harbor.

This arrangement is quite thoughtful, and basically prevents the occurrence of unexpected situations. It's really well-intentioned.

The three sons born to Empress Gu are the crown prince Li Siyuan, the seventh prince Li Sixuan and the third heir to the throne...... The tenth prince Li Sixi.

It can be seen from Li Fushou's fiefdom arrangement that the seventh prince Li Sixuan was assigned to Hawaii, 8,000 kilometers away, and sent away far away, so as not to have an unnecessary impact on the crown prince Li Siyuan.

Even though Hawaii Island is so good, it is also an island that hangs alone overseas, and it has almost no influence on the mainland of Australia.

The tenth prince Li Sixi is lucky, he is 12 years younger than His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and he is still an adult, so under the plea of the Empress Gu, it is really a gratifying blessing to be able to be sealed to the rich island of Cebu.

Cebu is the first island landed by the Spaniards 300 years ago, is the most beautiful pearl of the Luzon archipelago, with world-class blue sea and silver sand beauty, a long history of development, many castles, rich production, is the most populous island in the Visayas.

Therefore, among the fiefs of the princes, the fief of the Duke of Cebu ranks first, which shows that the current saint favors him, and others can't catch up.

The second prince, Duke Wright, worked hard to build Zhonghai City for several years, invested a lot of resources and achieved outstanding political achievements, and the city has a population of 260,000 people, which is second to none among all the princes, but it is still inferior to Cebu, which is very revealing.

It's not that you don't work hard, it's that people are too strong by nature.