September 3, 1723, Qing, Chang'an Railway Station.

The train slowly entered the platform, and before it stopped, the passengers in the carriage anxiously dragged large bags of luggage towards the door of the carriage, all wanting to leave the dull and crowded carriage at the first time and breathe a breath of fresh air.

However, what is surprising is that the train has stopped at the platform for several minutes, and there is still no crew to open the car door, which makes the passengers waiting to get off the train suddenly make an uproar.

"Why, this broken train can't have a bad door, right? …… It's open! ”

"That's it, open the door! So many people huddled in a heap, be careful to squeeze the kids out! ”

"Hey, hey...... don't push it! …… It's all packed into a bunch of meatloaf in front of it! Where's the damn flight attendant, open the door! ”

"Don't crowd it, don't you see the welcome ceremony going on on the platform? …… These eighty percent are important people from which country came! ”

"Which country are you from? …… Yo, and the honor guard! Isn't this going to be the emperor or king of any country? ”

“……”

Yang Shengping, the second assistant of the Great Qin Cabinet and the secretary of the Ministry of Rites and the scholar of the Jinshen Palace, tidied up his clothes a little, and stepped off the train surrounded by a group of accompanying officials.

"Scholar, Han Zefeng, Vice Premier of the Cabinet of Qi, has personally come to greet my Daqin Mission." An attaché whispered a reminder.

"Hmm." Yang Shengping looked up and looked ahead, only to see a row of Qi officials standing under the platform, watching their arrival, led by Han Zefeng, vice premier of the Qi Cabinet.

Two rows of Qi military honor guards dressed in military uniforms lined up on both sides of the platform, all the soldiers were tall and straight, with solemn and solemn faces, majestic and solemn caps, golden copper buckles and epaulette collar flowers, shiny military boots, and cold bayonets, which made people look at them and couldn't help but feel awe-inspiring.

"Stand upright!"

"Salute!"

With two high-pitched military orders, the soldiers of the honor guard immediately raised their muskets, turned their heads sideways, and saluted in the direction of the Great Qin Mission.

"Hmph, the people of Qi just like to engage in these bells and whistles." Seeing this, Tang Weiming, a bachelor in the Hanlin Academy and a member of the Zhan Mansion, snorted coldly and whispered mockingly.

Yang Shengping glanced back at him, and the meaning of the warning was self-evident.

If the Qi State only engages in these bells and whistles, it will not widen the gap between the strength of Qin and Qi in the past few decades!

This is the second time he has come to Qi after 30 years, and what he has seen and heard along the way makes him feel the speed of Qi's development, the great changes, and the stronger and stronger national strength, but also secretly saddened by the current rigidity and development stagnation of Daqin's social system.

In the past 30 years, although the financial revenue of our Great Qin has almost doubled from more than 24 million taels in the 10th year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1692) to 46 million taels in the 39th year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1721). However, compared with Qi Guoyi, this data is simply unbearable to witness.

According to the information transmitted from the Great Qin Legation in Chang'an three years ago, in the 38th year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1720), the annual financial revenue of the Qi State exceeded 180 million yuan (in terms of gold yuan coupons), equivalent to nearly 560 million taels of silver, which was 12 times that of the Great Qin.

Don't forget, the population of Qi is only more than 28 million, which is less than a quarter of the population of my Great Qin household.

If the Qi State only crushes our Great Qin financially or in terms of wealth, it will only be a social problem that attracts hundreds of people in the country to smuggle and flee.

However, with its abundant financial resources and strong national strength, the State of Qi continued to support and arm the Northern Ming Puppet Dynasty, as well as the Bohai State and the Dongdan Kingdom located in Lingbei, which caused serious troubles to the border of Daqin.

In June of the fifth year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1687), after years of training, the new army of Daqin launched a thunderous blow against the remnants of the puppet Qing Dynasty entrenched in Monan from the three directions of Liaodong, Hebei and Shanxi.

In the face of the new army of the Great Qin, which was equipped with a large number of muskets and artillery, the puppet Qing Manchurian and Mongolian Eight Banners collapsed at the touch of a button and fled. In just one month, the army of the middle route advanced to the city of Guisui (present-day Hohhot) and launched a fierce attack on the temporary capital of the puppet Qing Dynasty.

Five days later, the Qing puppet emperor Kangxi abandoned the city with more than 10,000 remnants and fled, and went to the north of the desert, and the south of the desert was decided.

Subsequently, my Daqin continued to immigrate to Shibian, with Guisui, Suiyuan (now Ulanqab City), and Jiuyuan (now Baotou) as the core, built a large number of forts and fortifications, and forced the local Mongolian tribes to organize households and draw land for grazing, so as to completely control the border fortress of Monan.

At the same time, the border towns continued to send small groups of elite cavalry deep into Mobei, in addition to continuing to attack the remnants of the enemy, but also continued to exert military pressure to sabotage their attempts to unify the Mongol tribes in Mobei, without any respite from the capture.

In May of the sixth year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1688), the Dzungar Khanate, which had armed conflicts and military confrontations with Great Qin in the Western Regions and Qinghai, suddenly entered Mobei.

Galdan personally commanded 30,000 cavalry, divided his troops into two routes to the east, and took advantage of the fact that Tushetu Khan led his troops to attack Zasaktu Khan's department, and killed his territory, and annihilated the small number of soldiers and horses left behind by Tushetu Khan's department.

Subsequently, the army of the Dzungar Khanate took advantage of the situation to attack the Chechen Khan in the Khulun River valley and defeated the Chechen Khan Murdoch.

After hearing the news, the puppet Qing Kangxi united with the remnants of Tushetu Khan Chahui Dorji and Chechen Khan Murdoch, gathered more than 20,000 troops to attack Galdan, and the two sides fought at Orodonor.

In the first battle, the coalition army was defeated, and the Tushetu Khan's army was fiercely shelled by the Dzungar army, and was defeated, and retreated more than ten miles together with the Qing army.

In order to save the defeat and stop the decline, the Qing army suggested launching a night attack.

But he never thought that the Dzungar army would have the same plan as the Qing army, and was ready to defeat the other party in a quick battle by means of a night attack, so as to subdue the Mongol tribes in Mobei in one fell swoop.

That night, tens of thousands of troops on both sides met unexpectedly on the vast grassland, and a fierce battle broke out.

At dawn the next day, the Manchu and Mongolian forces, which were outnumbered, were defeated and retreated to the north.

Despite the victory, the Dzungar army suffered more than 5,000 casualties, and after a few days of pursuit, they returned to Orodonor to recuperate.

The news of the Battle of Orodonor reached Guisui, and the Qin army immediately realized that the opportunity to pick up the bargain had arrived.

As a result, the Qin army concentrated all the cavalry, gathered more than 13,000 horsemen, and entered Mobei in late July.

Just when Galdan wanted to raise troops and fight a big battle with the shameless Qin army who came to pick up the bargain, but at the last moment, he stopped the military operation, led the troops to withdraw from Mobei, and returned to the Western Regions.

Because, there was civil strife in the rear of the Dzungar Khanate. At that time, a large number of nobles of the Yarkand Khanate, who were detained in Ili, suddenly launched a rebellion, which quickly swept through the entire Ili steppe, so that Galdan had to return to his division to quell the rebellion.

When more than 13,000 cavalry cavalry of the Qin army entered Mobei, the Zasaktu Khan, who was almost crippled by the Tushetu Khan, took the lead in expressing its attachment to Daqin.

In a great battle with Dzungaria, the remnants of the puppet Qing Dynasty, whose strength had been seriously weakened, led more than 10,000 tribes of the Tushetu Khan tribe to the northwest, and finally entered the northern region of Khobdo (now the Tangnu Ulianghai area), where they continued to survive.

In less than three years, Daqin was like an open hanging, and it actually conquered the vast areas of southern and northern Mobei one after another, expanded the territory for thousands of miles, and extended the territory of Great Qin to the north to the extreme north, catching up with the achievements of the Tang Dynasty.

Undoubtedly, at that time, it was the most glorious period of Daqin, coupled with the vigorous development of domestic industry and commerce, the increasing scale of foreign trade, and the rising financial revenue year after year, which made the court permeated with an atmosphere of prosperity.

However, this prosperous era has not lasted for a few years, and Daqin has encountered multiple challenges in a row.

In February of the ninth year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1691), the Hao clan, which had seized Liangshan in Annam, Xinzheng (now Hongji Port in Vietnam) and other regions, brazenly established itself and was named the Kingdom of Daliang. As a vassal of the Great Qin, Annam (Zheng) then appealed to Nanjing, asking the imperial court to send troops to unite with the Annam government to flank the Hao clan and quell the rebellion of the department, so as to maintain the unity of Annam.

Just when the local border towns in Guangxi were ordered by the imperial court to assemble their troops, prepare to attack Liangshan in the south, the minister of Qi in Nanjing sent a diplomatic note, claiming that the Great Liang Kingdom had been listed as the emperor and cabinet government of Qi and had become a vassal state of Qi. Therefore, the State of Qi respectfully told the Great Qin Imperial Court that it was not allowed to send troops to attack each other without authorization.

Just when the princes of the court were generous and indignant and were about to ignore Qi's warnings, they received reports of defeat in Guilin, Guangxi, and Annam-Tokyo (present-day Hanoi, Vietnam).

Relying on the steep mountains in the north of Annan, the Daliang Kingdom severely defeated the "rebellious" army sent by the local border towns in Guangxi, and the officers and soldiers suffered more than 2,000 casualties and fled back to the territory in embarrassment. When the Annan army attacked Liangshan and Xinzheng, it was also defeated and was repulsed by the Liang army with superior firepower.

Not long after, the Annan fleet of Qi dispatched more than a dozen warships to cruise near the mouth of the Red River and Qiongzhou (present-day Hainan Island) to show solidarity with the nascent Liang State.

The Great Qin Dynasty and the opposition were suddenly in a state of tension and antagonism.

Immediately afterwards, the Northern Ming Dynasty frequently crossed the border and provoked the Great Qin in Korea and Liaodong, which had great signs of provoking the Second Qin-Ming War.

In Mobei, the Bohai Kingdom in the Beihai Sea (present-day Lake Baikal) attacked two Mongol pastures in the Selenga River valley and plundered all the people.

At sea, the warships of the Qi State began to intercept and search the passing Great Qin merchant ships, and although no further drastic measures were taken, they still made all the Great Qin merchant ships go to sea feel a deep worry.

For a time, Great Qin was threatened by war from several directions by sea and land, and there was a tendency to have an armed conflict with Qi State.

Later, after the intervention of the Emperor of Qi, this potential conflict was finally eliminated, and the two countries returned to a state of intimacy.

However, this crisis made the Qin State suddenly discover that the Bohai Kingdom, the Dongdan Kingdom, the Northern Ming Dynasty, Japan, the Ryukyus, the Liang Kingdom, the Champong Kingdom, and the Annam Governorate of the Qi State were surrounded by the surrounding areas, and they were in a state of semi-encirclement by the forces of the Qi State, and a strong sense of crisis suddenly arose.

Fortunately, Emperor Qianyuan, who was already in power, judged the situation and knew that the most threatening directions of Great Qin at present were from the north and northwest, and only by completely cutting off the powerful nomadic forces in these two directions could he withdraw his hand to deal with the challenge of Qi.

As a result, in the past 20 years, our Great Qin launched a continuous offensive against Mobei and the Western Regions. After experiencing the Battle of Kulen and the Battle of Kobdo, he subdued the Khalkha Mongol tribes one by one, and temporarily determined the situation in Mobei.

Subsequently, my Great Qin passed through the Hexi Corridor, went out of Jiayu Pass, attacked Hami, fought Turpan, and entered the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains. In the 36th year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1718), he defeated the Dzungar Khanate in Luntai (now Urumqi), beheaded more than 4,000 people, captured more than 3,000 people, subdued more than 10,000 accounts of surrounding tribes, and won a great victory in Luntai.

Unexpectedly, the nasty Northern Ming puppet dynasty jumped out again at this time, as if he couldn't see my Great Qin defeat Dzungar and eliminate the trouble in the northwest.

In June of the 38th year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1720), the Northern Ming Dynasty crossed the Yalu River from North Xianning Province in North Korea, invaded the Hunchun region (now Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture), plundered the border people, and plundered property.

The officers and soldiers of the eastern border town of Daqin and Liao sent troops to expel the Northern Ming army that had invaded the territory.

The two sides have gradually developed from sporadic border armed conflicts to tens of thousands of major wars. In the face of the Northern Ming army, which had been trained by the Qi State for many years, the border towns in eastern Liaodong failed to stop its sharpness, and successively lost their troops and generals, and successively lost Hunchun, Yongji Prefecture (now Jilin City), and Ning'an (now Mudanjiang City), and were forced to ask the imperial court for help.

When the court heard this, they were all angry.

Relying on the support of the Qi state, the Northern Ming Dynasty either harassed the border areas or abducted ignorant people in coastal areas to Yunzhou (present-day Hokkaido) and Zhenzhou (present-day areas east of the Ussuri River).

And the most hateful thing is that for decades, whenever the Qin army made a big move and launched a military attack on the remnants of the Qing Dynasty, or the Mobei Mongols, and the Dzungar Khanate, they would provoke all kinds of incidents in the border areas, so that the Qin army could not concentrate on the enemy, and had to set aside enough energy to guard against it.

It seems that it is necessary to carry out a punitive military strike on Beiming,

Therefore, the imperial court ignored the mediation of the Qi State (most of them were also biased), and transferred more than 40,000 foot cavalry and more than 100 artillery pieces from Monan, Mobei, and Hebei to gather towards Liaodong one after another.

But he never thought that when the Northern Ming saw that the Qin army was strong, he successively evacuated the occupied forts and returned to the northwest of Korea and Zhenzhou, relying on the geographical topography of high mountains and dense forests, and started a tug-of-war with the Qin army. This fight has lasted for more than three years, and it has not stopped to this day.

In October of the 40th year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1722), due to the transfer of a large number of troops to Liaodong, the troops in the Mobei region were slightly empty, so that the Dzungar Khanate found an opportunity to defeat our Qin army on the bank of the Bogdo River in the Kobdo region (near the present-day Uriya Sutai in Outer Mongolia), and more than 3,000 cavalry were almost completely annihilated, so that the Qin army in Mobei lost most of its mobile strength, and temporarily lost effective control over the Khalkha Mongolian region, and the Mongolian departments began to repeat.

In addition to stepping up the integration and subjugation of the Mongol tribes and the remnants of the Qing captives in the northern region of Kobdo, the Dzungar Khanate, which had greatly increased morale, also launched a counterattack from Ili and the areas south of the Tianshan Mountains to the northern Xinjiang region.

In order to cope with the attack of the Dzungar Khanate, Qin had to end the war with the Northern Ming puppet dynasty and concentrate its limited domestic resources to the north and northwest.

In this situation, Yang Shengping, as the second assistant of the Great Qin, was ordered by the emperor and entrusted by the first assistant of the cabinet to lead a large delegation to visit the Qi State.

That, as a strategic partner who has signed a hundred-year alliance with my Great Qin, can you Qi Guo take care of your little brother and let the Beiming Zhu clan settle down a little!