7 November 1728, Lanling, Elysium Island (present-day Hobart, Tasmania).

The first settlement on Elysium Island was not the most populous of the world, Shuochang (present-day Launceston), but the port of Maochuan (Port Arthur, more than 100 kilometers southeast of present-day Hobart), located in the southeast of the island.

Decades ago, merchant ships heading to Dongzhou (present-day New Zealand) and Gyeongkoku in South America used the port as a temporary stop, and after a brief replenishment of fresh water and checking the condition of their ships, they would enter the westerly wind belt at 40 degrees south latitude and sail quickly towards the east.

In addition, many whaling ships in the surrounding waters also used the port as a logistical supply and processing point, making the port extremely prosperous for a certain period, attracting many immigrants to settle and live here, and spread to the inland hinterland. Subsequently, the second settlement of Elysium Island was established, Lanling.

The harbor here is wide and deep, and it is one of the best natural harbors in Hanzhou. Moreover, the surrounding scenery is beautiful, surrounded by high mountains on three sides, and only the east faces the sea. Climb to the top of the mountain and see the entire Elysium Island through a telescope. The winter peaks here are covered in silver, covered with snow, it is a good place to visit in winter, and in summer, the mountains are boundless and the forests and seas are boundless, and the waterfalls are falling, and it is also a resort for mountaineering and viewing.

Lanling is also one of the three major whaling ports in mainland Han (the other two being Guizhou and Linzi), and is also the whale and seal trading center of the Southern Ocean.

When Emperor Taizu was recuperating on the island, he lived in Lanling City. The royal family and the cabinet government successively built two palaces in the city, namely Xuanwu Palace and Bixiao Palace.

However, after Taizu's death, the royal family deliberately sealed the two palaces in order to commemorate and remember the great king who founded the Huanghuang Empire, and all the furnishings and layouts in them were also retained as the appearance of Taizu's residence during his lifetime.

Although Taizu's body was transported back to the Zhongliang Mountain Royal Cemetery on the outskirts of Chang'an for burial, over the years, countless royal children, cabinet officials, scholars and literati have come to the place in an endless stream to pay homage to the palace where he lived last before his death, and to pay tribute to this eloquent emperor.

Qi Zexuan once followed his crown father to Lanling City when he was a child, and also visited the Xuanwu Palace and Bixiao Palace where Emperor Taizu lived during his lifetime.

It's just that with the passage of time, the memory of childhood has long been blurred, and I vaguely remember that the two palaces are like Jiangnan gardens, with countless pavilions and pavilions, as well as small bridges and flowing water, and sometimes there are three or five traditional palaces with high eaves and tiles.

There are a lot of books in the palace, and all kinds of collections are also extremely rich, there are Chinese historical relics, there are also treasures from overseas countries, there are celebrity calligraphy and paintings, there are also antiques and jade, there are royal treasures of other countries, and there are more folk tastes, which are not very ordinary, and can be compared with the products collected by several international museums in the empire.

Of course, now these Taizu relics are nominally royal property and are not owned by the government.

Although, many of the collections were "borrowed" by Emperor Taizu from the spoils plundered by several wars out of curiosity and playfulness. But in the end, the cabinet government was not embarrassed to take it back from Emperor Taizu one by one and put it in the Museum of All Nations.

Qi Zexuan looked at the jade seal of the Annan Ruan Dynasty on the shelf, with the Chinese characters "Da Nan Shou Tian Eternal Destiny Chuan Guo Xi", so he wanted to reach over and take a closer look.

"Your Highness, be careful, don't fall to the ground and break it." Zongzheng Temple Shaoqing and Jian Wang Qi Yuanyi followed behind and carefully reminded: "These jade seals were obtained from their palace when my Great Qi Army broke through the capital of Annan. Emperor Taizu was very fond of this object and thought it was of great historical significance. ”

"Oh." When Qi Zexuan heard this, he retracted his hand again.

"In the past, Emperor Taizu jokingly said that he would hide all the jade seals or crowns of all countries in the world here, so as to show my prestige." Qi Yuanyi said with emotion: "But so far, there are only more than 20 royal jade seals and crowns received, and most of them are owned by the kings of Nanyang and India, which is a pity!" ”

When Qi Zexuan heard this, he couldn't help but glance at this old man.

That's so domineering!

With a strong curiosity about Emperor Taizu, he took a train to Lanling five days ago and visited the two palaces where Emperor Taizu lived during his lifetime.

There are more than 400 officers and soldiers of a battalion of the Praetorian Guard stationed in Lanling City, and a considerable number of them are guarding these two palaces to prevent unprovoked people from trespassing and stealing or destroying the relics of Taizu in the palace.

Qi Zexuan didn't pay much attention to the antiquities, calligraphy, and paintings in the palace, as well as countless treasures and jade objects, and there were such dead things in the Chang'an Royal Collection, and he had seen a lot, so he naturally couldn't arouse his interest too much.

In the past few days, he entered the imperial study rooms in the two palaces several times to consult many notes and articles left by Taizu during his lifetime, trying to get a deeper understanding of this great emperor.

Of course, these notes and articles are all excerpts, and the originals have long been properly preserved in the Chang'an Imperial Collection, and they will not be shown to anyone, and no one is allowed to touch them without the emperor's order.

The notes and many articles written by Emperor Taizu cover a wide range of topics, such as politics, economy, military, science and technology, philosophy, ......, etc., some are just a few words, few hundreds of words, some are system construction, hundreds of thousands of words of magnificent monumental articles, and some are simple words, which make people think deeply, and even more, there are strange symbols drawn, which makes people stunned.

It is reported that when Emperor Taizu was a teenager, he went to county school in Denglai for a few years, but his qualifications were mediocre, and he did not seek to understand his studies. In the fourth year of Chongzhen, Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng launched the Denglai Rebellion, and the eleven-year-old Emperor Taizu, his uncle and several brothers were engulfed by the rebels. Subsequently, the Ming court transferred thousands of elite Guanning troops to defeat Denglai with the armies of various guards, and the rebels fled to Liaodong.

However, Emperor Taizu's uncle Cao Xiong was unwilling to join the rebels, so he took Taizu's brothers to drift on the sea and became pirates. Before he arrived, he switched to the sea giant Liu Xiang. However, in the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong gathered hundreds of warships and killed Liu Xiang in Tianwei Yang. At that time, Taizu and several brothers fled to Luzon with their uncle Cao Xiong at sea.

It was from that time that Emperor Taizu suddenly "developed wisdom and opened his mind" after experiencing thousands of tribulations, not only guiding everyone to grope all the way to Hanzhou, but also persuading Cao Xiong to temporarily attach himself to the Dutch, establish a foundation in Hanzhou, and sneak development to wait for the future.

The next thing is recorded in great detail by the historians and royal family of the Qi State, so I won't repeat it. But to the surprise of many people, Emperor Taizu seems to be like an all-knowing sage, whether it is the construction of the base, or the initial industrial start, as well as the planning and development of agriculture, even the simple military drills, he also knows a little bit about it.

What is even more convincing is that Emperor Taizu was far-sighted, his judgment of the general trend of the world and its surroundings was extremely accurate, and he made many strategic layouts over the past decades, which benefited future generations immensely.

However, the only thing that makes people criticize is his unreserved support and assistance to the mainland, which makes people guess.

"Emperor Taizu is actually an idealist." Qi Yuanyi, King of Jane, followed Qi Zexuan to a spacious hall, and there was a huge sand table in the empty room, which was impressively a geographical map of the world's mountains and rivers.

"Emperor Taizu once had a grand wish, that is, to build a vast and resource-rich sphere of influence for the Chinese nation." Qi Yuanyi picked up a long stick by the wall, and then began to row from Qianzhou (now South Africa), along the east coast of Africa, all the way up, until Egypt, and then encircled the Arabian Peninsula, Persia, India, Burma, and the Malay Peninsula, and then pointed to the mainland Qin State, and then swept the Bohai Sea, Dongdan, and Northern Ming, and finally moved to the west coast of Yinzhou (North America), rowed down to the west coast of (South) America, and finally stopped at the Polar Islands (Tierra del Fuego Islands) in Qingguo, and turned his head to look at Qi Zexuan, "Such a large circle of places, Spanning two oceans and traversing several continents, it was the land of the Han people and the place of Chinese civilization. ”

"The realization of Taizu's grandeur is not far off." Qi Zexuan didn't show too much surprise, and said lightly.

Needless to say, the west coast of the Indian Ocean is not allowed by any foreign force without the permission of the Qi navy. After the Qi gradually deepened their infiltration and control over Egypt, in the past two years, they had gained de facto control of Persia by helping the Safavid dynasty to restore the country. As for India, it has long been in the bag of Qi, but it is limited by its large population and size, and it will take time to slowly swallow and digest it.

On the eastern side of the Pacific Ocean, from the Governorate of Rinzhou (present-day Alaska) to the Governorate of Pengzhou (present-day Vancouver, Canada and Washington, USA), and then to the Governorate of Xuanzhou (present-day Oregon, California, and Baja California, Mexico), plus the Governorate of Haizhou (including present-day Coiva Island, Panama, the Pearl Islands, and the Azuero Peninsula near the Isthmus) and the Zezhou (southern Chile) and the extremely low archipelago of Gyeongguo, it can be said that the western "boundary line" drawn by Taizu was almost locked. With Spain's weak national strength, the later Qi State was able to cut off part of the territory of the west coast of America from it through both soft and hard measures, and finally established a tight and seamless western blockade line.

"However, Emperor Taizu is too idealistic." Qi Yuanyi took the teaching stick back, gently pointed it on the position of the Qin State on the mainland, shook his head and said: "He thinks that as long as he is a Han person, he is a natural ally and a brother who helps each other, but this idea is just wishful thinking. Needless to say, our Qi country has been established for more than 90 years, and there are many people born in the local area, and some of them have gone through four or five generations. Given the completely different national conditions and social forms of Qi and Qin, as well as the increasing number of conflicts of interests in the future, how can the two countries work together to help each other and build a Chinese civilization circle? ”

"Yes, time changes, and so does change." Qi Zexuan nodded and sighed, "Emperor Taizu's idea is indeed too idealistic, and there will still be property disputes and gateway battles in the small people's families, let alone between the two countries?" ”

Emperor Taizu was eloquent and knowledgeable, so he naturally made the world admire and even cited as a saint. But Jin is barefoot, no one is perfect, and Taizu also has a few defects.

Then the thinking is too idealistic, as if it is not the person of this era.

For example, as a dictatorial and autocratic emperor, he highly admired the ideas of "rule by the people" and "people-oriented" by scholars such as Gu Yanwu and Huang Zongxi, believing that the freedom of the people was more important than democracy and equality, and freedom was also a more achievable goal for the government.

However, the "equality" emphasized by Emperor Taizu is equality of opportunity, not equality of results. Therefore, the state of Qi stipulates that the four people are equal, and there is no distinction between high and low.

Referring to the peasant uprisings and riots of the past dynasties, he pointed out that the pursuit of so-called equality, freedom and justice by those who opposed the autocracy was achieved entirely by cutting off their heads. But later, it will repeat the injustices of the past, restrict the freedom of others, and then uphold the justice of the few.

He asserted that it is human nature to hate frequent change, and that great change can only bring pleasure to "heroes", but most people do not want their lives to become a stage for power schemers to carry out their great undertakings of innovation.

For example, when it comes to the source of freedom, he says: "Freedom is the inheritance that each of us is born with, and it is the birthright of human beings. ”

While the autocratic regimes and emperors of the world were arguing about which power was better, Taizu said, "The restriction of power is more important than the form of power." ”

Therefore, to a certain extent, the political structure of the Qi State has formed a state of mutual restraint and mutual restriction, and the power of the emperor is inevitably somewhat inhibited.

Emperor Taizu also emphasized human autonomy and creativity, encouraging people to question traditional ideas and authority, and to pursue "truth" and "progress."

He believes that through the use of reason, human beings can transcend the limitations and superstitions of the past and pursue the growth of unlimited knowledge and wisdom, so as to achieve a high degree of development of civilization and technology.

Emperor Taizu also said that a qualified emperor and government should always be in a down-to-earth manner to create freedom and a better life for the people.

……

Qi Zexuan sat on the floor of the imperial study, took out a few notes and articles written by Taizu on the bookshelf next to him, and strolled through the destination, his thoughts wandering in the void.

Reading these "anachronistic" texts, he seems to be examining a cynical down-and-out literati rather than a great emperor.

A strong sense of contrast made Qi Zexuan, who had regarded Taizu as a god since he was a child, a little in a trance.

magnificent, reprimanding Fang Xuan, remote control of thousands of miles, power and strategy and good warfare, and ...... the four powers, these words to describe the great king seem to have nothing to do with Emperor Taizu all of a sudden.

However, our Great Qi Empire was founded by Emperor Taizu, and laid a solid and heavy foundation for future generations, so that today it can control the two oceans and conquer the four seas, becoming the second country after Spain that can be called the "empire on which the sun never sets".

Oh, Emperor Taizu is really an unfathomable king.

"Your Highness, there is a call from Shuochang City, and Your Majesty orders you to return immediately."

When Qi Zexuan was in a reverie, a Praetorian Guard officer hurriedly found the imperial study and conveyed the edict of Emperor Taiping.

"Oh?" Qi Zexuan was stunned, "What do you know?" ”

"......" The Praetorian Guard officer obviously learned the details, and with a somewhat hesitant look on his face, he replied in a low voice: "His Royal Highness the Prince...... Dying. ”

"......" Qi Zexuan stood up in shock, with an incredible expression on his face.

(End of chapter)

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