The autumn of the twenty-fourth year of Xuanping was very important for the Tang Empire. The Northern Railway was opened to traffic, the Tang Western Trading Company was reformed, etc., which had a great impact on the internal development of the empire.
And this impact is not temporary, but long-lasting!
The opening of the entire northern railway line means that the land transportation between the north and the south has been completely opened up. To put it more exaggeratedly, as long as Li Xuan is willing, the Guards troops deployed in Jinling City can reach Kaifeng within a few days, and it will take a few more. We can reach Tianjin in one day, and in a few days we can reach Shenyang or Heishan City.
This is crucial for the empire to maintain control of the north!
Not to mention the economic impact.
The same goes for the reform of the Tang Dynasty Western Trading Company. After the reform of the company, the opening of Western trade allowed many domestic trading companies to collectively flock to India and even West Asia and Africa. This was of great benefit to the empire's overseas trade.
In the winter of the 24th year of Xuanping, the domestic customs made statistics and found that starting from the autumn of the 24th year of Xuanping, the empire's import and export volume not only returned to what it was before the war with the Portuguese, but even increased slightly.
This means that the empire has completely got rid of the Portuguese's overseas trade channels. Not only is it freed from their control, but it is also developing faster, and the profits made by domestic industries are even greater.
Because in the past, many profits from overseas trade were actually made by the Portuguese. Now, without the Portuguese to share, the profits have been made by the merchants of the empire.
This further proves that the empire's original choice to go to war with Portugal was correct.
However, these economic developments were nothing in the 24th year of Xuanping. More importantly, after the establishment of the Fuso Islands as a province, the Emperor Sheng also made adjustments for the localization of the Nanyang region.
If Luzon Prefecture is changed to Luzon Province and Banten Prefecture is changed to Banten Province, the areas under its jurisdiction will not actually change. They are still the same places. However, the act of establishing provinces is a declaration that the above-mentioned areas are no longer It's not an overseas territory, it's the mainland area of the empire.
With the establishment of these two provinces and approaching the Spring Festival, the Holy Emperor Li Xuan made adjustments to the fiefdoms of several princes.
Among them, the fiefdom of the eldest prince was changed from Osumi County to the entire Beihai Province!
This does not mean one county or one prefecture, but the entire Beihai Province.
The fiefdom of the second prince should be the entire Banten Province. It is worth noting that the Banten Province of the empire includes Australia, but does not include the state of Malacca. The state of Malacca is the area on both sides of the Strait of Malacca and is still part of the empire. Directly under the jurisdiction.
The third prince's fiefdom covers the entire Luzon Province.
Many people had expected the change of these three princes' fiefdoms before, but after the actual change, many people still couldn't understand it.
Because the canonization of princes is somewhat different from the canonization of ordinary nobles. The area of these princes' fiefdoms is too large. Even the population and economy of these places are not very good, but after development, the salary they can receive But there are so many.
And the most important thing is that although the Holy Emperor still does not allow the canonized princes to interfere in the government affairs of the fiefdom, in order to protect their safety, troops were specially transferred from the Guards and arranged to serve as guards for these three princes.
Although the number is not large, each prince only arranges a guard of 2,000 people, and these guards will be rotated from the Guards troops, and uniformly accept the command and dispatch of the Guards Staff, and are not directly
Accepting the prince's command, they only accepted orders from the Guards headquarters and were ordered to protect the prince.
However, this still aroused the worries of many ministers. They were worried that after these princes who were enfeoffed had guards, they might use these guards to further expand their military power and trigger rebellion.
Li Xuan also understood the concerns of his ministers, but he still chose to do so.
His overseas enfeoffment policy was not simply a matter of enfeoffment. More importantly, he wanted to completely turn these areas into Chinese territories, as they had been since ancient times.
What should I say? He wanted to put many eggs in different baskets. Even if the royal family declined in the empire, there would still be branches of the royal family overseas.
Maybe a few hundred years later, the Li family in the empire will be finished, but the Li family in North America will still rule North America. Wouldn't that be great?
As for rebellion, he estimated that it would not happen in his lifetime.
As for after his death, the prince succeeded to the throne, and then the princes who were entrusted overseas wanted to rebel if they relied on these thousands of guards and fiefdoms. If the prince could not suppress the rebellion relying on the empire, then the prince deserved to be overthrown.
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Now that Li Xuan's prestige was too high, he decided to divide the three princes and allocate two thousand guards, and the ministers could not interfere.
However, the three princes and the prince who were involved had different ideas.
The three princes who were entrusted were naturally ecstatic. They originally thought that they were just like other nobles, and at most they could hire some guards from a bodyguard company. However, they did not expect that their father would directly draw guards from the Guards.
Give it to them, even though they also know that these guards still belong to the Guards and they cannot command them.
But this is only now. As long as they have enough time, they will slowly infiltrate the two thousand guards and completely control the two thousand guards. It will be a matter of time. If it doesn't work in one year, it will take ten years. If it doesn't work in ten years, it will take fifty.
In 2016, if another opportunity is found, it is very possible to establish an armed force directly belonging to them.
This also means that they will have their own direct military force in the future, and this is very important.
If they have any ideas in the future, such as if there are changes in the country, they can directly bring the guards back to the country to fight for the throne of the emperor.
As for the imperial prince Li Hao, he was naturally a little worried, but only a little worried.
He is different from the other brothers over the years. The other princes cannot follow Li Xuan every day or participate in government affairs. However, the imperial prince Li Hao can follow Li Xuan every day and even directly participate in government affairs.
, even if you just listen but can't express any opinions.
But this was enough for him to understand the powerful strength of the empire itself and the strength of its overseas fiefdoms.
In the future, if his brother wants to imitate Zhu Di of the former Ming Dynasty, Li Hao is absolutely determined to thwart their conspiracy.
This is the confidence in the empire's local strength.
In the twenty-fourth year of Xuanping, the canonization of the three princes came to an end, which also announced the arrival of the twenty-fifth year of Xuanping.
The twenty-fifth year of Xuanping was relatively calmer than the twenty-fourth year of Xuanping. Basically, nothing major happened. The only thing worth mentioning was that the Indian and African expeditionary forces successively conquered the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean.
Numerous colonial strongholds along the coast.
There is no other way. The Imperial African Expeditionary Force has already captured South Africa. The Indian Ocean Fleet has directly accumulated dozens of warships here and completely blocked the Cape of Good Hope. Without the permission of the Imperial Navy, no ship can hope to pass through the Cape of Good Hope.
The Portuguese, who had been cut off from their sea supply lines, simply could not persist in their colonies along the Indian Ocean.
It is only natural that they are conquered one by one.
As a result, the empire also took over all the Portuguese colonies and ports along the Indian Ocean coast.
There is basically no obstacle to the empire's merchant ships sailing and trading in the Indian Ocean.
Of course, although the empire accepted the Portuguese colonies and ports along the Indian Ocean coast, it did not mean that the empire ruled India, West Asia, Africa, etc. In fact, the current empire was the same as the previous Portuguese.
Some areas occupied ports and established trading stations.
There was no large-scale immigration and localization in the above-mentioned areas like in the Nanyang region.
The empire's activities west of Malacca are currently mainly based on overseas trade and supplemented by colonization. As for localization, it is too difficult and cannot be accomplished in a short time.
Rather than large-scale immigration to India, West Asia, and Africa, the empire's top leaders now prefer large-scale immigration to North America.
Because the geographical environment and climate of North America are more superior and more suitable for the survival of the empire's people, and the local resources are extremely rich, the empire's top brass covets America.
In other words, the distance is too far. Otherwise, the empire would have immigrated millions of people and occupied all of North America.
Unfortunately, distance is a flaw!
In the twenty-fifth year of Xuanping, the Tang Empire was generally peaceful, with internal development taking the main role. Although there were external wars, they were all small and medium-sized wars and did not gain much traction.
Li Xuan didn't even hold an imperial military meeting for a whole year...
But this kind of calm was only for the huge Tang Empire!
But for many people, this year is not peaceful!
For example, for Ying Yikang and Bi Zhian!
They were transferred to serve in the Northwest Fifth Army in the autumn of the 24th year of Xuanping!
Ying Yikang served as the commander of the 18th Infantry Regiment of the 6th Infantry Division under the Fifth Army. After the Battle of Fusang, he did not stay in Fusang for even two more days. He was transferred back to Jinling City as soon as the battle was over.
, he still served in the staff department. After serving for half a year, he was transferred to the northwest to serve, and his military rank was promoted to Army Lieutenant Colonel.
Through his connections, Bi Zhian was also transferred to the northwest and served as captain and deputy battalion commander under him.
Bi Zhian performed well in the Battle of Fuso, and was bravely injured. After the war, he was rewarded for his merits and was successfully promoted to Army Captain.
Under Ying Yikang's command, although he was the deputy battalion commander, his battalion commander was a son of a nobleman, and he was also an old man with no ambition. He basically didn't deal with affairs and just waited for a few years to adjust.
The kind of people who return to the Central Plains to enjoy their happiness.
So even though he is just a deputy battalion commander, there is no difference from directly being in charge of a battalion.