Li Xuan was a little embarrassed when Wang Wenhua announced that he would be named the eighteenth generation of his ancestors!
Although the Li family now claims to be the direct descendants of the Li Tang Dynasty, to be honest, the Li family was just a small landowner before and had nothing to do with the Li family of the Tang Dynasty. Even its own genealogy was incomplete.
He made up a genealogy and connected himself with the Li family of the Tang Dynasty.
Regarding Wang Wenhua's request to consecrate the eighteenth generation ancestor of the Li family, Li Xuan immediately rejected it. Are you kidding me? Since the Han people pride themselves on being an orthodox dynasty, they must respect tradition. And what is tradition?
Four generations, no more and no less!
But he didn't expect that after the issue of posthumous titles to the Eighteenth Generation could not be resolved, today Wang Wenhua would come up with the title of 'Great Emperor' again, placing Li Xuanzhi as a greater emperor than Qin Shihuang and other founding emperors, and even the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
emperor.
But what he didn't expect was that after Wang Wenhua finished speaking, the group of ministers below were stunned for a moment, and then they all knelt down. Liu Bagou said: "I second the proposal!"
Now Wang Wenhua is flattering the emperor. Although this flattery sounds a bit disgusting, as ministers, the only thing they can do at this time is to second the proposal. Is it possible that they still object?
To oppose the honorific title is to oppose Li Xuan's achievements, which is directly equivalent to opposing Li Xuan, so they don't have the courage yet.
So they all knelt down and shouted in agreement!
After being seconded by the ministers, Li Xuan didn't know what to say.
Forget it, he has already accepted the title of Eternal Sage King anyway, and there is always no way of knowing when rebellion will fail. The great emperor will be the great emperor.
It is better for oneself to call himself the Great Emperor than for later generations of slaves to call themselves the Great Emperor!
Of course, Li Xuan wanted to lose face, so naturally he would not agree immediately. Then, under the pleading of the courtiers, he reluctantly agreed and promoted his emperor to a higher level.
emperor.
Therefore, in the official documents of the Tang Dynasty from now on, Li Xuan will not be called the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, but the 'Great Emperor of the Tang Empire'!
After the news came out, the gentry class, whether under the rule of the Tang Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty, maintained a contemptuous attitude toward the Tang Dynasty's self-promotion and shameless behavior, and there were more and more people who ridiculed it.
This matter even spread to the Puppet Ming Dynasty, causing a burst of laughter. While joking, they also criticized the Puppet Tang Dynasty for being rude. They could do such a shameless thing. I wonder if the ancestors of the Li family
If the coffin board can't be pressed down, will he jump out and call Li Xuan shameless?
But in fact, ordinary people don't care about taking a title. This is just like the people of later generations. In fact, they don't care whether their boss is a director or a general manager. They are still their bosses anyway. Changing the title will not have any practical impact.
Ordinary people are more concerned about matters related to their immediate interests, such as tax exemptions for land reclamation and rent-to-purchase!
Rent-to-purchase has already been implemented. The first person to implement this policy was Zhaoqing Prefecture. Some landless farmers have already obtained approval and started cultivating government land. Rent-to-purchase is also in progress in other places.
At the same time, the entire Tang Dynasty also set off a wave of land reclamation!
Whether it is poor people or small and medium-sized landowners, they have begun to find ways to open up wasteland, and even large landowners have organized manpower to carry out large-scale land reclamation.
The Tang government maintained its support for private land reclamation, and even for large landowners to organize manpower for land reclamation.
After all, for the Tang Dynasty, the purpose of land reclamation and tax exemption was to increase the number of acres of land under the Tang Dynasty, so as to increase more grain production. Only with more grain can we feed more people and collect taxes.
More taxes.
Population and taxation are the core pillars of any political power.
Today, under the rule of the Tang Dynasty, the population is actually small. Even Guangdong, the most populous city, has only a few million people, and Guangxi and Guizhou are even smaller.
Even in the Huguang area, which later generations said was famous for its well-established and world-famous areas, the current population is actually not too large. The area with the largest population and the most mature development is still Jiangnan.
In contemporary Jiangnan, the population of a county can be as large as that of a prefecture in the remote areas of southwest China.
While Li Xuan and a group of civil servants of the Tang Dynasty were busy carrying out reforms to increase the strength of the Tang Dynasty, the generals were not idle either.
After entering August, the three professional warships of the Datang Navy were put into service one after another and completed various sea trials. Then all three professional warships were incorporated into the second squadron and declared to have combat effectiveness and can go to sea at any time.
Fighting.
At this time, the Tang Dynasty Navy also formally requested to launch a series of naval battle plans to completely expel the Ming Navy, the Folangji, and even the pirate gangs from the Pearl River Estuary, and requested the army for support.
The navy's combat plan had been proposed and prepared as early as May. Now everything was ready and only the east wind was needed, so Li Xuan simply approved the navy's combat plan.
After receiving the permission, the entire Tang Navy took action quickly. The first to act was naturally the Second Squadron, which had three professional warships as its core. In addition, it also provided logistical supplies to these three professional warships to assist in operations.
, six armed merchant ships carrying marine personnel. These six armed merchant ships also included three Galen ships captured from the Francois. The two small ones weighed more than 300 tons, and the larger one was even more powerful.
It has reached more than 500 tons, and the remaining three armed merchant ships are all lucky ships with a tonnage of 300 tons.
These three professional warships and six armed merchant ships are all large ships of more than 300 tons, with excellent ocean navigation and continuous combat capabilities.
The Second Squadron, composed of nine battleships, is also the core of this naval battle plan. Almost all strategies and tactics are centered around this squadron.
In addition to the Second Squadron, twelve armed merchant ships belonging to the First Squadron of the First Fleet stationed in Hong Kong will also participate in the operation.
In addition, the Second Fleet also deployed the Fourth Squadron consisting of four armed merchant ships to support the First Fleet in its operations.
Many small ships of the Pearl River Fleet will also cooperate.
Their first target was Lantau Island, which was separated from Hong Kong Island by only one wall. It was currently occupied by the Ming army, and the strength of the Ming army's navy stationed here was not weak. The previous attempts by the navy to recapture the island had failed.
But now, the Tang Navy, which had gathered most of its strength, was determined to regain the island and remove the Ming Navy's largest and last large base at the Pearl River Estuary.
On August 13, as the Mid-Autumn Festival approached, the Second Squadron officially set sail from Haojing Naval Base. They were accompanied by dozens of small ships of the Pearl River Fleet, or to be more precise, arson ships.
On the same day, the First Squadron from the Hong Kong Naval Base also came out in full force!
In Zhaoqing City, Bao Yifen once again told Li Xuan the plan for this battle: "In this battle, our army's core goal is to seize Lantau Island, but before that, our early tactical goal is to blockade the enemy's port.
, forcing the enemy fleet back to the port, and at the same time blocking the enemy navy's reinforcements. Subsequently, our navy will cover an infantry battalion of the army and a marine battalion of our navy to land on Lantau Island, outflank the enemy from behind, and destroy the enemy on land.
We resisted on the ground and finally surrounded and annihilated the enemy fleet in the port!"
Li Xuandao: "What if the enemy army avoids the battle and flees far away?"
After hearing this, Bao Yifen still said with confidence: "If the enemy fleet escapes, then our second squadron can use its high speed and excellent maneuverability to pursue and kill them. They cannot be caught in our pursuit."
Flee back to Nan'ao Island!"
Hearing Bao Yifen's words, he was full of confidence, and Li Xuan also knew that the navy had been preparing for this for a long time. Thousands of artillery shells used for training alone had been fired, and the number of shells on the three warships
Officers and soldiers even conduct training on the ship every day.
I have been training for so long and I have been waiting for this day!
Li Xuan immediately said: "Since the navy is confident enough, I will wait for the good news!"
At this time, Bao Yifen said: "My lord, I will definitely not disappoint Your Majesty. After this battle, neither the Pseudo-Ming navy nor those Folangji men will dare to easily enter the Pearl River Estuary again!"
Li Xuan nodded and said nothing!
The Navy of the Tang Dynasty worked hard for two years before it accumulated three professional warships and more than twenty armed merchant ships of more than 200 tons, and had enough skilled sailors and gunners needed for the above-mentioned ships.
Although this level of strength is already higher than that of ordinary pirates, when compared with the Ming Navy and the Folangji, it is actually far inferior.
Although the ships of the Ming Navy were all traditional Chinese sailing ships, there were many ships!
You have to know that the Ming Navy that continues to fight against the Tang Navy is actually the Guangdong Navy plus part of the Fujian Navy, Zhejiang, South Zhili, Shandong and other regions, but it has not moved yet.
!
And even for these Ming naval forces, the main force was actually on Nan'ao Island and along the coast of Fujian. The Ming Navy at the Pearl River Estuary was just a small fleet.
Even if they win the battle of Lantau Island, it will actually have little impact on the comparison of enemy and enemy forces on the entire sea. If the Ming army loses this battle, it will be able to re-send a very large fleet in a few days.
By that time, I am afraid that except for the three professional warships of the Second Squadron of the Datang Navy that can rely on their high speed and endurance to continue fighting at sea, other ships will have to hide back in the Pearl River Estuary to avoid the edge.
In that case, the impact on the current war for hegemony between the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty would actually be very limited!