On its way to conquer Luzon, the imperial court's Luzon Expeditionary Force had reported that it had wiped out the Dutch Empire's army entrenched in Dongpan. It had arrived in the capital a month earlier. Therefore, most people saw that there were Western barbarians.
When they were escorted to the capital, they could immediately guess that they were probably prisoners of war from the Dutch Empire.
They guessed correctly, these Westerners were Dutch prisoners who were taken to the capital for trial.
At this time, under the heavy snow, Kui Yi and others were escorted off the boat by Ming army soldiers. When they looked up and saw countless buildings, they were immediately shocked.
Do you want to say that they have no knowledge? This is impossible!
They traveled from the Netherlands to Batavia in the Southeast Asia, and then to Dongfan. Some of them also went to Japan and some towns along the coast of the Ming Dynasty.
This knowledge is quite extensive!
However, they have never seen such a big town, and there is no city wall!
Even if it is snowing heavily, there are still people on the road. Looking at the scale of this pier, it is the largest they have ever seen.
With all these things, Kui Yi couldn't help but sigh: "I have always heard that the capital of Ming Dynasty is the largest city in the world, but now that I see it, it really is so!"
Also accompanying him was a translator who belonged to the Zheng family.
Because the Mandarin of these Dutch people is too poor, and they can only speak common expressions, but they cannot speak more complicated words.
Of course, there should be no problem of language barrier between the two parties in front of the emperor, so translation will naturally be provided.
At this time, after hearing Kui Yi's explanation, the translator immediately laughed and said proudly: "This is just Tianjin Wei, the capital is still far away from here!"
"Ah?" Kui Yiyi was surprised when he heard it, and said with some disbelief, "Isn't this your capital?"
After hearing this, the translator didn't want to pay attention to him, so he acted like a country bumpkin and actually regarded Tianjin Wei as the capital!
When Kui saw it, he wanted to ask more questions. Suddenly, an unusual voice suddenly rang: "Ang..."
When Kui Yi and others heard this, they were immediately startled. This sound was definitely not a sound that humans could make: Monster?
But after he came back to his senses, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Akito acting as if nothing had happened. Even if he was a monster, he was not a cannibal.
At this time, the Ming army general who led the team had already communicated with the local officials who were welcoming them, and took the prisoners on the road to the train station.
The cold wind howled, and Kui Yi and others walked timidly. Thinking that they were still far away from the capital of the Ming Dynasty, they couldn't help but feel miserable, so they quickly asked the translator: "Where are we going?"
After hearing this, the translator glanced at him and said: "Of course we are going to the capital. I will escort you to the capital before the end of the year. Maybe during the New Year celebrations, the emperor will be happy and reduce your crimes!"
The captives presented years ago were regarded as a congratulatory gift to the emperor. But the translator was right. For these Dutch prisoners, if the emperor was happy, good things might happen!
After hearing what he said, Kui felt happy, but immediately worried: "With such heavy snow, isn't the capital far away? Your Chinese New Year seems to be only a few days away, right? Even if it freezes us all,
It’s too late to die, right?”
The translator listened and ignored him. In fact, although he had heard of steam trains, this was his first time riding one. It is snowing now, can this steam train still go on the road? This is a question!
About half an hour later, the train bound for the capital started. The carriage was full of people, but everyone looked shocked and dumbfounded.
Through the glass window, you can see that the train has left Tianjin Wei, and the snowy wilderness is really all white.
"Clang, bang, clang..."
Between heaven and earth, it seems that only this rhythmic sound is left.
I don’t know how long it took, but Kui Yi finally came back to his senses and couldn’t help but exclaimed: “Oh God, there are such magical things in the world!”
At this time, the steam engine had not even been seen in the West, and as for the steam train, it was still hundreds of years away. Seeing it with your own eyes, sitting in the train, and experiencing unimaginable things, their shock would never be greater than
Akito was small at the beginning.
Hearing his voice, the other Dutch people also came back to their senses. They completely forgot about their status as prisoners and that they were being taken to the capital of the Ming Dynasty for trial. They just marveled at everything in front of them.
"It's so amazing that it can move at the same speed as a carriage in such heavy snow!"
"More than that, why don't you look at how a carriage can pull so many people at once? How many horses are needed to pull this!"
“It’s really worth riding in this car and coming here once!”
"..."
Listening to these Dutch prisoners marveling and understanding the translation of their words, I feel very proud!
Even those Ming soldiers who could not understand Dutch could tell it from their expressions. Originally they wanted to be amazed, but instead of being amazed, they had the same proud expression.
This is our Ming Dynasty!
Under the heavy snow, the speed of the train was finally much slower than usual. The time to get to the capital was also longer than usual.
The soldiers of the Ming army and the Dutch prisoners were all eating and sleeping in the carriage; outside the carriage window, white snow was still flying.
Like a mobile house, the Dutch even forgot the identity of their captives. They could never experience the feeling of riding a train.
When the train arrived in the capital the next day, the heavy snow had stopped.
Needless to say, the Dutch were once again shocked by the size of the capital.
Originally they thought Tianjin Wei was already the largest town in the world, but unexpectedly, they saw a bigger and more prosperous town!
They even saw the houses on the capital side, which were generally two-story buildings, and even saw five-story houses. Everything on the capital side was beyond their ability to look at.
It can be said that after riding the train for a day, the shock was a little less, but after seeing the capital, they were shocked again.
In the past, Marco Polo's travels gave Westerners the impression that there was a very wealthy country in the far East. Some Westerners did not believe it, while others believed it. The exploration of the road to the East gave rise to the Age of Discovery.
After so many years, many Westerners have arrived in the Far East, and they all think that they already understand this country in the Far East. This is also true for people like Kui Yi and others.
But today, at this moment, they realized that their understanding of this Far Eastern Empire was still too shallow.
If nothing else, the prosperity of this country far exceeds any of their previous exaggerated imaginations!
From now on, they all have to re-recognize this Eastern Empire!
……………………
Emperor Chongzhen is already doing his end-of-year summary as the Chinese New Year approaches.
The biggest event in the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, which is about to pass, is that the Southwest War has basically ended, and a large number of the main army of the imperial court has been transferred back to the north. The imperial court has begun to adjust its national policy of focusing on strategic defense in the north and Liaodong, and is gradually moving towards strategic Offensive focus transition.
In addition to the military, the return to native land has been basically completed, which is also a very big gain.
In addition, in the 18th year of Chongzhen, a universal compulsory military service system was implemented and an expeditionary force was dispatched overseas for the first time.
These things have never happened before and will definitely be remembered by history.
In the past two years, the fiscal revenue brought by local rectification has become more and more effective. The national treasury revenue for the whole year has reached nearly 30 million taels.
Of course, there isn't much left in the treasury.
According to Liu Weichao's advice to Emperor Chongzhen, it is better to use money to make money than to let money rot in the treasury. Spending money is the correct way to manage finances.
The money in the national treasury was generously allocated by Emperor Chongzhen for the construction of roads, railways and water conservancy in various places. The mileage of railways is increasing.
The second major component is, of course, military expenditure. This military expenditure includes not only the equipment and food and salary of the existing army, but also includes money for the research and development of a new generation of weapons, including rifled guns and real armored warships.
The third point of expenditure is the promotion of Physics. This includes the promotion of free education nationwide, the innovation of the entire education system, and the research and development of science and technology.
Of course, the so-called research and development of technology, at this stage, is more about building machines based on the drawings provided by Liu Weichao, and studying how to use the existing conditions of Ming Dynasty to achieve mass production.
One thing that must be mentioned is the research and development of Tieniu. Using steam engines as power, mechanized farming can be carried out on the plains of the Central Plains and the North China Plain. This can save a lot of manpower. For the Ming Dynasty, which had just recovered from the war Coming out is of great significance.
As for the development of the textile industry, it has been greatly improved in the past two years, which has reduced the cost of clothing for the people of Ming Dynasty.
The four most basic aspects of food, clothing, housing and transportation are all making great strides. In the prosperous times in history, there may not have been such good improvements!
In addition, the imperial court also issued a large number of loans to the people of the Ming Dynasty through banks in the capital and Nanjing. In the process of rebuilding their homes, smart people participated in it and made it prosperous. Fire.
No matter from any aspect, Emperor Chongzhen was very satisfied, so he was in a very good mood.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen received a report from the Ministry of Punishment, saying that the Dutch prisoners had been escorted to the capital. How should they be dealt with?
As far as the Ming Dynasty is concerned, if it is rebellion, it will basically be death, and there is nothing to say. However, if it is a small country, that is not necessarily the case. Depending on the mood of the emperor, there are death sentences and pardons.
Even in the treatment of the Japanese prisoners back then, Emperor Wanli executed some of them by execution, Qiu Hou asked and beheaded some of them, and then released some of them.
Now, in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty, the Dutch were considered a small foreign country, so the Ministry of Punishment would definitely have to request an order.