But no one expected that the bad news would come so quickly...
A month later, when the dignitaries in the capital and even the current generation were becoming impetuous, a shocking piece of bad news suddenly came eight hundred miles from southern Xinjiang.
The Prince of Nan'an was defeated, and he was defeated completely and completely. Not only the entire army of 50,000 men was wiped out, but even the Prince of Nan'an himself was captured!
A shocking thunderbolt, really a shocking thunderbolt!
Jin Jin and a group of powerful people who originally thought of following along to take advantage were all confused.
How can this be?
Those were 50,000 southern frontier troops. How could they be defeated so quickly and so cleanly that even the Prince of Nan'an County joined in?
The original joy was gone, replaced by depression and anger.
This time in Daqing, I have been embarrassed...
If the Prince of Nan'an County died in battle, it would be fine. At least he could help to say "Sacrifice one's life for the country." Even if He Chaotang were to settle accounts with the Queen of Nan'an County Prince, it would not go too far for the sake of the dead man's face.
But now it's good, Prince Nan'an is still alive...
Then there is nothing to say, Nan'an County Prince's Mansion will have to pay the price for this!
Since Prince Nan'an is not dead, the imperial court will not pay a penny for the cost of rescuing this man. It will all be raised by the Prince Nan'an Mansion.
For a while, Princess Nan'an was busy dealing with the huge property of the Prince's Palace. At the same time, she contacted some old ladies with whom she had good relations, hoping that their family could help put in a good word and rescue Prince Nan'an as soon as possible.
"Nan'an County Prince's Mansion is over!"
After the stumbling old lady Nan'an left, the old lady sighed to Yuanyang: "This time, if the Nan'an County Prince's Palace wants to pass the test, it will have to spend at least half of its wealth!"
Yuanyang did not speak, and the old lady obviously had no intention of letting her answer the conversation. She was really shocked. The Nan'an County Prince's Palace, which was hereditary and irreplaceable, was just finished like this?
"The prince of Nan'an County will probably be demoted to a commoner. The prince of Nan'an will only have the empty title of a first-class general at most. In two generations, there will be no title to inherit!"
The old lady has experienced too many ups and downs and knows the ways here very well.
"The Prince of Nan'an County doesn't know what he's thinking. He launched troops against neighboring countries without even saying hello. But now he can't stand down!"
Shaking her head and sighing, the old lady took the initiative to change the topic and asked: "By the way, didn't I send a letter to Brother Cong before? Did he reply? When will he be back?"
"I have already replied to the letter. Mr. Cong cannot return to Beijing for the time being!"
"what happened?"
A trace of displeasure flashed in the old lady's eyes, but her tone remained calm as usual.
"Old lady, the King of Nan'an County suddenly sent troops to attack Qianxiang Kingdom. The Huaiyang Governor's Yamen must prepare logistical supplies and ordnance for Southern Xinjiang!"
Yuanyang heard the dissatisfaction in the old lady's words, and explained with a smile: "Master Cong has to help with some things, and he can't get away at all!"
"He's just a little monkey, what can he do to help?"
The old lady's sharp eyes softened and she said angrily: "Is it possible that Lin Ruhai still needs his help and guidance?"
"Listening to the news from over there, advice is not necessary, but help is indispensable. Mr. Lin really can't live without me!"
"Oh, tell me, what exactly is it that cannot be separated from the Dharma?"
"There is news from Huaiyang that there is a problem with the official warehouse there, and a trustworthy person like Mr. Cong must be there to supervise it!"
“I’ve long heard that local officials are so bold, but I didn’t expect it to be true!”
"Not only the official warehouses, but also the local officers and soldiers are almost in ruins. I heard that they even have no ability to organize civilian training. Mr. Cong needs to keep an eye on it!"
"Oh, is there really no one around Lin Ruhai? Why does that little monkey have to be involved in everything?"
The old lady was a little dissatisfied, as if she really felt sorry for Jia Cong.
Yuanyang pursed her lips and chuckled, and explained: "It's really true. The only person who can be completely trusted by Mr. Lin, besides my cousin, is Mr. Cong!"
The old lady was silent for a moment, then nodded and said: "In that case, don't rush me. It seems that the old lady underestimated this monkey before!"
"Don't worry, old lady, when you celebrate your eightieth birthday, Master Cong and Master Lin will definitely come back to Beijing to celebrate!"
The old lady had a faint smile on her face, but she was a little unhappy in her heart, as if she had lost control of her younger generation.
…
The news that Prince Nan'an was defeated and captured was strictly sealed, so most people in the capital knew nothing about it.
At the moment, the public opinion in the capital is all attracted by the new attraction of 'Cong Sanshao'. They are immersed in the plot of farming and developing with pig's feet. There is even a lively discussion about this, so how can they care about anything else?
At this time, the plot has reached the point where Pigfoot has found a huge island thousands of miles away from the Central Plains and settled down here.
Next, there are various construction and farming plots, and troubleshooting when encountering problems. These are all actual situations that may be encountered in the new environment.
First, they established settlements along the seaside harbor, and then used this as a stronghold to explore outwards and quickly expand their control area.
During this period, technologies such as astronomy, geography, farmland water conservancy, and civil engineering were used to quickly build settlements into cities, and then use the city as the core to radiate to surrounding areas, open up wasteland for farming, pick fruits, fish and hunt to drive away beasts and poisonous insects.
Step by step, we focused on development and construction. In just a few years, we built several small towns of Central Plains standards and opened up hundreds of thousands of acres of wasteland. Not only did we completely solve the problem of survival, we also developed and became wealthy at a speed visible to the naked eye.
These contents were deduced by Jia Cong based on modern common sense and the information obtained by southern maritime merchants of this era. The deduction is quite reliable.
The expected difficulties may not be enough, but it is enough to be used as a basic island strategy for some ambitious people. At least Prince Zhongshun takes it very seriously.
Farming and developing, watching a piece of wild land turn into a prosperous place with a large number of people in your own hands, the grandeur of relying on human power to change the world, sounds quite refreshing.
The plot has developed to this point, and it has not become boring because of blind development and construction, but has a different kind of attraction.
After all, Jia Cong gave full play here and wrote a completely different path to the development of the Central Plains.
Take education for example. Pig's Feet attaches great importance to education. It can be said that it has reached a crazy level. It even requires in the form of a law that all the children of soldiers and civilians who follow them must enroll in school as long as they are old enough, regardless of gender, otherwise it is illegal.
In the process of island city construction, the first and best buildings to be built were schools, not government offices.
Such behavior naturally caused huge controversy among book fans.
There are things that are said to be good, and naturally there are things that are said to be bad.
The book fans were divided into two groups, each expressing their own opinions, and the bimonthly magazines published by major bookstores were quarrelsome.
Mainly, the matter of universal education was very sensitive in the feudal era.
The way of a saint is to educate the world!
However, due to productivity and other factors, knowledge has become a tool for the ruling class to distinguish between officials and civilians, and it is simply impossible to achieve universal education.
Even Zhong Zhu's subordinates, all of whom were civil and military men, did not understand what he was doing.
However, Pig's Feet's explanation left them speechless. No matter what they thought, they had to implement it honestly in the end.
"If the children of soldiers and civilians who follow me to fight overseas receive a complete education from an early age, they will have the possibility to become strong when they grow up!"
"Our current power seems to be strong, but that's because we have a more advanced knowledge system, which is much stronger than the natives on the island in every aspect!"
"Then we can sit back and relax, and from now on we can bring weapons to Kuma and release them to Nanshan?"
"There may not be a problem in a short period of time, but what about a long time?"
"Since we can get here by boat, what about the other forces and countries with advanced sea-ship manufacturing technology?"
"If a strong enemy comes from the sea, and we don't have enough population, and we operate according to the methods of the powerful families in the Central Plains, the number of strong enemies will be pitifully small. How can we fight against the strong enemy?"
"If the millions of soldiers and civilians who followed me to this island can give future generations the opportunity to receive education and become strong men, then our foundation will not have to worry about being robbed by foreign enemies!"
These words could not be said to be enlightening, but at least they temporarily calmed down the dissatisfaction of Zhu's top management, and they wholeheartedly carried out Zhu's universal education policy.
The popular education promoted by Pig's Feet is not the Confucian education that has become mainstream in the Central Plains, but the model of letting a hundred schools of thought flourish.
This point once again triggered a big discussion among book fans.
After all, this is an era when Confucianism is the mainstream, and the plot in the film does have some "treason and immorality" meaning.
But pig's feet still have something to say...
"Although there are millions of soldiers and civilians willing to follow me to fight in the open sea, there are still too few on such a large island. They are only a little more than the natives on the island!"
"We need development. We need talents in civil engineering, city construction, farmland water conservancy, medicine, divination, astrology, and mechanics. Can we train them simply by relying on Confucian schools?"
"Now that we are far away from Middle-earth, unless we treat the indigenous people on the islands as our own, the gap in manpower and talent will become bigger and bigger."
"When the time comes, we can't expect scholars who specialize in the Four Books and Five Classics to work in the fields, work in workshops, or dig water conservancy projects in the wilderness, or treat diseases and save people in medical clinics. Isn't that nonsense?"
"Our school naturally cannot just teach the Four Books and Five Classics. Hundreds of miscellaneous studies should become subjects of study, and we strive to cultivate a sufficient number of qualified talents!"
These words convinced many of his subordinates and also impressed some thoughtful people in their hearts.
They are determined to establish a country overseas, and the events and troubles they encounter in the future may be similar to what is described in the plot.
As long as there is nothing wrong with your brain, you must be aware that the lack of population and talent will definitely become the norm. Under such circumstances, blindly imitating the Central Plains model is simply making yourself unhappy...