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Text Chapter 743 The Development of the Four Empires

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    On May 29, the twenty-eighth year of Zhenguan, Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty died of illness in Ganlu Hall at the age of fifty-seven. After reigning for twenty-eight years, the temple was named Taizong.  It is worth mentioning that on the third day after Li Shimin's death, Empress Changsun, who had been lingering on the sickbed, also followed him, and the two were buried together in Zhaoling.

    On the day after Li Shimin's death, Li Zhi, supported by the ministers and witnessed by Li Ke, Li Min and others, ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor in the Taiji Hall, becoming the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty.  The reign name of Zhenguan was changed to "Yonghui" the following year.

    After Li Zhi ascended the throne, he immediately carried out all-round reforms in the Tang Dynasty. The main ones were to standardize legislation, crack down on powerful people, and put everyone under the deterrence of the law.  In addition, Li Zhi also ordered people to formulate the "Business Law", which stipulates the rights and obligations of buyers and sellers in commercial activities, with the purpose of providing a relatively fair competitive environment for domestic industry and commerce.

    In addition, Li Zhi also used public opinion tools such as laws and newspapers to vigorously improve the social status of businessmen and workers. At the same time, he relaxed some domestic controls on various aspects and increased the freedom of the people.  In terms of agriculture, they also learned from Daqi. Huge-scale farms were built in various places. In addition to Han Chinese as management personnel, slaves were used for other simple agricultural labor. Some farms have even introduced steam engines, which greatly saved labor costs and so on.

    These series of measures actually have only one purpose, which is to improve the domestic industrial and commercial environment in Datang, so that domestic industrial and commercial workers can stay in Datang with peace of mind, instead of going to Daqi for various reasons, causing a large loss of domestic capital, and even  The situation of retrogression in industry and commerce has been changed.

    All reforms are very difficult from the beginning, even if they are promoted personally by Li Zhi, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. The die-hards represented by the aristocrats who have accumulated a lot of wealth through privileges see their own interests.  Be deprived of.  Naturally, fierce resistance was launched. Every day, a group of ministers wrote to Li Zhi in the court to pressure him to take back his life.

    But Li Zhi's determination obviously exceeded everyone's imagination. Not only did he withstand this pressure, he even took the opportunity to kill several die-hard backbones in the name of forming a party for personal gain, even Changsun Wuji, who had always remained calm.  They were also involved, and Li Zhi took the opportunity to take away half of the power in his hands. The three newly promoted nobles, Xu Jingzong, Shangguan Yi and Li Yifu, were all eyeing Changsun Wuji's position.

    Changsun Wuji originally considered Li Zhi¡¯s character flaws.  He thought that he would be unable to withstand the pressure in the court and retreat, but he did not expect that Li Zhi's performance far exceeded his expectations. This made Changsun Wuji's last extravagant hope come to nothing. In addition, Li Min's previous persuasion, and  Changsun Chong's influence on him.  In the end, after half a year of weighing, Changsun Wuji finally proposed to Li Zhi to resign, and Li Zhi immediately approved it.

    Changsun Wuji was a big flag for the die-hards. Now even this flag has fallen. The die-hards have been greatly weakened. The resistance to reform has also been greatly reduced. Many die-hards have even seen that the wind is going in the wrong direction.  They all chose to surrender to Li Zhi in exchange for their own protection.

    While Li Zhi was promoting reforms in the Tang Dynasty, Li Ke, Li Min, Li Yun, and Li Zhen also chose to return home after attending the funerals of Li Shimin and Queen Changsun.  Among them, Li Min, Li Yun, and Li Zhen have not made any big moves. They mainly focus on domestic development. They also pay attention to the reform of Datang. If Li Zhi encounters any problems that cannot be solved.  They will also come forward to help solve the problem.

    In contrast, Li Ke was much busier. He and Irina lived in Chang'an for a while.  It was not until Irina's child was born that they returned to Rome by boat.  At this time, Li Ke finally had time to start integrating Rome and Daqi. During this period, he also vigorously rectified the atmosphere of Rome, strengthened exchanges between Rome and Datang, etc.

    Three years later, Li Ke's filial piety period expired, and he also firmly controlled Rome in his hands.  Until then, Irina held a grand wedding with Li Ke as she wished. Brothers such as Li Min, Li Yun, and Li Zhen, as well as princesses such as Qinghe, Gao Yang, and Sizi also rushed to Rome to attend Li Ke's wedding.  Wedding with Irina.

    Just after the wedding, Irina finally legitimately passed the position of Roman Emperor to Li Ke.  Li Ke, who became the emperor of Da Qi and Rome, immediately merged the two countries and changed its name to the Mediterranean Empire. He also imitated Li Min's Da Qi and began to vigorously develop sea trade and navy. He soon defeated the navy that Dashi had just developed in the Mediterranean.  , firmly established as the hegemon of the Mediterranean.

    However, Li Ke was not satisfied with this. Although Dashi in the south was defeated at sea, Dashi's army was still strong. If Li Ke wanted to regain the homeland of the Roman Empire, he would have to pay a considerable price, so for the time being he would not  Planning to eat big food.  Moreover, Dashi is now surrounded by land by the three kingdoms of Tang, Tianzhu and Rome, and the only sea route is cut off by Li Min. It is like a beast with its limbs broken, even if its teeth are no longer strong.No matter how sharp it is, it's useless if it can't bite anyone.

    After giving up the hard nut of food, Li Ke turned to develop in the direction of Europe. He first advanced by sea and land, and soon conquered the Lombard Kingdom on the Balkan Peninsula, making the city of Rome, which had been lost to the barbarians for nearly two hundred years,  Again returned to the hands of the Romans, only this time the conquerors should be called Mediterraneans.

    After regaining the Balkan Peninsula, Li Ke finally connected the original Eastern Empire with the territory of Daqi, making transportation throughout the empire more convenient.  And Li Ke did not stop because of this. He began to lead the original Romans and his Han army to launch a counterattack against the northern barbarians. With the help of superior troops and advanced weapons, the northern barbarians were not at all  The rivals of the Mediterranean Empire were destroyed one after another, and countless barbarian prisoners of war became emerging white slaves. This also greatly promoted the development of the slave-catching industry in the Mediterranean Empire.

    However, Li Ke soon encountered a strong opponent, which was the Frankish Kingdom during the Merovingian Dynasty. At this time, the Frankish Kingdom was in the early stages of the Pepin Era, and the rights of the kingdom were controlled by the emperor and the palace minister respectively.  The imperial power faction and the palace minister faction fought endlessly, and violent conflicts would break out from time to time.

    Although there are endless internal battles in the Frankish Kingdom, it is after all the most powerful kingdom among the barbarians, and its land area is not much smaller than that of the Mediterranean Empire. Therefore, when facing this powerful enemy, Li Ke also changed his strategy.  To give Li Shimin a solution to Goguryeo, he sent elite troops into the Frankish Kingdom to conduct an endless harassment war. As a result, it took several years to drag the Frankish Kingdom to the edge. The entire kingdom collapsed. At this time, Li Ke easily occupied  The vast territory of the Frankish Kingdom.

    With the demise of the Frankish Kingdom, the Mediterranean Empire finally eliminated the worries in the north, and the country ushered in a relatively stable period of development. Especially with the strengthening of exchanges with the Tang Dynasty and Daqi, more and more Han people were willing to come to the Mediterranean  The development of the empire caused the proportion of Han people in Li Ke's country to show a linear upward trend, which in turn increased Li Ke's rule over the empire.

    Perhaps seeing Li Ke's extraordinary front in Europe, Daqi and Tianzhu, which had been dormant for several years, also began their own journey of conquest. Among them, Li Min chose America as his target. After these years of development, he has already  Nearly half a million Han people immigrated to Central America, and there were also nearly a million native Americans who returned to Central America. Therefore, based on these people, Li Min officially incorporated Central America into Da Qi's territory. At the same time, he began to station troops and expand outward.  , all Americans who were unwilling to surrender were included in the conquest.

    Compared with Li Min's conquest of the Americas, Li Yun and Li Zhen also launched Tianzhu's African strategy. Tianzhu's military development was more inclined to the army. However, due to Li Min's influence, Tianzhu's navy also had certain strength, so it achieved cross-sea expansion.  The war was still very easy. With the support of naval battleships, Tianzhu sent 300,000 troops to Africa, mainly composed of Tianzhu people.

    This army did not land at Cape Hafun, which was occupied by Tianzhu and Daqi. Instead, they chose to land at the southernmost tip of Africa. This was mainly because Li Min had told Li Zhen and Li Yun that under the fertile land of South Africa  , rich in various minerals such as gold, iron, copper, diamonds, etc. Occupying it is equivalent to having a huge treasure house in Tianzhu.

    It was precisely because of Li Min's guidance that Li Yun and Li Zhen's invasion of Africa was mainly focused on plundering mineral deposits, especially South Africa's huge gold reserves, which was their main goal. However, they wanted to exploit the mineral deposits.  Naturally, a large number of miners were needed, which directly led to the extremely developed slave trade in South Africa. Countless slaves from the Mediterranean Empire, Daqi and other places were transported here, and then became withered bones due to various mining accidents or diseases.  Hundreds of years later, South Africa had a nickname, the 'miners' grave'. The miners who died on this land were so numerous that it was impossible to count them.

    In the tenth year after Li Shimin's death, the reforms implemented by Li Zhi in the Tang Dynasty finally bore fruit. After several years of stagnation, the industry and commerce in the Tang Dynasty finally regained their vitality and began a new round of rapid development.  Among them, textile, steel, porcelain and other industries have developed rapidly, and have even begun to catch up with Daqi in a short period of time.

    The businessmen who originally settled in Daqi saw the changes in Datang and returned to their hometowns to build factories, which further promoted the development of industry and commerce in Datang. Later, there was even a return wave in Datang, and people who originally settled in Daqi began to return to their hometowns.  After all, for the Han people, the idea of ??returning to their hometown has been engraved in their bones. Even if the conditions in their hometown are worse, they are more willing to return to their hometown to live.

    However, as Li Shimin predicted before his death, in the process of the growing development of the four great empires of Tang, Daqi, Tianzhu and the Mediterranean, some large and small frictions inevitably occurred between countries!  (To be continued)
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