Chapter 3338 3340 [Beijing-Tianjin Railway]
At the end of the 18th year of Qianlong's reign, Meiruo, Chen Wenying and He Xin were produced one after another.
Mei Ruo was born as an elder brother, and Xiang Nan named him Yonglin; Chen Wenying and He Xin were both born as princesses, and Xiang Nan named them Jing Ye and Jing Chen respectively.
Because of her meritorious service in giving birth to her elder brother, Mei Ruo was named Ying Bi by Ying Guiren, while Chen Wenying and He Xin were promoted to Guiren respectively.
In addition, since the Nanyang Navy achieved a great victory in Nanyang, Xiang Nan specially increased the proportions of each palace to express his congratulations.
…
After taking over Southeast Asia, Xiang Nan waved his hand and ordered the Nanyang Navy to attack Zhenla.
Chenla has been relatively unlucky since ancient times. It has been attacked by Annan and Siam in turns, and the capital has been captured many times. In the seventeenth century, Chenla was controlled by Annan and became its vassal state.
Xiang Nan ordered the Nanyang Navy to attack Zhenla, firstly to weaken Annan's power. Throughout the dynasties, the relationship between Annan and the Central Plains has been delicate.
When the Central Plains was strong, they always wanted to capture Annan, and once included Annan in their territory; and when Annan was strong, they always wanted to invade the Central Plains, and once invaded western Guangdong. There is peace or fighting between the two sides. In short, it is a state of ups and downs and ebbs and flows.
At this time, Chenla was controlled by Annan. Taking Chenla would weaken Annan's power, and also take the opportunity to ignite the war, giving the court a reason to send troops to Annan.
Second, Xiang Nan knew that Southeast Asia was rich in products, such as rubber, rice, gems, and sandalwood from Zhenla; copper, tin, coal, iron, and aluminum from Annam; tin, copper, gold, gems, and ivory from Siam...
If China wants to not fall behind in the first industrial revolution, it must reserve as many resources as possible. And even if he doesn't occupy these places, he will only benefit those great powers in the future.
However, in order to make the division famous, Xiang Nan still ordered Alimbao to send troops under the banner of rescuing the Zhenla royal family.
It turns out that in 1623, King Chenla was forced to marry Princess Annan. From then on, Annan legitimately began to interfere in Chenla's internal affairs, and King Chenla became a puppet.
King Chenla sent envoys during the Ming Dynasty and hoped to get help from the Ming Dynasty. But at that time, Ming Chao was already powerless and couldn't even take care of himself.
Now that the Qing Dynasty has inherited the legal system of the Ming Dynasty, it is naturally qualified to respond to King Chenla's request.
The Nanyang Navy immediately invaded Chenla, using spears, cannons, and grenades to defeat the Annan army who were still using bows, arrows, and spears, and successfully rescued the King of Chenla.
Then the King of Chenla submitted his credentials to the Qing Dynasty, sincerely expressing his willingness to become a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, and welcomed the Qing army to be stationed in Chenla to prevent Chenla from being invaded by Annan and Siam again.
Xiang Nan immediately agreed and sent a large army to Zhenla.
And Annan was naturally not happy that such a big piece of fat fell into the mouth of the Qing Dynasty, so he quickly sent troops to attack again. As a result, they were defeated miserably again.
And its perverse behavior just gave Xiang Nan an excuse to send troops. He immediately ordered Chen Qizhi, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, to lead his army to attack Annan. The garrison of Chenla attacked from south to north.
The two armies attacked from the north and the south, leaving Annan vulnerable to enemies from both sides. In the end, under the sharp offensive of spears and cannons, Annan's army was almost defeated in one blow, and was finally forced to surrender.
Xiang Nan immediately established the Jiaozhi Xuanfu Division in Annan and sent officials and troops to rule Annan.
After the Qing army captured Chenla and Annan, Siam, which originally competed with Annan for the hegemony of the Southeast Asian peninsula, was frightened to death and quickly sent tributary envoys to the Qing Dynasty, willing to become a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty.
But Xiang Nan is not a person who seeks fame and reputation, and does not care about the false reputation of all nations coming to court. Because the vassal states paid tribute every three to five years, they only sent a few carts of gifts. When they returned, the rewards given by the court were even more than the tribute they paid.
Therefore, in ancient times, some foreign businessmen even pretended to be foreign envoys to present gifts in an attempt to obtain rewards from the court. It can be seen that such tribute has no real meaning except that it sounds nice.
Moreover, Annan is only a vassal state in name only, with independent internal affairs, military affairs, and diplomacy. Although logically speaking, the king of the subject country can only call himself the king. But in fact, people still regard themselves as emperors in their own country.
So Xiang Nan must station troops, and must also control the territory and open the ports so that Chinese businessmen and Chinese can freely enter, settle, and do business.
Siam was originally unwilling, but the Qing army had already captured Annan and Chenla, taking full control of their military, internal affairs, and diplomatic powers.
Therefore, the troops are now united and approaching the city. As long as they dared to say no, the army would move and the capital of Siam would be captured in an instant, so they had no choice but to bow their heads.
After taking Siam, Laos and Bagan were also captured.
By the 21st year of Qianlong's reign, all Southeast Asian countries were under the rule of the Qing Dynasty.
In order to better control these areas, Xiang Nan not only moved a large number of immigrants, but also opened schools in various countries to teach "Three Character Classic", "Hundred Family Surnames", "Thousand Character Classic", "Four Books and Five Classics" and so on.
It is precisely "if you want to destroy your country, you must first destroy its history; if you want to destroy your clan, you must first destroy its culture."
…
In the 21st year of Qianlong's reign, the Beijing-Tianjin Railway was finally completed. Then the first train departed from the Yongdingmenwai Railway Station in the capital, pulling fifteen wagons, loaded with a variety of goods, such as medicinal materials, cotton cloth, furs, and nuts. Wait, sail to Jinmen.
On the day the locomotive started, Xiang Nan brought the princes, nobles, civil and military officials, envoys from various countries, and hundreds of thousands of people in the capital to watch the ceremony.
The train was seen lying across the railway, like a sleeping iron beast. Workers continued to fill the boiler with coal, and thick smoke billowed out from the locomotive. Then they heard a deafening whistle, which shocked everyone.
Then the train started slowly, making a squeaking sound, getting faster and faster, which dumbfounded everyone present.
Not to mention how fast it is, its transport capacity alone is amazing. It can pull fifteen wagons and hundreds of thousands of kilograms of cargo, which is really amazing.
You must know that no matter how good a mule is, it can only pull a cart weighing 800 kilograms. This train can carry hundreds of the best mules. And the train came back that night.
It is 360 miles from Beijing to Jinmen, but this train actually arrived in less than three hours. After unloading the goods on the same day, loading the goods again, and running back from Tianmen.
In comparison, no matter how good a mule pulls a cart, it can only cover more than sixty miles a day. It takes six days to walk from the capital to Jinmen. This shows that trains are really fast and economical.
Seeing that this big guy can pull things so fast, the people in the capital couldn't help but be curious about it.
“This is the Hot Wheel transformation of Prince Nezha, right? How else could he run so fast?”
“Good guy, it takes less than three hours to get from Beijing to Jinmen. It’s really fast.”
“Our Long Live Master is so awesome. He has allowed us to see new things in recent years.”
(End of this chapter)