Chapter 89: Climb the technology tree and unify the world...
The custom of holding banquets in the palace to celebrate the festival together has actually existed for a long time, but there are no set rules.
In the past, banquets would be held a few days in advance during festivals. However, it is rare to hold banquets on New Year’s Eve. Today is the first time in history.
It was the first time that the ministers and their families stayed up all night with the king in the palace. They were all very excited. Some of them even brought their children into the palace to join in the fun.
This was Shen Zhiwei's special instruction. By the end of the year, the child was over one year old and his size could no longer be seen. So when the banquet just started, Shen Zhiwei took Chaoyang to the table. With Princess Wang present, it didn't seem out of place for other ministers to bring their children.
A group of people were chatting and laughing, and they seemed to have a good relationship with each other. Even the court officials who used to quarrel with each other in the court had more smiles on their faces when they met today. It was a beautiful scene of harmony between the monarch and his officials.
Because there was no emperor who was high above and unified the world, the relationship between the monarch and his subjects was far less clearly hierarchical than in later generations.
Shen Zhiwei had a premonition that this situation would only last for another three to five years. After she became emperor and changed the world, there would be a clear distinction between the monarch and his subjects.
Centralized rule can certainly ensure the stability of the country, but it also loses some of the warmth of humanity. However, this is a necessary path, just like the gap between rich and poor, which can never be eliminated.
After New Year's Eve comes the New Year. People stay up late into the night and have to get up early the next day to worship their ancestors. Neither Shen Zhiwei nor the ministers who stayed in the palace were in good spirits the next morning. After barely paying homage to their ancestors, they went home to lie down.
Shen Zhiwei has lived here for several years, but still can't get used to the custom of worshiping ancestors on the morning of the New Year. It's not as good as visiting neighbors to pay New Year's greetings in the morning in modern times. When worshiping ancestors, there is smoke and fire, a group of people gather around the tripod, and some people dance to the gods. It's noisy and the lack of sleep causes a buzzing pain in the head, and the noise in the morning makes the pain even worse.
However, the New Year's Eve dinner was still quite enjoyable. Shen Zhiwei was not a solitary person and sometimes she quite liked the hustle and bustle.
When she ascends the throne, she will change all these broken rules.
After Shen Zhiwei woke up from her first day of junior high school, this was the only thought in her mind.
The princes and kings of the world probably never imagined that after unifying the world, the emperor just wanted to sleep in on the first day of the new year.
After a few days of rest during the Chinese New Year, she started working again. Because Jingchang's territory had expanded again, the manpower that had been accumulated with great difficulty was once again insufficient. Shen Zhiwei started to get busy. Sometimes when she had some free time, she found that the year of her fake pregnancy was actually the most relaxing and happy year she had lived since she came into this world.
Being an emperor is not that easy. I really don’t know how the emperor in history who didn’t attend court for decades did it. Shen Zhiwei also wants to do the same!
Unfortunately, it's just thought. The reality is that you still have to work hard. This year, Shen Zhiwei set a small goal for himself, to destroy two of the four most powerful countries.
In this way, the ultimate goal will definitely be achieved within five years. Shen Zhiwei secretly set a five-year plan for himself.
However, plans cannot keep up with changes. At the beginning of the year, something happened in Anguo, which further consumed Anguo's national strength and ignited the war between Jingchang and Anguo.
That is, Prince An was assassinated, and the assassin sneaked into the palace.
At the banquet, when a group of nobles were eating and drinking with Prince An, an assassin suddenly appeared. If Prince An had not had some skills, he would probably have been killed on the spot.
Even though Prince An tried his best to dodge and his guards resisted, they could not prevent Prince An from being injured. Prince An lay directly on the bed to recuperate, while his men began to frantically search for the assassin's whereabouts.
Originally, when Shen Zhiwei heard the news, she just thought it was gossip. She didn't send assassins to kill Prince An. She didn't even have assassins. At most, she asked Gui Yang to raise a "marketing account" team to play a public opinion war.
Although the profession of assassin is very ancient and assassination is a very convenient way to solve problems, Shen Zhiwei disdains to use this method. She can deal with those guys head-on and there is no need to worry about other things.
As a result, An Guo investigated and investigated, and finally found out that it was Shen Zhiwei. He said that the assassin was sent by Jingchang, and there was witnesses and evidence.
Shen Zhiwei was so angry when he found out.
"If Prince An doesn't have the ability to investigate the case, he should just pay the Minister of Justice a large sum of money to help him investigate. He can't even figure out the case and is slandering others. Prince An must have been kicked in the head by an assassin, right?"
Shen Zhiwei started to criticize directly, and Yanxia couldn't help laughing as she listened to him.
"Your Majesty is absolutely right. Prince An's subordinates are truly a bunch of losers. They can't do a good job of protecting Your Majesty, nor can they investigate the case properly."
Yanxia was also quite speechless about the outcome of this matter. Who knew that the blame would be put on them?
"Prince An has lost such a powerful person this time, he will definitely not let it go. I guess he will send someone to question us." Shen Zhiwei had dealt with Prince An several times before. He had experienced his violent temper many times. After all, if Prince An had been a little calmer, he would not have suffered such a great loss. "I am too lazy to play along with the people of An State. Let's just go all out and notify Hu Youan to prepare to attack An!"
Yanxia didn't expect that it would be done in one go, but when she thought about it, this matter would most likely end in a fight. It was difficult to explain the assassination, and Jingchang couldn't give Anguo any explanation. The two sides couldn't agree, and they would have to fight in the end. It would be better to fight from the beginning to save time.
So when other countries hadn't reacted, and Anguo itself was still arguing over whether to send envoys to Jingchang to question him, Jingchang had already deployed troops on the border and was ready to go to war at any time.
Upon seeing this, An Guo immediately sent a minister to issue a proclamation, accusing Shen Zhiwei of sending the assassin, and at the same time questioning how Shen Zhiwei could be the first to act?
Shen Zhiwei's response to this is, "Yeah, right, right, you are all right. Is there anything else to say? If not, let's start a war."
There is no need to prove one's innocence. The final history is written by the winner. In this era when historians have not yet emerged, she can record history however she wants.
Shen Zhiwei did not confuse right and wrong, which shows her high personal quality.
The enemy's manifesto was delivered, and it was not easy to say a word. Yes, yes, yes. Wen Tao took to the battlefield again, showing her amazing literary talent and writing a unique article. But if you look closely, the content is still scolding King An.
Prince An received the same treatment as his father. How can this not be considered a father-son inheritance?
I hope he will be angered to death like his father.
Unfortunately, Prince An was young and in good health, so the assassins failed to take his life. Wen Tao's curse skill obviously couldn't take his life either. It was really a pity.
Shen Zhiwei secretly felt regretful in his heart, and then began to return to his daily work and waiting for the military newspaper.
The system of conferring titles based on military merit has taken root in the army of the Great Zhou. The superiority of this system in times of war has been fully demonstrated. The entire Great Zhou army is like a high-speed operating instrument and has formed a mature war system. Shen Zhiwei no longer needs to worry too much about this system.
Instead of worrying about the current army, she should worry about how to maintain this system after there is no war in the world.
In peacetime, it is difficult to establish military merit. Once military merit is hard-earned, it is easy for it to be monopolized by senior officials, and even the upward channels may be blocked. It is like the education system is now mature and can begin to train talents for Shen Zhiwei, but official positions are limited and people's useful life is long. Once the education system starts to operate, it will train a large number of talents for Shen Zhiwei every year.
Where will these talents be assigned in the later stages?
Shen Zhiwei really didn't expect that while she was still suffering from the shortage of manpower here, she would have to start thinking about how to solve the problem of oversupply of talent.
Forget it, I’ll think about it later and let her worry about it in the future.
Unable to think of a solution, Shen Zhiwei decisively gave up. After the war at the border started, Jingchang became stable internally. Everyone was paying attention to the outcome of the war and no one made a fuss. This is called the transformation of internal contradictions into external contradictions.
Some of the aftereffects of the previous anti-corruption campaign seem to have completely passed.
Every day when Shen Zhiwei went to court and looked at the court officials working diligently, he was counting down in his mind.
Let’s see when these court officials start to let themselves go again and completely forget about what happened during the anti-corruption period.
People's memory is very short, slightly longer than that of a goldfish but limited, so we have to repeatedly remind people of the same thing so that they can always remember it. This is just like when we were in school, we would look up the previous knowledge from time to time to review it and learn new things.
While the war was going on outside, some good news was gradually brought to Jingchang from outside. For example, the cotton planting in the northwest was very good, and it was hoped that cotton clothes could be supplied to part of the army this year. There would also be some left over to be sent to Jingchang, and the high-ranking officials and dignitaries in Jingchang would definitely get some.
No matter who is forgotten, the nobles must not be forgotten, especially the king. Moreover, because this batch of cotton is scarce, the prices of cotton clothes and quilts are very high. If ordinary people want to use them, they will probably have to wait a few more years, by which time the price of cotton will be brought down.
We can also take advantage of this wave to make money for the planting base in the northwest. Once the money is in place, we can hire more people and plant more land.
There is also good news for the shipyard. The ships built by the shipyard are now getting bigger and bigger. Huang Yu said that she has reached a bottleneck, that is, the limit of ships that can sail purely by wind and manpower without internal combustion engines.
So if we want to build a bigger ship next time, we have to ask the Hundred Workshops to build the steam engine.
Shen Zhiwei believed that the craftsmen under her were very good, but she felt that the steam engine was still a bit too difficult. The Great Zhou originally had no scientific foundation at all. How was it different from asking someone to take off from the spot and fly directly to the moon?
Therefore, Shen Zhiwei told Huang Yu not to think about how to build a bigger ship for the time being, but to focus on improving some small details, such as finding ways to install large weapons on the ship, improve shipbuilding efficiency, reduce shipbuilding costs, etc.
While Shen Zhiwei's subordinates were working hard to climb the technology tree, An Guo began to ask for help.
Just like the Northern Kingdom before, it could not withstand Jingchang’s beating and had to seek help from surrounding countries.
The current situation is much more serious than when the Northern Kingdom was still there, and An Guo’s request for help was not responded to immediately.
The other vassal states were a little hesitant to get involved.
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