Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Chapter 644: A good son-in-law is a son. Isn’t it natural for a son to help him with things?

"Heading west..." Li Zicheng muttered, seemingly not understanding what he was asked to do.

I don’t understand why Journey to the West would make him a man who will be remembered in history.

"Yes, we will go west along the grassland and the Far North until we reach a mountain range called the Ural Mountains, and then we can stop.

You may meet many people along the way, maybe they are enemies, maybe not, but wherever you pass by, that place will become the world.

Do you know what to do?

Zhang Shikang gave a brief explanation and raised some questions at the same time.

"If you encounter enemies, just kill them.

However, I have never heard of a mountain range called the Ural Mountains."

He only understood half of Zhang Shikang's words, such as "All under heaven belongs to the king", which meant that he was asked to conquer it.

Li Zicheng was very familiar with killing people. From his previous wanderings in the interior to his wanderings in the grasslands, he had a deeper understanding of guerrilla tactics.

On the vast prairie, knowing how to retreat progressively and attack when the enemy is tired is understanding the survival logic here.

"It seems you don't understand at all. Never mind. I will discuss this matter with His Majesty and the Cabinet when I return.

I told you this in the letter because I hope you can prepare in advance and tell your brothers what you will do from now on and the powerful enemies you may encounter.

Oh, among these powerful enemies, there is destined to be a country called Rakshasa.

They are now heading east.”

Zhang Shikang didn't say more because Li Zicheng wouldn't understand even if he did.

In the current traditional concepts of the Ming Dynasty, there is a complete lack of understanding of colonization. Confucian culture emphasizes inner sageliness rather than outer kingliness.

The idea of the Celestial Empire made them look down on the barren land.

For the above reasons, most of the uninhabited land at this time was occupied by Europeans.

At the end of last year, when the Jinyiwei personnel in charge of overseas affairs returned to Beijing to report on their work, they mentioned that the pioneers of the Russian Kingdom had arrived at the banks of the Yenisei River and were still continuing to expand eastward.

The Yenisei River is located directly north of the Ming Dynasty. It is very close to the Ming Dynasty, but very far away from Moscow, the capital of the Russian Empire.

They arrived here with a small number of people, planted flags, and asked the local people to grow potatoes, and then this place became the land of the Rakshasa Kingdom.

Of course, they encountered resistance, but these pioneers were very smart.

At first, they just planted flags in uninhabited areas of the Arctic, and would take detours when encountering large grassland tribes.

However, with the improvement of their national strength and the popularization of firearms, the nomadic peoples' disadvantages became increasingly greater, and they eventually became complete vassals of the Rakshasa Kingdom.

The Rakshasa Kingdom's eastward expansion lasted for about two hundred years, and they called the area farthest from them the Far East.

The middle part is the Middle East, and the part closer to Europe is called the Near East.

After the Enlightenment and democracy awakened and were gradually accepted by everyone, if a country wanted to increase its territory, it would have to pay a hundred or a thousand times the price.

A war will not only be condemned and sanctioned by many people, but even after huge sacrifices, in the end, not even a piece of land will be gained.

But in this feudal era, everything is still in its infancy.

There are no boundary markers between countries, and no one spends huge amounts of money to build barbed wire border walls. There are only vague boundaries between countries.

In more remote areas, wherever people go is their home, or wherever they fight is the national border.

What a wonderful era this is.

As the Grand Marshal and Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty, if Zhang Shikang does not take advantage of this opportunity to acquire more land for his descendants, he will be criticized in the future.

He had already chosen the names. Using the begonia leaves as the dividing line, the areas heading west could be called Near West, Middle West and Far West.

Most of these areas are rarely visited and seem to have no value to the country.

But this is only based on the present. Zhang Shikang knows clearly how many mineral deposits are hidden in these places.

Frankly speaking, if there were not so many treasures underground, the Rakshasa Kingdom would have gone bankrupt and perished under the sanctions of the Saxons.

Regarding colonization and pioneering, the Heliansheng project that Zhang Shikang launched in collaboration with the Ming nobles, and the many projects developed by the General Administration of Manufacturing, all of the above complement each other.

Zhang Shikang may be very idle when he is strolling, but he is actually thinking about something.

He is lazy and he admits that he is lazy, but since he sits in this position, he must take some responsibility.

When Confucianism cannot keep pace with the times, it should be changed. The Celestial Empire also needs overseas tributary states!

……

At dusk on June 12, the 14th year of Chongzhen, in the Palace of Heavenly Purity in the Forbidden City.

After Emperor Chongzhen dealt with the last memorial, he stared blankly at the afterglow of the setting sun coming through the window.

There was a bowl of cooked bird's nest porridge on his desk, steaming hot, but Emperor Chongzhen had no interest at all.

It has been a whole month since Zhang Shikang left the capital, and he misses that boy again.

The Qianqing Palace was too deserted. Compared to it, the vegetable garden could arouse his interest more.

When that kid was around, he always mocked him for being the emperor and liking to farm. Once he even joked that the common people said that the emperor used a golden hoe to hoe the land, in order to make fun of him.

What’s even more hateful is that this guy later actually gave him a golden hoe.

Of course, it was gold-plated. It wasn’t that Zhang Shikang couldn’t afford it, but he was worried that his brother Chongzhen couldn’t afford it either.

After getting used to Zhang Shikang's nonsense, Emperor Chongzhen was happy to have someone around with whom he could speak his mind at any time. He is now actually using that golden hoe.

However, Emperor Chongzhen has been feeling uneasy recently, and the longer Zhang Shikang is away from the capital, the stronger this feeling becomes.

Of course, he would not tell the people around him that he was now so dependent on a minister.

But in fact, Emperor Chongzhen was too lazy to explain. He no longer considered that boy to be a subject. Perhaps it would not be long before he would become his son-in-law.

A good son-in-law is a son. Isn’t it natural for a son to do things for his son?

Alas, there has been no news from this kid for half a month, and I don’t know how the war is going now, Emperor Chongzhen thought a little annoyed.

Wang Chengen, who was watching from the side, saw this and could tell what his master was thinking. He smiled and whispered:

"Your Majesty, you are worried about the Duke of Zhenguo, right? However, I feel that the Duke of Zhenguo will eat anything, but he will not suffer any loss.

Don't worry, Your Majesty, the Duke of Zhenguo will be safe and sound."

Emperor Chongzhen did not appreciate it. He was already immune to such nice words, so he frowned and said:

"Humph, you're in charge of the East Factory, don't you have any outside sources of information?

Why haven't you heard from me for half a month?"

Wang Chengen explained with some grievance:

"Your Majesty, the East Factory is primarily responsible for collecting, organizing, and disseminating information from various locations within the Great Wall. The Embroidered Uniform Guard is responsible for matters outside the Great Wall. This has been agreed upon between you, Your Majesty."

Of course, Emperor Chongzhen was not really angry, he was just used to scolding people.

During this period, Emperor Chongzhen would summon the Jinyiwei almost every other day to inquire about the war, but he would always be told that there was no news from there.

This was also the most important reason for Emperor Chongzhen's irritability. Although the result was likely to remain the same, Emperor Chongzhen still asked Wang Chengen to summon the Jinyiwei to question them.

But this time, before Wang Chengen walked out of the hall, someone came to tell him that Jinyiwei commander Liu Wenyao requested to be summoned, saying that there was important military information.

Emperor Chongzhen immediately became nervous and immediately asked Liu Wenyao to meet him.

When Liu Wenyao, dressed in Feiyu suit, just walked into the hall, he was interrupted by Emperor Chongzhen before he had time to salute.

"Mr. Liu, please don't be so polite. What news have you received? What is the situation of the war outside the Great Wall?" Emperor Chongzhen frowned with a serious look on his face.

"Your Majesty, I…I don't know either. The letter came from the Tiger Guard Commandery. It's…it's sealed with wax. Only Your Majesty can see it."

Liu Wenyao looked a little nervous and spoke haltingly.

"Then what are you still standing there for? Hurry and present the letter."

Only then did Liu Wenyao take out the letters from his pocket, but he only took out two at once.

The envelope even had a serial number on it, and Emperor Chongzhen opened the envelope numbered one without hesitation.

The content of the letter was very short, only a few lines, but Emperor Chongzhen only glanced at it and felt like a bolt from the blue. He saw that the letter only read:

"The Marshal was besieged on Guanshan Mountain by tens of thousands of elite Jiannu troops..."

……