Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 1177 Zhen Huan Enlarged to 101

This year was more interesting than the previous one. Fatty Orange could already smile as he watched a group of beautiful dancers perform a stunning dance. Jiang Xinxin also smiled happily. However, the wives of the royal family and other ladies from outside the royal family had puzzled expressions.

Especially those older wives of royal family and ladies from outside the royal family, who doesn’t know the great name of Ulanara Rouze, wife of Prince Yong?

In the past, Fat Ju was obsessed with his beloved wife Rouze, and even went so far as to look for a substitute. When he was in the palace, he had the blood of Yixiu, the pipa of the former Concubine Duan Qi, and the temperament of the current Concubine Jing. After he ascended the throne, he had the appearance of Zhen Huan and Noble Lady Fu, and the voice of Concubine Rou.

Perhaps it was because Yixiu's death and Jiang Xinxin's arrival broke some kind of shackles, and Big Fat Ju's mind became much clearer, and his love for his beloved wife Rouze's voice, appearance and smile gradually began to fade. Now when he watched Jinghong Wu again, especially after Jiang Xinxin's advance reminder, he was left with a feeling of loss in his heart, as if he had completely accepted the reality of Rouze's early death.

The New Year's Eve banquet was very lively, and the rewards from the palace were far more generous than usual. All those old things that could not be transformed to make money were taken out to reward people. Naturally, the ministers had no choice but to work harder to show their loyalty.

After the beginning of the new year, Big Fat Orange officially launched an activity to crack down on the White Lotus Sect. The unrest in the southeast that was barely suppressed last year began to waver again, and Junggar seized the opportunity to launch an attack on the Qing Dynasty.

All the civil and military officials in the court were waiting for the opportunity for the Dzungar Khanate to take the initiative to send out troops. Then the armies in the northwest and southwest heard the news and moved. They marched north to demonstrate to Tibet, while at the same time accurately attacking the three armies of the Dzungar Khanate. The war was boundless and indiscriminate, and for a time, both sides suffered losses.

The war on the front line has a deeper relationship with Queen Jiang Xinxin than most people imagine. Because there are always casualties on the front line, Jiang Xinxin must cooperate with Dapangju to comfort the families of the fallen soldiers in a timely manner, especially the families of the fallen soldiers from Manchurian clans. Jiang Xinxin must respond to the comfort in a timely manner, including but not limited to summoning the women among the families and solving their problems when Dapangju distributes the pensions.

Nowadays, everyone knows that the imperial court is rich, and the emperor, Big Fat Orange, is also rich. If the pension is not provided in time, who among the soldiers on the front line will continue to work for the imperial court?

Moreover, it is not just the families of the fallen soldiers who need comfort. As long as there is someone in the family on the front line, Jiang Xinxin should express her care to each and every one of them.

The previous dynasty was busy, so Big Fat Ju couldn't set off to the Old Summer Palace to escape the summer heat. Concubine Jing was extremely busy in the harem, but fortunately Princess Shuhe and Concubine Rou could help out, and Princess Wenshu could also help take care of the young Fourth Princess. Jiang Xinxin only needed to summon the ladies from outside the court and take time to care about the pregnant Concubine Ning.

Once the war broke out, the issue of food and fodder became a top priority. Jiang Xinxin had already instructed her people when they sent them out to sea that the fleet should use rice purchased from Vietnam, Myanmar and other places as ballast, so if the court was short of food and fodder, Jiang Xinxin could still provide some help.

In fact, the royal family and the powerful in Beijing have also set their sights on going out to sea. After all, judging from the wool business, Jiang Xinxin, the real-life God of Wealth, is a person with a lot of money that can make most people rich overnight. So even though going out to sea is dangerous, many people are willing to try it.

What's more, the signal released by the court this time was very clear, that is, the court was ready to lift the maritime ban and even organize its own fleet to go out to sea to make money.

The powerful people in the southeastern coastal provinces were certainly not happy that the imperial court took away most of the profits from such a lucrative business. But once the imperial court decided to do something, how could they stop it? So all opposition and unrest disappeared under the imperial court's army to crack down on the White Lotus Sect. The rebellions in Jiangnan and the southeast did not even have time to shout slogans.

Big Fat Ju was a somewhat stingy person. After experiencing a large-scale rebellion that had officially broken out, he began to dislike the people of Jiangnan and the southeastern coastal provinces. As a result, literary inquisition resurfaced, and many local wealthy families in Jiangnan who were known for their traditions of poetry and literature disappeared under false charges.

The imperial court was very determined to attack Jiangnan. The wealthy families in Jiangnan would certainly not accept it, but the imperial army could not resist easily. In particular, Fatty Orange allowed the imperial court to use various firearms in Jiangnan. As a result, the southeast region, which had been ready to move, was completely quieted down.

As for Vietnam, Burma and Siam who wanted to take advantage of the Qing Dynasty's two-front war, some of them immediately retreated and pretended nothing had happened, but because they were too guilty, they increased their tribute, such as Siam; some of them suppressed the domestic sneak attack intentions in time, such as Burma; and some simply sent a small group of people to test the waters, such as Vietnam.

Unfortunately, the person they met was the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Ortai, the ruthless man who presided over the land reform of ethnic minorities in Yunnan and Guizhou. As soon as Vietnam made a slight attempt, Ortai sent troops to break their claws and extort a large sum of gold, silver and food, which greatly alleviated the food shortage on the front line.

After receiving the news, Da Pangju began to pay attention to Vietnam, Myanmar and Siam. In his impression, these places were hot and rainy all year round. Not to mention other things, the breeding of mosquitoes was enough to kill many people. Although it was difficult for northerners to understand that clothes could not be dried in the south, Da Pangju, an emperor who had been to Jiangnan, could already imagine what the climate in Vietnam, Myanmar and Siam was like.

So even though those places were rumored to be fertile and could produce three harvests of rice a year, they were not suitable for human survival. Therefore, even though the Qing Dynasty had long imported gold, gems, jade and precious woods from Vietnam, Myanmar and Siam in the form of tribute, many people still regarded these places as barbaric.

But this time, Ortai accidentally extorted a sum of food from Vietnam, which easily alleviated the food shortage crisis on the front line. Big Fat Orange really began to rethink his attitude towards Vietnam, Myanmar and other countries.

No matter how wild a place is, as long as it can produce food, and a lot of food, it is a good place!

Big Fat Ju originally wanted to try his best to hide the events of the previous dynasty from Jiang Xinxin, but when he thought of Jiang Xinxin personally instructing the fleet to purchase rice as ballast, he felt that there was no need to conceal some things. So when he entered the harem for the first time after more than half a month, he chose Jingren Palace first.

Jiang Xinxin is worrying about Concubine Ning's upcoming delivery. The Shen family is far away in Jeju, but because of Concubine Ning's previous actions, the Shen family has suffered greatly. If it weren't for the Shen family's strong foundation and Big Fat Ju's lack of intention to implicate the Shen family, the Shen family might have declined even earlier than Nian Shilan's family.

Therefore, Ningpin's mother, Madam Shen, calculated the date and went to Beijing early to live in her mother's home and wait for the summons from the palace.

Jiang Xinxin was a little hesitant about summoning the pregnant concubines' relatives to the palace to accompany the birth of their children. After all, although there was a precedent during the previous emperor's time, after Dapangju came to power, there was no established example of the pregnant concubines' relatives entering the palace to accompany the birth of their children.