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Gypsy girls have no destructive power, but gypsy girls selling wine have a huge destructive power for Austrian cavalry and infantry that no one can imagine—
As everyone knows, there is an irreconcilable contradiction between the Russian Goose and the Ottoman Turkey—The Crusades in Europe completely sealed the coffin of the Byzantine Empire. Eleven years after the fall of the Byzantine Empire, Ivan III, Grand Duke of Moscow, married Princess Sophia, the niece of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI, and declared himself the heir to the Byzantine Empire. Subsequent heirs were collectively called Tsars (meaning Caesar in Russian). It was from this moment that the double-headed eagle symbol was integrated into the blood of the Russian Goose. The Constantinople complex of successive Tsars was like the obsession of the Central Plains sects in the Southern Song Dynasty with the dream of Bianliang.
After occupying the territory of the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Turkey also declared itself the heir to the Byzantine Empire, claiming to inherit and continue the glory of the Eastern Roman Empire.
An empire that disappeared from the map suddenly had two heirs. One heir actually controlled the territory of the former Byzantine Empire, while the other heir had legal inheritance rights. This doomed the irreconcilable contradiction between the Russian Goose and the Ottoman Turkey.
Let's put it this way: if they had to choose between killing the Polish cousin and killing the Ottoman Empire, the Tsars of the Russian Goose would definitely choose to kill the Ottoman Turkey. From the first Russo-Turkish War, the Russian Goose and the Ottoman Empire had a large-scale war every nineteen years on average. How many wars have they fought with the Polish cousin?
And in the Sixth Russo-Turkish War in 1788, something very funny happened, and it was related to the gypsy girl selling wine.
In 1787, the Ottoman Turkey demanded that the Russian Goose return Crimea and recognize Georgia as a tributary of the Ottoman Empire, and also to inspect the Russian Goose ships entering and exiting the Ottoman Empire. In the Fifth Russo-Turkish War before that, Turkey was the one who was beaten. They had to sign the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji on July 21, 1774, and pay the Russian Goose two million five hundred thousand rubles in war reparations and two important naval ports on the Black Sea coast. Crimea was also completely controlled by the Russian Goose. This time, Turkey intended to regain its prestige. xxs壹贰
The Russian Goose rejected the Ottoman Turkey's demands without even thinking about it—Why should I return the territory I seized with my own ability? If you insist on me returning Crimea, then you should return Constantinople to me first!
The Ottoman Turkey thought that after the Byzantine Empire collapsed, his yard would be inherited by me. Do you, a "son-in-law" whose family is far away and who doesn't know how many generations have passed, want to come and fight for my property?
Besides, you won last time, can you win this time?
Beat him!
The more the Ottoman Empire thought about it, the angrier it became. It simply sent out a twenty-thousand-strong army and a powerful fleet, including 19 battleships, 16 cruisers, and 5 light gunboats, intending to use force to reason with the Russian Goose.
The Russian Goose naturally did not show weakness. Anyway, they had fought with the Ottoman Empire so many times, what's one more fight?
Then, the Russian Goose quickly gathered their subordinates and planned to fight the Ottoman Empire again.
It was at this time that Austria chose to join the Russian Goose camp and sent Prince Coburg with an army of 26,000 men to Moldavia to fight.
To stop the advance of the Turkish army, Prince Coburg specifically dispatched a cavalry unit and an infantry unit to occupy the Koranshebashi Plain ahead of the Ottoman Empire.
War is war, but soldiers also need to relax. Coincidentally, a group of Gypsies came to buy wine. Several Austrian cavalrymen saw the wine and immediately ran over to buy a cart of wine from the Gypsies. Just as they were about to drink, several Austrian infantrymen arrived. Seeing that the cavalry had wine in their hands, they were so happy that they ran up and asked the cavalry to let them have a drink.
Actually, having a drink would be nothing, but the cavalry looked down on the infantry, let alone invite them to drink. They immediately refused the infantry's request. The infantry, feeling their self-esteem hurt, became unhappy and immediately started cursing. The cavalry were not to be outdone. They put down the wine bottles and started cursing with the infantry.
Cursing was still okay, but later it turned into a group brawl. Fighting is fighting, and then they even took out sabers and guns. This was bad. Some were killed by swords, and some were shot by guns. The Austrian infantry and cavalry were all angered, and both sides picked up their weapons and attacked each other.
But they were all Austrian troops! Cavalry and infantry were originally brother units, and they were the ones who blocked bullets for each other on the battlefield. Now they were killing each other over drinking. When the Ottoman Empire's army arrived, there were more than 9,000 Austrian soldiers lying dead on the vast plain.
As Emperor Zhu's words fell, the scholars present trembled in their hearts.
Old Man Cui said: Reclamation is not always possible. It must be done between autumn and spring—now it is deep winter, isn't it between autumn and spring?
Old Man Cui said: If you reclaim land in winter, the soil will be frozen hard. One dig will only leave a white mark, which will cause your hands to hurt.
However, Cui Baoguo showed a troubled expression: "Your Majesty, our Cui Village has only a thousand people at most, and many of them are women and children, and we may not have enough tools..."
Liu Heming immediately laughed: "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will arrange these scholars properly and ensure they have no opportunity to slack off."
Even though they were mentally prepared, when Emperor Zhu's order truly came down, the scholars present could not help but feel a sense of despair.
Those soldiers... they could accurately eliminate the scholars who rushed out of the tents at night without harming any other scholar who stayed in the tent. Who dared to say their eyesight was bad?
Even so, Emperor Zhu wanted Liu Heming to specially select a few with good eyesight!
After Liu Heming and Cui Baoguo led the scholars to the distant wasteland, Zeng Cheng could not help but ask, "What is His Majesty's intention?"
Zeng Cheng was silent.
...
"Bang!"
Xu Zhendong was not annoyed. He just shook his hands, gritted his teeth, and raised his hoe to dig again.
"Bang!"
Cui Baoguo chuckled, looking at Xu Zhendong, who was once again jolted with pain and numbness in his hands, and said, "Change to a pickaxe. Without a pickaxe, you won't be able to reclaim half a mu of land all day."
"Also, don't grip both hands too tightly, otherwise, after two digs with the pickaxe, your hands will be covered in blisters."
Xu Zhendong dared not argue with Cui Baoguo anymore. He meekly changed to a pickaxe and then began to dig repeatedly.
Xu Zhendong even felt a faint sense of despair.
Looking at the desperate Xu Zhendong, Cui Baoguo sneered, took the pickaxe from Xu Zhendong's hand, and dug down forcefully.
With the same "bang," Xu Zhendong could only dig the pickaxe tip an inch into the soil, while Cui Baoguo could dig the pickaxe tip deep into the soil.
Cui Baoguo held the pickaxe handle with both hands, let out a "he" sound, and exerted force with both hands. The pickaxe tip, dug deep into the soil, brought up a large area of frozen soil.
Xu Zhendong stared blankly at the small pit he had dug with all his might, then at the large pit dug by Cui Baoguo, and felt like he wanted to say ten thousand swear words.
You, a farmer who has been farming for years, are trying to compete with me, a scholar, in strength or who is better at reclaiming land?
Xu Zhendong felt a sense of speechless frustration.
He couldn't even argue with these peasants!
If possible, Xu Zhendong wished his poems and lyrics could be exchanged for strength, so that he could finish reclaiming this wasteland earlier.
Or, Emperor Zhu could change the condition and let us compete with these peasants in reading!
The more he thought about it, the more unhappy he became. Xu Zhendong simply took the pickaxe from Cui Baoguo's calloused hands, pondered it carefully, and then raised the pickaxe again, swinging it down heavily.
Xu Zhendong's pondering was useless. Although he imitated Cui Baoguo's posture, and although he used all his strength, all he got was a "bang," and the pickaxe tip only dug an inch into the soil.
Cui Baoguo chuckled and looked at Xu Zhendong, saying, "Master Jinshi, you can't even reclaim land properly. How dare you go to the Forbidden City to bother the Emperor?"
Xu Zhendong's face immediately turned dark, but Cui Baoguo seemed not to see it and continued to mock Xu Zhendong: ""
"Therefore, both wealthy merchants and officials hope to see you stir up trouble. They want to use your momentum to force His Majesty the Emperor to change his policy, to let the Great Ming return to the old path of prioritizing agriculture, the taxes of ordinary people, but light commercial taxes, and to let the officials once again gain more privileges."
"For those wealthy merchants and officials, it's best if they succeed, and it doesn't matter if they fail. After all, they have enough foundation and confidence, but you are just tools used by them."
"So, they support you making trouble because they want benefits, and you truly making trouble is because you are stupid!"
Because you are stupid... because you are stupid... this sentence was like a resounding slap, directly slapping the faces of all the scholars. Moreover, it was repeated slapping, back and forth, nonstop. Many scholars, though filled with anger, could not find a single word to refute Zeng Cheng, and could only let their faces be slapped into the color of a monkey's backside.
After a while, the leading scholar could not help but sigh, bowed to Emperor Zhu, and said, "Your Majesty, I was too foolish. If it weren't for Your Majesty and Elder Zeng's stern admonition, I would have committed a terrible crime. I hope Your Majesty punishes me severely!"
Emperor Zhu sneered and remained silent. However, one of the scholars also bowed and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, we have realized our mistakes. We hope Your Majesty will be merciful and spare us this time, and allow us to serve the Great Ming in the future."
Hearing a scholar openly beg for mercy, Zeng Cheng wished he could rush into the scholars and beat that foolish person to death—inciting thousands of scholars to surround the Forbidden City and cry to the palace was a typical act of forcing the emperor's hand. In any dynasty, it would be a crime of great disrespect, and if interpreted harshly, it could even be considered treason. Begging for mercy at this time?
Since His Majesty chose to come out and meet you scholars, it means His Majesty doesn't really have the intention to kill, at least he doesn't intend to slaughter these thousands of scholars. But if you beg for mercy, the nature of this matter will once again turn into forcing the emperor for a special pardon. This is like lighting a lamp in a latrine, looking for shit!
However, before Zeng Cheng could figure out how to intercede for these scholars, Emperor Zhu chuckled, walked to the leading scholar, looked him up and down, and said, "I remember you. You are a student from the Liaodong Provincial Administration Commission who entered the Imperial College. Your parents are farmers. You have been able to study until now, first because your parents supported you through the prefectural school, and second because of your own achievements, not only did you receive stipends, but you were also recommended to study at the Imperial Academy."
The leading scholar was slightly stunned, then bowed slightly and said, "This student is awed."
Emperor Zhu said, "What is there to be awed of? Although I am the Emperor of the Great Ming, I am also a registered principal of the Imperial Academy. I always know some students who perform well."
That's necessary to know. It has nothing to do with valuing talent, but a lot to do with the intelligence from the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Regarding these students who led the crying, Ke Zhiming had already sent their relevant information to the palace. It would be strange if Emperor Zhu didn't know.
Smiling slightly, Emperor Zhu then turned his gaze to the scholar who begged for mercy: "I also know you. Although your family is not considered very wealthy, among all the scholars, your family conditions are quite good."
However, Emperor Zhu was not as accommodating this time. Instead, he sneered and retorted, "How do you think I treat you scholars? Have I wronged you in any way? As the former Duke Wen Zheng of Song once said: 'One family crying is better than the whole road crying.' How do you think I treat the gentry and merchants of the world? Have I wronged them? Have I let them cry family by family?"
The phrase "one family crying, the whole road crying" is actually quite easy to understand, as they have all been admitted to universities or even studied at the Imperial Academy, and they know certain historical allusions.
Therefore, "one family crying" as stated by Fu Bi refers to the families of dismissed officials who would cry because of losing their positions and jobs. Fan Zhongyan's "the whole road crying" refers to the common people of a certain provincial administration commission crying because of certain incompetent officials, not the people on a certain road crying.
But knowing this historical allusion is of no use, because Emperor Zhu was asking if he had made those local gentry and scholars cry family by family.