Seeing that Zhou Yao had accepted the order, Xiao Ruxun looked at Wang Xijue and Li Tingji with a pleasant expression.
"Duke Wang and Duke Li, do not worry. I will arrange everything for you. As long as the two of you do your best, the Daqin will definitely not mistreat the two of you."
Wang Xijue and Li Tingji swallowed their saliva and hurriedly thanked Xiao Ruxun.
"This old subject thanks Your Majesty for your grace! Long live the Emperor! "
Saying this, they were about to kneel down again. Xiao Ruxun hurriedly helped them up.
Then, Xiao Ruxun announced to the other civil and military officials that he would personally choose a good residence for them in the inner city and told them not to worry.
Then, he announced the adjournment of the meeting. The civil and military officials left in groups of twos and threes. Everyone thought that everything was fine and that they could sleep peacefully tonight. Indeed, most of the people were like this, but the military officials were not like this. After they arrived at their temporary residences, someone suddenly came to call them back.
They were called back to the Imperial Palace.
This time, the ones who came back were all Xiao Ruxun's trusted generals. They were all trusted generals who had followed him to conquer the world.
Chai Guozhu and Li Rusong were also called back. The two of them were somewhat anxious and didn't know what Xiao Ruxun was doing this for.
"I can promise them all kinds of benefits because they need me to use benefits to win them over. However, you are people who started from scratch with me. Towards you, I do not treat you as ordinary officials, but rather as people who walk the same path as me.
Zimao, Qingxiao, I have fought side by side with you and know your nature, so I do not treat you as surrendered generals. I treat you with sincerity, and I also hope that you will treat me with sincerity. "
Xiao Ruxun's first sentence moved the hearts of Zhao Hu and the other generals.
The second sentence was specifically said to Chai Guozhu and Li Rusong.
For a moment, Chai Guozhu and Li Rusong didn't know what to feel. They just felt an inexplicable sense of relief.
Xiao Ruxun continued, "So, I talked big to them, but I told you the truth. I told you the truth. As for the reward I gave you, I am not willing to give you land from the bottom of my heart."
The generals were stunned and looked at each other.
You don't want to give us land?
Why? Wasn't giving land the most common and practical way to reward the meritorious service? Why don't you give it to me?
"Why did I kill so many gentry and tyrants? It was because I didn't want the same thing to happen again. It happened in every dynasty, and no one could solve it in the past. I know that you all love money and land, and you all want me to give you thousands of acres of land."
Xiao Ruxun looked around at his trusted generals and saw that they all had their heads lowered and didn't say a word.
"The emperors of the past have always rewarded their meritorious service in this way. They gave official positions, titles, women, money, and land. Of course, the most important thing is still land. We Han people have been relying on land for thousands of years. We dig our food from the ground, and no one values land more than we do.
However, I want to make some changes. The land in China is limited, and if you divide it up, it will be finished very quickly. The officials have money, but the land doesn't pay taxes. In less than a hundred years, the poor will have no place to live, and then there will be another round of turmoil.
You are the founding fathers of the country, but before that, weren't you all refugees who lost your land and couldn't survive? I believe that no one knows better than you how painful it is for commoners to lose their land. I hope that you all will never forget your origins.
The land of those in power can easily be counted in tens of thousands of acres, but the poor can't even keep their few dozen acres of land, and can only become refugees. You all have deeply tasted this pain, so I don't want you to become the group of people you once hated the most. "
As Xiao Ruxun spoke, he looked at the generals.
The reactions of the generals were different.
Xiao Ruxun's heart sank slightly.
Then he continued to speak.
"I know what you are thinking. Now everyone has their eyes on the land, but no one has their eyes on the whole world. No one has ever paid attention to the whole world. They only pay attention to the limited land in China, and they know nothing about other lands!"
The generals looked at each other, and then looked at Xiao Ruxun together, their eyes full of doubt.
Xiao Ruxun directly took out a map and placed it in front of everyone.
"This is a map given to me by Matteo Ricci, a European. It's a map of the whole world that we live in. The world that I'm referring to is not just the Divine Land, but all the lands including the Divine Land."
Xiao Ruxun pointed to the location of China.
"This is our Divine Great Land. Outside of this place, there are more lands. Here, here, here, here, all of them are lands. Most of them don't belong to anyone. They are just separated from us by the sea!"
Xiao Ruxun pointed at Siberia, then at North and South America, then at Australia, then at Southeast Asia.
Then, he noticed that there was something wrong with the eyes of his confidants.
"Your Majesty, you mean that these lands exist, and they are unowned? Can the words of those Westerners really be trusted? Is the world … really so big? Is our Daqin such a small place? "
Zhao Hu had seen Ricci more than once in Myanmar, and he did not have a good impression of Ricci. He felt that Ricci was like a swindler.
"I believe it. Chen Longzheng went to Europe under the leadership of Ricci, which at least shows that the Francois are not in Southeast Asia, but in Europe. More importantly, the Europeans like to sail and travel around. They have found so many unowned lands and occupied them!"
Xiao Ruxun's tone became more serious, and the generals suddenly realized that something was wrong.
"They … occupied the land?"
Jiang Dahai's face was full of doubts.
"Yes, otherwise why did I send you to lead the navy to fight the Francois in Luzon Island? Where did the Francois come from? It took almost a year to go back and forth to Europe, but the Francois came here and occupied Luzon.
Thousands of miles away, they can occupy it. What does this mean? These Westerners have bad intentions, and there is one thing I haven't told you. That is, when Chen Longzheng came back with the merchants of the State of France and the State of Genoa, the merchants of the State of France told me something.
They said that decades ago, the Francois had occupied Luzon, almost in the year of Jiajing. More than 20 years ago, the Francois who were entrenched in Luzon even planned to attack the Central Plains. They said that they could conquer the whole of Huaxia with 10,000 soldiers. "
"What?!"
Everyone was inexplicably shocked.
"You all only know that I attacked Luzon to avenge the local expatriates, but more importantly, I did not allow Luzon to become the base for the Francois to attack the Central Plains. Therefore, I ordered Jiang Dahai to take Luzon and bring it under his rule, and to have a strong navy in case of emergency.
The Western Continent is not weak. On the contrary, they have excellent firearms and powerful ships. In terms of navy, we do not have the advantage. What we defeated was only one of their divisions. In their own country, there is a more powerful main force. Many countries in the European continent have powerful navies that wreak havoc all over the world, occupying land everywhere!
If we ignore them, sooner or later, they will have the idea of attacking us like the Francois. Through Chen Longzheng's experience in Europe, I know that they all know the existence of Huaxia, but we know very little about them. It's always them coming over, not us. The world is so big, do you want to let the Western Continent take advantage of us?
They told me that there are countless spices on the islands of the Southern Seas. The continent across the sea has an endless amount of gold. The locals are even willing to exchange the same weight of gold for their goods. They also have people, many ignorant and uncivilized people, who are the best slaves! "
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