In the summer of the 30th year of Longhan, there was no drought and no rain, and the heat was unbearable.

Emperor Liu Jun also moved to Beihai early, while surviving the summer and hunting, and summoned the marquises from the southern and northern deserts and the Xiboer reserves.

Since the fifth year of Longhan, the emperor would move to the North Sea to escape the summer and hunt, and meet with the princes of the North.

To this day, the Han Dynasty has been founded for 30 years, with an unprecedented prosperity and a far-reaching success. But the emperor still has endless thoughts. Fortunately, Liu Jun also knows how to let go at the right time. With the assistance of several teams such as the cabinet, he can also be much easier.

"Okay, that's it."

Liu Jun stood by the lake. In summer, Lake Baikal is blue, white, clouds and green water. The huge lake absorbs a lot of heat, just like a huge air conditioner, cool breeze, and cool lake water. Now Liu Jun has to swim in the lake every day. After Liu Jun, who is over fifty years old, takes off his clothes and reveals his excellent figure that he often exercises.

The emperor jumped into the lake and started swimming. A team of guards had already followed him, and two dragon boats were following him.

Huang Zongxi, the chief minister of the cabinet, saw that the emperor had already traveled far away, said to several colleagues on the shore, "I'll send out your majesty's will today."

"Okay." Tongzheng replied with a smile, "Will Yuan Fu go to the lake today?"

Huang Zongxi shook his head while stroking his long beard, "I don't dare to go into the water every day, and I don't have this time."

As the chief assistant, Huang Zongxi was indeed busy with all kinds of things, and was much more busy than the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. The emperor only listened to briefings every day and made decisions on major matters. However, he, the chief assistant of the cabinet, was in charge of the entire cabinet and was responsible for the administrative operation of the Han Empire.

Today, the Han Empire, thirty years after its founding, had 100,000 miles of rivers and mountains and 50,000 people. The territory expanded to the seaside on the east, south and north sides, and to the west, it had also expanded to the east coast of the Black Sea, turning the Caspian Sea almost into the inner sea of ​​the Han Dynasty.

On the southern sea, Tiannan Province, the new continent of the once desolate and vanished, has now begun to develop and has a population of more than 3 million. Three prefectures and nine counties have been established along the southeast coast. Tiannan Province has become the largest wool production area in the Han Dynasty, and its mineral industry is also very prosperous. The supply of iron ore and pig iron has increased year by year.

Even on the east side of Sibol Province, Alaska, the West Coast of North America, South America and other places across the Bering Strait, the Han Dynasty has obtained many colonial strongholds from Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Britain, France and other places in recent years through trade, commercial loans, war loans, etc.

The expansion of the empire was something that no dynasty in the Central Plains had ever been achieved, and even the former Mongol Empire was not as good as the sacred Han Empire today.

However, it is very hard to manage such a huge empire.

Huang Zongxi has been in the first term for four years this year, but he feels that the prime minister has spent a lot of energy in these four years. He is even considering whether he will continue to be re-elected for the next term.

"The southern bank of the Caspian Sea must not be given up, especially the Caucasus region, which must be captured." Zhang Huangyan, Minister of War, said that this young general at the time of the founding of the country has now become a veteran in the army. Thirty years have passed, and he has also gone from the long-term settlement of the Western Regions to the entry of the center, retired from active service, and became Minister of War with the title of Grand Secretary of the Wuying Hall.

The Caucasus region is located at the junction of Eurasia. This continuous mountainous area located between the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea and the Azov Sea has always been a powder keg. The Star and Moon Cult and the Cross Cult coexist here, and their special geographical location makes it the focus of competition among all parties.

For the Han Dynasty, since the emperor marched to the west and destroyed the Junggar in one battle, he has taken advantage of the situation to advance westward and successively destroyed the small Khanate of Central Asian countries such as Yarkand, Shiva, Bukhara, Kokhan, and Kazakhstan, and has been pushing the western border of the empire to the Black Sea.

The Caucasus region was of equal significance to the Han Dynasty. If the empire wanted to control the Kazakh grasslands and river-central areas west of the Tianshan Mountains and the Palacioles, it must occupy the Caucasus region.

The Caucasus Mountains, together with the Caspian Sea and Black Sea, and the unique mountain and sea situation, can become a natural barrier between the Great Han River and the Kazakhstan region.

In order to control these areas, the Han Dynasty has been using troops in the Western Regions over the years.

The Han Dynasty spent three years completely destroying the Junggar Khanate. It took another three years to destroy the Kyrgyzs without any trust, but refused to hand it over to the Uzbeks in the valley of the Han Dynasty as promised, and incorporated the Fergana Valley and the Kyrgyzs region into the territory of the empire, and established the Dayuan Province and the Suye Province.

After that, the Han Dynasty competed with Bukhara and Shiva for the Kazakh grasslands.

After five years of war, they first seized control of the entire Kazakh grassland and large areas where Tsarist Russia handed over to the Junggar people, such as the Ob River and Ortise River.

After that, the Han army invaded the Hezhong area, and Shiva and Bukhara asked for help from Ottoman and Safi.

The Han Dynasty fought and stopped and fought with these Star and Moon Alliance countries. The first three wars destroyed Shiva and Bukhara, and the last four wars conquered the current western border.

It has been ten years since the Han Dynasty entered the Caucasus region.

But the Caucasians' rebelliousness was far beyond the expectations of the Han Dynasty. Since the Han army entered the Caucasus region, there has been no peace for a day.

The terrain of the Caucasus is composed of two rows of mountains that run east and west. There is a mountain gorge between the two mountains, and two rivers flow east and west into the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea respectively. The northern mountain range and its northern slope are usually called the Northern Caucasus, which are inhabited by Ingush, Chechnya, Ossetia and other ethnic groups; the southern mountain range and its southern slope are also called the Transcaucasus, and there are many ethnic groups inhabited by Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, Türkiye, Kurds, etc.

Since ancient times, the Caucasus has been a major artery that travels east and west and north. It embraces the Black Sea and the Mediterranean in the west, connecting southern Europe, Central Europe and North Africa; connects the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea in the east, and runs across the heart of West Asia; summons the Ural Mountains in the north, and penetrates into the Russian land; and the southern towns of Iran, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and looks up to the Middle East. The surrounding nations have always attached great importance to the Caucasus and have been fighting for the Caucasus for many years. In terms of the density and intensity of war, the Caucasus region must be the best in the world.

Historically, the Assyrian Empire, the Persian Empire, the Macedonian Kingdom, the Roman Empire, the Arab Empire, the Mongol Empire, and the Ottoman Empire all involved in the Caucasus and included it in the imperial territory.

After annexing the Khanate of Central Asia such as Junggar, Yarkand, Kazakhs, Bukhara, Shiva, etc., the Han Dynasty also advanced its territory to the lower reaches of the Volga River. After that, it fought with Russia and Poland, and then took over the lower reaches of the Volga River, which was originally occupied by the Turkuts, and then seized the east bank of the lower Don River to the west.

After the Han army captured the east bank of the Don River, they immediately attacked the North Caucasus.

To the east, the Han army seized the mountainous area adjacent to the coast along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, and then departed to the Gaucasus, captured this area, and then incorporated the entire Caucasus region into imperial rule.

However, the resistance of these Caucasians surprised the great man.

There are many ethnic groups in the Caucasus, and a valley is sometimes a tribal ethnic group. The tribes in these areas have always been called barbarians. Although the Han Dynasty moved in, these people did not obey.

Although Ottoman failed, he refused to admit defeat and gave up this area.

In addition, Poland and Tsarist Russia wanted to regain the occupied areas of the Don and the lower reaches of the Volga River, and the Caucasus region, so it became a key point that all parties had to compete for.

There are more than 80 ethnic groups in the North Caucasus alone, and they speak more than 80 languages. They believe in both Orthodox and Sunni.

Liu Jun often said that we should educate the four barbarians.

The Western Regions were too far away, especially in areas such as the Hezhong and the Caucasus, and the court could not completely move people away. Under this current situation, Liu Jun meant to focus on eliminating the upper class, clearing out the classes that had power and wealth, knowledge and history, and religious beliefs, and then supplemented with some immigrants, moving out some and then moving into some Han people, breaking the old social structure.

Without the leader, you will definitely have a better rule.

But this strategy was implemented well in the Hezhong area, but it was difficult to implement it in the Caucasus area.

These Caucasians have many tribes and usually fight to death. In their eyes, the Caucasian region cannot be considered a whole at all, it is a tribal war.

There are hundreds of large tribes and hundreds of languages.

Even tribes that speak the same language fight within the same war. They have no ethnic groups in their eyes, only tribes. Although this place is between Asia and Europe, the tribes here are simply barbarians. In history, the empires that occupied this place have never truly conquered this place.

The great man has come, and it has been ten years since he has not been able to conquer here.

"The Foreign Affairs Department reported that the Ottomans, Safi and Mughals have formed a Star Moon Alliance, and Tsarist Russia, Poland, Sweden, France, Britain, the Netherlands, Spain and other countries have also formed a new Cross Alliance. Even the Star Moon Alliance and Cross Alliance have the intention to unite, and many people are running for this matter."

Huang Zongxi frowned and was full of worry.

The rapid expansion of the Han Dynasty over the years, especially the Han Dynasty entered Europe, made Western countries feel strong threats and no longer care about their original intrigues. The Cross Sect no longer fights for the new and old religions, and is even willing to unite with its mortal enemy, Xingyue Sect, just to curb the Han Dynasty's advance westward.

It is also a kind of glory for the great man to make the whole of Europe tremble. But it is undeniable that if the entire Europe unites to become enemies with the great man, this is by no means a good thing.

The war was never carried out alone. If this anti-Han alliance was really established, as long as they no longer traded with the Han Dynasty, it would be enough to cause heavy losses to the Han Dynasty.

Feeling the atmosphere a little heavy, Zhang Huangyan smiled and said, "Even if the entire Thais are enemies of our great man, as long as we defend the Caucasus region, they will not be able to advance eastward."

"The Han Dynasty has occupied the Caucasus for ten years, but until now, it has not been able to truly control these areas." Huang Zongxi shook his head.

"Ten years have passed, it's really long enough. These Caucasian savages are really soft and hard, and they have no choice but to do anything to them. If you want me, it's time to use thunder means."

Zhang Huangyan has always been a military hardliner. Even after retiring, he has remained unchanged from his attitude.

"Use the last move to carry out a large-scale mobilization of the entire Caucasus region, and search and arrest all the Caucasian barbarians, and then transport them to the Central Plains to work as laborers. Those who dare to resist will be killed directly. As long as all these barbarians are removed and some Han people are moved here, they will naturally be here once and for all."

"But in this way, all the Caucasians will inevitably rebel. Don't forget that European countries are now preparing to go to war with us. It is not a good thing to be in chaos in the Caucasus."

Zhang Huangyan insisted, "There is no way to do this. It would be useless to continue to waste like this."

Liu Hekun looked at the shaking Port of Aceh with a smile on his face.

At the western end of Sumatra Island, southwest of the Strait of Malacca, this is the last island country in the entire Nanyang region that is still rebelling.

But soon, this last rebel island country will also perish.

More than 100 large and small warships from the Ninth Fleet were blocking the Port of Aceh and pouring shells into the port. On land, more than 50,000 military troops from the Nanyang Islands and Central and South China joined the army, and rushed from land to Aceh City.

The artillery on the Aceh harbor and fortress turrets were also constantly bombarding, and the chargers of the army were bombarded from time to time, but they could not slow down their offensive.

In the rear of the army, the Han army's artillery troops also launched artillery on several artillery positions to cover the attack.

More and more soldiers approach the fortress.

The city is broken only in the evening.

The Sultanate of Aceh was also a powerful country in Sumatra, but these people were not indigenous. They were Chammen, and some Chammen fled after the destruction of Chammen by Vietnam. At that time, the Chammen fled to Southeast Asia, and Aceh was an important place for them.

These outsiders soon occupied Nestle and established Aceh. They converted to the Star and Moon Church and established the Sultanate. Because they occupied the southern shore of the Strait of Malacca, Aceh quickly flourished.

At its peak, it occupied almost half of Sumatra Island.

Sumatra Island was called Jinzhou in ancient China. It is said that it is rich in gold.

Of course, the great man would not let go of such a golden place.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, it fought with Spain and the Netherlands, defeated these early European colonists who came to the South China Sea and gained the rights and interests of the exclusive protectors of the countries in the South China Sea. Since then, the Han Dynasty's focus in the south was conquering the Indochina Peninsula, so it has always been peaceful for the large and small sultanate countries in the South China Sea, mainly trade, and secretly infiltrated.

When the Han Dynasty achieved a decisive victory in the Indochina Peninsula, it began to shift its focus to the Southeast Asian Sea. Through differentiation and various provocations, the Nanyang Islands began to enter a period of 20 years of melee, and the Han Dynasty also took the opportunity to use its means and gradually annexed many island countries.

In recent years, the Han Dynasty no longer concealed its vigorous ambition to conquer the entire Nanyang, and it was defeated and destroyed.

One sultanate after another, including Bandan, Matalan, Pili, etc., was finally conquered and destroyed. Now, only Aceh is left to the west of Jinzhou.

However, in Aceh, there is only one capital left.

Aceh was still very strong. Whether it was Portugal coming from the east or Spain, the Netherlands, and England coming later, they failed to gain benefits from them. Aceh even went north to attack Malacca and others many times, and even fought with Portugal to try to seize Malacca.

It’s a pity that the great man’s strength is far beyond Aceh’s ability to withstand.

Another round of cannonage.

Liu Hekun stood on the flagship, looked at it again, and then lost interest, so he turned back to the captain's cabin on the stern building.

As the eldest son of the Han emperor, Liu Gekun is over thirty years old this year, but he is not the crown prince.

The Han Dynasty has been established for thirty years, and no crown prince has been established yet.

As the eldest son of the empress, Liu Hekun did not stay in the palace all the time. He entered school at the age of three, went out of the palace to study at the age of six, and had already left the palace to live at the age of twelve.

After graduating from high school, Liu Hekun applied to the Han Empire Army School and became a military academy student. Four years later, he graduated with excellent grades and then entered the Imperial Army to serve.

In a blink of an eye, he has served in the army for ten years.

Now, he is a military commander with four silver leopards hanging on his shoulders. As the eldest son of the emperor, he has been fighting for ten years in the army to be a senior commander. In fact, it is because he did not reveal his identity in the army. From studying to joining the army, he has always used another name, Liu Desheng.

No one knew that this tall young man was actually the eldest son of the dignified son.

In fact, His Majesty the Emperor has more than 30 sons, half of whom are already adults. Almost all these princes start from the bottom, either in literature or in the army, and they all use pseudonyms below.

It is already very good that Liu Desheng was promoted to the Supreme Commander in ten years with his military merits. In fact, Liu Desheng is very famous in the military. He and two other young Supreme Commander are collectively known as the Three Silver Masters.

Liu Hekun was originally an army, but later transferred to the Marine Corps. He has been considered an expedition in the past few years. He has long been used to the transfer orders above, and soldiers regard obedience as their duty.

Aceh is finally over, and the war in Southeast Asia can come to an end.

What Liu Hekun thought was that he would finally have a long holiday, and he could rush back to Beijing to attend the fiftieth birthday of his mother, Empress Lu. Thinking about it, he had not had a vacation for a year.

Liu Hekun wanted to stay in the capital and even more wanted to be the crown prince. But he knew that he could not be the crown prince based on his own background. His father was a very special emperor, with his literary achievements and great achievements far superior to Qin Emperor, Han, Wu, Tang, Song Zu. He used thirty years to conquer a great Han Empire, and never established a crown prince for thirty years.

The emperor once publicly told them the princes that anyone with a chance depends on who has a better preparation.

"If you want to wear a crown, you must bear the weight."

If he was willing to give up, the emperor would not force himself. Liu Hekun had more than 30 brothers and more than a dozen adult brothers, only one Lao Thirteen gave up. He liked poetry, songs, travel, and business. The emperor did not blame him for his withdrawal, but praised him for his knowledge of advancement and retreat. The emperor gave Lao Thirteen a large sum of money, but the money was not given to him immediately. Instead, it was stored in the bank. It stipulated that when Lao Thirteen could start from scratch based on his own skills and operate his company to ten million assets, he would withdraw that money.

The emperor encouraged the princes to work hard and compete with the position of the prince, but at the same time encouraged them to choose the life they really like.

What the emperor cannot tolerate most is vicious competition.

Because of this, five princes have been declared deposed by the emperor as commoners and have always lost the inheritance rights of the empire. They have become commoners, can do business, and may become a rich and powerful landlord, but they will never have the opportunity to inherit this huge empire, and they can't even be an official.

Thirty-three brothers, now nineteen princes are adults, one voluntarily withdraws, five are deposed, and now there are still thirteen adult princes competing for the position of crown prince.
Chapter completed!