Chapter 1028

Li Laosi rode his tricycle along the clean and wide streets of Qingzhou City. On his tricycle was a power-driven thresher.

After electricity was popularized in Qingzhou, some simple electrical equipment also appeared, among which was the thresher he had purchased this time.

However, he did not pay for this purchase alone. It was paid for by the production team in his village, so that they could use this power-driven thresher to thresh rice after this autumn harvest.

Just as he was thinking about how much effort they would save this autumn harvest, a strange sound of drums and music suddenly came from the road ahead.

Then he saw some people in strange clothes carrying large and small boxes and walking along the main road towards the Imperial City.

Seeing this procession approaching, Li Laosi immediately gave way. In his opinion, such a spectacle must be an envoy from some country, after all, last year, Japan also came to Qingzhou to pay tribute with a similar procession.

After moving to the side of the road, Li Laosi asked a person dressed as a student, “Which country are these envoys from?”

“The newspaper said the day before yesterday that Tibet has submitted, so these should be the envoys from Tibet,” the student said with a proud expression.

The Empire was getting stronger and stronger. They saw it with their own eyes and felt proud in their hearts.

Li Laosi was overjoyed when he heard this. He said, “This is great, this is great! The barbarians have been eliminated, and now Tibet has also submitted. The enemies who used to bully our Chinese Empire have all become cowards. I feel relieved.”

The student nodded with a smile. Then he glanced at the thresher on Li Laosi’s tricycle and said in surprise, “Uncle, your family is really rich. You have both a tricycle and a thresher. You must have a very large estate, right?”

“You child, you’ve read so many books that you’ve become foolish. If I were that rich, would I be riding this tricycle myself? These are the collective property of the production team.”

The student was not angry. He said, “Then your production team is also very rich. The prices of these two things are not cheap.”

After a pause, he continued, “But don’t you want to have your own large estate?”

“Who doesn’t want their own estate? But I don’t have the money,” Li Laosi sighed. With the Empire’s expansion, the Empire’s land was now very fertile, which also changed the lifestyles of the Empire’s people.

Many people were no longer satisfied with their small plot of land and wanted to have their own estates. In addition, many people went to work in factories, leaving the land idle. In the past two years, the buying and selling of land near Qingzhou was very hot.

Many scattered plots of land were merged into large tracts of land and developed into large estates. The estate owners bought slaves and purchased agricultural machinery to cultivate these lands, producing even more grain than their production teams.

And now, more and more people in their production team had this idea. After all, the income from farming was far less than the money earned from working in a factory. Many young people in the village were unwilling to work on the land and instead ran to Qingzhou City. The only way for them, who wanted to farm, to become truly rich was to own their own estates.

Watching the people in the village gradually acquire their own estates of different sizes, he, Li Laosi, was also anxious. If he hadn’t gambled away his family’s savings two years ago, he would have been able to buy a small estate of five hundred mu of land by now, after all, land in the Empire was very cheap now.

The student noticed Li Laosi’s expression. He said, “If you don’t have money, just go to Australia. The land in Australia is the cheapest now. Of course, the land in Siberia is also cheap, but that place is too cold.”

“Australia?” Li Laosi gritted his teeth. In fact, he had been hesitant about immigrating to Australia during this time. After all, the land there was basically given away for free, which was most suitable for poor people who wanted to own their own estates.

Looking at the tricycle and then at the thresher on it, Li Laosi said with hatred, “Damn it, sooner or later I, Li Laosi, will also have these things. I’ll take the plunge. I’ll go to Australia this time.”

…

Zhengda Guangming Hall. Xiao Ming was waiting for the Tibetan envoys to arrive.

According to the news, the Tibetan envoys had already entered the city. To personally show their submission to him, Dawa led the delegation himself this time.

After all, according to the Tibetans, they would no longer choose a Zanpu, and he would have the title of Tibetan Zanpu added to his title of Emperor.

In the hall, the cabinet and the officials of Qingzhou were all present. Everyone’s faces were filled with smiles, happier than during the New Year.

The two consecutive great happy events this year were truly overwhelming for them.

After resting with his eyes closed for a while, Xiao Ming soon heard the unique drum and music of Tibet. In a short while, a eunuch came to report that the Tibetan envoys had arrived.

Nodding at Qian Dafu, Qian Dafu immediately shouted in a high-pitched voice, “Tibetan envoys are granted an audience.”

The officials also perked up at this time. About ten minutes later, Dawa led Dengba into the Zhengda Guangming Hall.

Upon reaching the hall, Dawa cautiously glanced at Xiao Ming on the dragon throne, bowed, and said, “Long live His Majesty! I, Dawa, the Tibetan Prime Minister, have met with Your Majesty the Emperor. Today, I have specially presented the letter of credence, stating that Tibet is willing to submit to you and will never regret it.”

With that, Dawa respectfully presented the letter of credence with both hands.

Qian Dafu then walked down, took the letter of credence, and gave it to Xiao Ming.

After reading it, Xiao Ming showed a satisfied smile. He said, “Since Tibet is sincere, from now on, Tibet and the Chinese Empire will bury the hatchet and no longer fight each other. Since you have offered me the title of Zanpu in this letter of credence, will you obey my will from now on?”

“We will naturally obey Your Majesty,” Dawa said respectfully.

“Good.” Xiao Ming said loudly, “Your visit today is at a time when the Empire’s administrative regions are being reformed. Since that’s the case, from this day forward, Tibet will be designated as the Tibetan Autonomous Province of the Empire. From now on, you are not allowed to have your own army. The security of Tibet will be protected by the Southwest Military Region of the Empire. You must also enforce the government decrees of the court. Are you willing?”

Although Dawa did not understand the meaning of an autonomous province, he understood the next few articles very well. This meant that Tibet would completely become a part of the Empire from now on.

However, he was already prepared for this. The nobles had already made their calculations in Duokang. Compared to being an enemy of the Empire, it was clearly more profitable to become a part of the Empire.

“So he said, “Your Esteemed Majesty, we will follow your decree.” Dawa said respectfully. After the Tibetan nobles saw the Empire’s terrifying weapons, they could no longer harbor any rebellious thoughts. Some nobles even fearfully believed that the Empire’s army could use sorcery, which showed how terrified they were by Luo Xin.

Xiao Ming nodded in satisfaction. After so many years of hard fighting, he had finally given the Empire all of its modern territory, and even a few million square kilometers more.

It was precisely based on this that after Tibet’s submission, he decided to redefine the administrative regions for easier management.