Chapter 984

Outside the window, dusk was slowly falling, and the streetlights in the palace began to light up.

Looking at the dim yellow light of the streetlights, Xiao Ming said, “Chief Grand Secretary Pang has spoken my mind. I am renaming the Great Yu Empire to the Chinese Empire precisely to gather the strength of China to contend with the Western powers. You must remember that these Europeans are a pack of wolfish bandits. They started by plundering, and their inherent banditry will not be erased. Once they find an opportunity, they will surely come and take a bite out of us. It is for this reason that we do not need a weak dynasty but a strong emperor to contend with them.”

Pang Yukun and Fei Ji nodded at the same time. If it were not for this emperor in front of them who had started the path of revitalization ten years ago, the Great Yu Empire would now either be living under the iron hooves of the barbarians or be colonized by these Western colonialists.

On this point, they all respected everything Xiao Ming had done from the bottom of their hearts.

“We will bear Your Majesty’s instructions in mind,” the two said.

“En. In that case, the matter of changing the country’s name will be discussed at the morning court tomorrow. After it is passed, the Great Yu Empire will be officially renamed the Chinese Empire through the newspaper, and I will be the first emperor of this Chinese Empire.” Xiao Ming waved his sleeve, his expression firm.

He was not at all worried about any issues with the name of the country, as he was now basically speaking with the authority of the emperor, or in other words, he was an autocrat.

The ministers would basically not object to the policies he put forward unless the policy was truly harmful to the Great Yu Empire.

However, he did not think there was anything wrong with this autocracy. In such a complex situation, the Great Yu Empire needed a highly centralized emperor to lead them in building this country.

If it were like the modern West, where it took three years of discussion to build a road, how could the country develop?

Moreover, he was confident that the path he was leading the Great Yu Empire on was not wrong and that the Great Yu Empire could only truly become powerful by following the path he had designed.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Pang Yukun and Fei Ji bowed and said.

The next day, the morning court was held as scheduled. According to the plan, Pang Yukun and Fei Ji both submitted memorials at the same time. After a long speech, the two expressed the same meaning, which was to change the country’s name.

And Xiao Ming followed their lead and put forward the name “Chinese Empire.”

Other ministers were naturally well aware of this staged performance between the two ministers. After a chorus of “Long live,” the name “Chinese Empire” was officially established.

The newspapers in Qingzhou then began to publicize the name “Chinese Empire” in a huge way. For a time, Qingzhou had another topic of conversation after the two major events of fur and the northern expedition.

And this news also reached Raozhou with the roar of the steam locomotives.

“Chinese Empire, what a domineering name. From this name alone, one can see His Majesty’s great ambition.”

Qi Guangyi’s heart was filled with excitement. He could feel the prosperity of this country from this name, and he liked this name very much.

Niu Ben said with a smile, “For the Chinese Empire, we must fight a beautiful battle this time and put an end to the northern border troubles of the Great Yu Empire, no, the Chinese Empire!”

“That’s a given. We, the rifle cavalry, will carry out the first battle.” Qi Guangyi was full of confidence. The training during this period had almost made the soldiers in the rifle cavalry vomit, but this high-intensity training also allowed them to quickly master various combat skills.

Luo Quan pointed to an area on the map and said, “According to the news from the hunter cavalry, the barbarians have learned of the movement in Raozhou. Now, the three tribes in the eastern grassland are gathering their forces. The location of their gathering is the Dzungar tribal pasture, and it is estimated that there are 60,000 cavalry waiting to fight us there.”

Qi Guangyi nodded. This Dzungar tribe was about three hundred miles from Raozhou city and was the barbarian tribe closest to Raozhou city.

Dolgor placed them in this place to keep an eye on them.

After driving the barbarians out of Guandong, they had been fighting these three tribes, with each side winning some and losing some.

But this time, with the rifle cavalry, Qi Guangyi’s confidence was greatly increased. He said, “Two generals, the rifle cavalry is a special force. With them, I can disrupt the rear of the barbarians. This time, the frontal combat will be commanded by the two generals, and I am willing to be responsible for a surprise attack on the barbarian tribes.”

“It won’t do for a corps commander like you to lead a surprise attack. If something were to happen to you, His Majesty would demand that I hand over a person.” Niu Ben shook his head.

Qi Guangyi said anxiously, “General, I am not as good as you in large-scale army operations with multiple arms. I am not of much use here either. On the contrary, I have done a lot of research on surprise attacks on the grassland over the years. With the rifle cavalry this time, there will be no danger. Moreover, to eliminate the barbarians this time, we must provoke them to fight us, otherwise, the barbarian tribes may continue to retreat west, and that would be troublesome.”

“This…” Luo Quan looked at Niu Ben. “I think what Qi Guangyi said makes sense. This northern expedition must eliminate the barbarians completely. Just think of Zhu Sansi in Yakutsk. If the barbarians continue to collude with Tsarist Russia, our strategy for Siberia will become even more passive.”

Niu Ben thought for a moment and finally nodded. He said to Qi Guangyi, “Do not get into a long battle. Come back alive.”

“Yes, General.” Qi Guangyi was happy.

After finalizing the plan to attack the barbarians, Qi Guangyi left the tent, assembled the rifle cavalry, and brought enough canned food. Eight thousand rifle cavalry entered the grassland under the cover of night.

…

Dzungar tribe.

Here, 60,000 cavalry from the three major tribes were gathering. After their scouts discovered the changes in Raozhou city, the news was sent back in time.

And they also sent cavalry to send the news to the Golden Tent. The message from Dolgor was to have them fight the Great Yu Empire, and the Golden Tent would send 100,000 cavalry to cooperate with them to annihilate the Great Yu Empire’s army on the grassland.

“Fighting with the Great Yu Empire’s army is really troublesome. They haven’t made a move yet. I don’t know what they are thinking!”

In the tent, the banner heads of the three major tribes were sitting together and drinking wine.

“Who cares what they are thinking? As long as they dare to step into the grassland, our cavalry will make sure they never return. Hmph, this place is a flat plain, which is most suitable for our cavalry to fight.” A banner head grabbed a piece of mutton and ate it heartily.

The middle-aged man sitting in the center was the banner head of the Dzungar tribe, Panduo. Compared to the optimism of the other two banner heads, he was frowning.

“The Great Yu Empire is well-prepared this time. According to the news from the scouts, the Great Yu Empire has been practicing the coordination between infantry and cavalry for the past month, which shows that they are serious this time.”

“So what? Haven’t we still been raiding the borders every winter? Their cavalry couldn’t do anything to us, which shows that these people of the Great Yu Empire are only good at sieges. On the grassland, they are nothing, hahaha…”