Great Ming National Teacher

In the south, Zhu Youjian ordered the establishment of the Southern War Zone, with Cao Bianjiao as the commander-in-chief, and Zhu Youjian sent two people to him, one of whom was the founding father of the Ming Dynasty, Mu Tianbo, the contemporary Duke of the Mu family in Yongzhen Yunnan .

Mu Tianbo is seven or eight years younger than Zhu Youjian. Li Yunya suggested that he come to Beijing when he was 16 years old, and enter elementary and middle schools to receive new education.Mu Tianbo's father died early, Zhu Youjian asked him about his future aspirations, he said he was still willing to expand the territory for the Ming Dynasty, so Zhu Youjian let him enter the military academy, he is 22 years old this year, and he has served in the Beijing Military Region for two years. , Their Mu family has been operating in Yunnan for many generations, and they are very familiar with the chieftains and the customs of the mountain people there, so they were reassigned to Yunnan.

There was another person who set off with Mu Tianbo, named Li Dingguo.

Li Dingguo is two years younger than Mu Tianbo. When Li Yunya sent troops to Shanxi and defeated Zhang Xianzhong, he had not been adopted by Zhang Xianzhong as his adopted son, and was brought to Beijing with the captives. He studied in Tongzhou primary school and was later admitted to the military academy. After graduation, he practiced in the Northwest Army for a year and won second-class merit. Li Yunya accidentally saw his name and thought it was the same name. Knowing that it should be the Li Dingguo in history who beat Hong Chengchou to the ground, so he specially cultivated him, first let him go to North Korea to fight with Lu Xiangsheng for a year to accumulate experience, and this time he was also sent to the south.

Cao Bianjiao’s original Guangzhou Military Region was abolished like Qin Liangyu’s Xi’an Military Region. Cao Bianjiao was in charge of all military affairs in the southeast coast and Guangxi’s Yunnan-Guizhou generation. The terrain here is complex and there are countless mountains and rivers. Let Cao Bianjiao's main energy still focus on the Guangzhou and Fujian areas, and the Yunnan-Guizhou area is handed over to these two people. They specially transferred [-] killing guards from the Beijing Military Region to serve as their skeletons, and each retrains at least [-] to adapt to the southern mountain warfare. Mu Tianbo is in Yunnan, Li Dingguo is in Guangxi, and they plan to attack Vietnam and Burma in the future.

In the 13th year of Chongzhen, the entire military operation of the Ming Dynasty came to an end, maintaining three theaters and two military regions, namely the Northwest Theater led by Sun Chuanting, the Northeast Theater led by Lu Xiangsheng, the Southern Theater led by Cao Bianjiao, the Beijing Military Region led by Wu Sangui, and the Mangui led of the Southern Military Region.The total strength of the army reached a terrifying 70, two-thirds of which were fully armed with firearms!

Although it is written in ancient books that there are millions of troops at every turn, it is actually an exaggeration. It is very watery. If it can exceed 50, it is more than the effort of the whole country. It has to be accumulated for many years, and it can only be during wartime. , or return to the Tuntian Weisuo, almost no dynasty can maintain such a large number of troops for a long time.

Fortunately, compared with the first year of Chongzhen, the Ming Empire at this time has undergone earth-shaking changes. The land area has more than doubled. The railways connecting the east, west, north and south, the roads connecting the provinces, and the newly built bridges are all over the country. Due to the rapid construction within the scope, due to the increase in productivity, the agricultural output value and industrial output value have doubled and grown rapidly. In the northeast that was re-incorporated into the territory, there are more than 20 large-scale iron mines and more than 30 coal mines. On the vast Mongolian grassland, domesticated More than [-] war horses, as well as countless cattle and sheep.

China opened its doors to welcome Westerners to come in, sell various manufacturing products produced by electric machinery, and earn a lot of money. The tariffs on foreign trade have risen in a blowout year after year. The total income reached 18.00 to [-]%. Now the potential of the Ming Dynasty is even greater, and the proportion of trade has soared from less than [-]% to [-]% in a few years.

It is precisely because of the large amount of money that came in that it was able to support such a huge military expenditure without delaying the development of education, infrastructure, scientific research, etc. .

The war in Europe is intensifying, everyone is jealous, and it has begun to spread from Europe to Africa, Asia, America and other places, burning the flames of war to every corner of the world.

The arms of the Ming Dynasty became famous in the West. European countries were unwilling to be profited by the Dutch arms dealers, so they went to the door directly and traded directly with Daming. Li Yunya took Zhu Youjian and talked with many foreign officials. After some discussion, a series of etiquette guidelines for exchanges between the two countries were formulated. The first one to apply was the United Kingdom.

In a sense, Britain is very similar to Japan, like the copper ear handles on both sides of the "Eurasian Hot Pot", but the difference is that after the century-long war between Britain and France, Britain has completely given up its illusion of landing. Instead, he embarked on the path of being willing to be the shit stick in Europe, always helping the second child in Europe to fight the boss in Europe, and will never tolerate the emergence of a unified power on the European continent, otherwise, he will be completely isolated and marginalized He is also unwilling to fully integrate into Europe, otherwise he will lose his dominance and be marginalized within the system.And Japan, which is very similar to him in geographical location, has not given up its ambition to land even in the 21st century.

This goal of the United Kingdom is very much in line with the interests of the Ming Empire. For the Ming Dynasty, a divided Europe is definitely better than a unified Europe. Therefore, Li Yunya and the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs researched and formulated a new set of diplomatic relations. The original vassal tribute structure persuaded Zhu Youjian to let go of the airs of the emperor of the Chinese dynasty and establish diplomatic relations with Britain on an equal footing.

So, in April of the 13th year of Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian put on a dragon robe and met with the British envoy in the Forbidden City. The other party brought the letter of credentials signed by King Charles I. Zhu Youjian stamped the jade seal on it, After confirming the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between the two parties, a series of treaty details were signed, such as establishing diplomatic embassies in each other's country, sending ambassadors, and reducing certain tariffs in mutual trade, etc.

Li Yunya knew that Britain was also one of the five ocean powers, and would soon grow into an empire on which the sun never sets, so he decided with Zhu Youjian to only deepen economic exchanges and avoid military exchanges as much as possible. status, so it will not suffer. As for the British proposal, the issue of missionary work in China was also rejected.

The British representative brought a gift from Charles I to Zhu Youjian, two wooden barrels of the best whiskey. Zhu Youjian was not sure, and asked Li Yunya: "Since it is an 'equal' exchange, does it not need to be like a vassal state?" In that case, double the reward and go back?"

"Of course! He's an outsider, not a vassal, so it's good to return the gift as an equal. According to me, just get him two large altars of Daming Royal Fire Dragon Wine and it's over."

"This is not good." Zhu Youjian thought for a while, and wrote down the gift list, "A set of Suihan Sanyou porcelain, a bag of Longjing before Ming Dynasty, a rich and noble ten thousand year jade pendant, and two glass turning heart lamps."

Chinese people pay attention to the meaning of gifts, and they have to be complete sets. Zhu Youjian selected four kinds, ordered the little eunuch to make a good gift box, packed them, and sent them to the British representative. He also attached a letter written by Zhu Youjian to Charles I.

With the opening of the British embassy in Ming Dynasty, other countries are anxious. After the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the number of British people who can enter China has increased tenfold. With a temporary identity certificate, as many as 24 coastal cities can go anywhere. The temporary residence certificate for entering the mainland is also open, increasing to 1 people per month. If you can enter the mainland, you can get the goods directly from the manufacturer, and you don’t have to be skinned by middlemen. This means greater profits, buried in from the UK Things, tariffs have also been reduced by one-third, and the British are allowed to rent houses and open shops in mainland China...

Representatives from various countries gathered in Beijing, asking to see Zhu Youjian or Li Yunya, eager to establish diplomatic relations with Ming Dynasty.

Li Yunya asked the people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to arrange them in a hotel regardless of whether they were hostile or not. Spain was on the side of the Catholic League and felt pressured by the countries facing the Protestant League, but Zhu Youjian refused to summon him for a long time.

The second country selected by Zhu Youjian is Sweden. Sweden is very powerful today, and it will become even stronger after the 30-year war. One, the fighting power is quite strong. Just a few years ago, King Gustav II of Sweden led his army to conquer Munich, which was only a thousand miles away from Vienna, the capital of the Holy Roman Emperor, and almost won the victory of the entire battle. Victory, although defeated, but after shrinking its forces and joining forces with France, it is still the main country in the Protestant camp.

For this kind of country that is the main force and the future threat will not be too great, Zhu Youjian is very close to him according to Li Yunya's suggestion. Come and play in China when you have time.The trade with Sweden is more relaxed than with the United Kingdom, and it extends to the military. It sells a large number of weapons to Sweden at a [-]% discount, including army muskets, artillery, and warships. On the one hand, it allows them to fight happily on land. In the future, when the sea power is strong, it can still contain the development of Britain.

Then, the third country to establish diplomatic relations is France. In the history of Europe, France has always been relatively strong, but it is more embarrassing. For example, Germany is a country with land power, and its army is the number one in Europe. The United Kingdom is a country with sea power, and its navy is number one in Europe. Well, France always wants to have both, but neither side can do it. The general trend is that the army can't beat Germany, and the navy can't do the UK. Of course, many of this is for later.

Li Yunya suggested that Zhu Youjian only sell warships to France, not army weapons, lest France dominate Europe and make him a maritime power, and then go to compete with Britain. Zhu Youjian will do as he said, only willing to sell To the French warships.

The fourth country to establish diplomatic relations is Denmark. Although Denmark has gone from bad to worse over the years and has always been overwhelmed by Sweden, there are still three nails in the broken ship, and the strength is still there. The Danes are good at shipbuilding, and the shipping industry and overseas trade are developed. According to what Li Yunya said, Zhu Youjian only sold him army weapons, not naval warships.

The four countries successfully established diplomatic relations with Ming Dynasty one after another. The Spanish and Dutch representatives who were still living in the hotel building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs became anxious. As time passed day by day, Zhu Youjian was never summoned. The ants on the pot spent a lot of money to bribe Li Yunya and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and asked about the key points. The answer they got was: they must withdraw from Taiwan Island immediately before the establishment of diplomatic relations is possible.