Seven Seas Beacon Fire

The old man's words caused the middle-aged man to fall silent for a moment. Then the middle-aged man looked at the old man and said, "Father, I don't think Mr. Rockefeller is the key person in this matter. Mr. Rockefeller and we only have some minor business conflicts, but his advice to us is very useful. Father, don't you also think that we should return to the Holy City instead of just finding some random place to establish our country?"

A silence fell between father and son again. This time, it was the hunched-over old man on the sofa who broke the silence: "The British certainly hope that the Ming Empire and the United States will cease hostilities in this relatively balanced and already bitterly hostile state. This way, for the next few decades, both countries will regard each other as their primary enemy. The Victorian Empire will certainly be happy to see this happen. But how do you plan to get President Wilson to agree to a ceasefire?"

"Of course there is a way." The middle-aged man smiled and took a report from the table and placed it in front of the old man's coffee table.

That was a medical examination report.

"President Wilson's health is not very good right now, to be precise, it's quite bad. He has gastrointestinal problems, and his blood pressure and cholesterol are high, along with some cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Given his health condition, even if he were to suddenly return to the Lord's embrace due to some accident... I don't think anyone would doubt it, would they?"

Chapter 126 The Reasons Why We Can't Be Together (5K Long Chapter, Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 126 The Reasons Why We Can't Be Together

The old man raised his eyes with a hint of surprise, looking at the middle-aged man before him with a sense of unfamiliarity: "Do you intend to send someone to assassinate the president?"

“That’s not a good joke. I’m a law-abiding citizen.” The middle-aged man couldn’t help but laugh. “We can’t find a John Booth or a Leon Czorgose right now.” (These two were respectively assassinations of Presidents Lincoln and McKinley.)

"Then what you just said......"

"Wasn't I just discussing President Wilson's health?" The middle-aged man's face showed an expression that said, "Why are you asking a question you already know the answer to?" "If you want the current President Wilson to retire from politics, why would you need to find a ghostwriter? I would never do something so high-risk and low-reward."

"Yes, you always find some white gloves to do things for you."

"Isn't this a tradition of the Elders?" the middle-aged man retorted. "I used to think that this was just a perverse pleasure of some people in the Elders who enjoyed seeing those big shots who seemed to have a lot of influence outside the Elders act like dogs in front of you. Wasn't Nathan Rothschild just like a dog wagging its tail and begging for mercy in front of you yesterday?"

The old man shook his head helplessly: "To use an Eastern term, you're putting the cart before the horse. Nathan bowed his head in front of me because he knew that his seemingly magnificent family was able to wield power in the financial market only because of us. But don't think that we are the emperors of the underworld now. What we control has never been an underground empire that is not under the spotlight."

"You are now the youngest member of the Elders' Council. Everyone is entrusting you with certain tasks to train you. You should understand our situation; we are nothing but a group of lost souls who have lost their homeland. We have nothing but money, and can only stir up trouble in the shadows, afraid to even bask in the light of day."

“I understand.” The middle-aged man shrugged. “But compared to the past, we are indeed different now, aren’t we? In fact, if that prince from the East hadn’t suddenly appeared, we might have been able to acquire a piece of land in Southeast Asia. Even if it wasn’t the homeland in most people’s minds, at least we would have had the opportunity to temporarily have a place to call our own.”

Although we didn't achieve complete success this time, stirring up trouble in the shadows still disrupts the world's order, something we couldn't do before.

"You are very smart, so I don't need to say anything more to you. I just hope you remember that you must abide by the charters set forth by the Elders. Only when our bank can extend to any corner of the world, when we can control the vast majority of the media, when we can influence world opinion, will you be qualified to be the Shadow Emperor you dream of."

The old man shook his head as he slowly stood up: “Until then, we need to continue to be patient. The ‘Ship of Theseus’ project will continue for a long time. Until our people are spread throughout the highest authorities of these countries, we should keep as low-key as possible. Otherwise, when these countries discover our actions and prepare to do what the ancient empires of Rome, Persia, and the Arabs did to our ancestors… these countries will want to deal with us.”

"Don't worry, we won't let the tragedy repeat itself now." The middle-aged man smiled and waved his hand: "Even if they want to deal with us, they will have to find us first. Otherwise, even if they want to deal with us like Rome and Persia did in history, they can only deal with the lowest-ranking Jews at most. Sacrifice is the best fate for these mediocre people."

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When Tokugawa Akiko once again pushed open the door and entered the special train carriage where Ritsu was, our little princess of the Tokugawa Shogunate once again truly experienced what it means to be speechless.

The last time I came in, I saw Li Che sitting on the sofa in the carriage, with Zhu Miaoyun nestled in his arms. Li Che's hand reached through Zhu Miaoyun's long hair to hold her, and he was holding a newspaper and talking to her while explaining something.

The carriage was filled with the joyful atmosphere of the two. When Zhu Miaoyun saw him enter, her gaze was slightly wary and guilty. This princess probably remembered how she had claimed to be a "strategist who had read hundreds of romance comics" and offered him advice not long ago. And now, the two of them were clearly having already kissed and cuddled when no one was around. They might even be intimately familiar with each other now, judging from their current affectionate behavior.

After quite a while, the two of them came in again and were still inseparable like conjoined twins. Li Che was flipping through some naval documents on the table in the carriage, probably to select some to report to Prince Jin when they returned to the capital. Zhu Miaoyun was lying on his back with her head on Li Che's shoulder, her long hair hanging down. A strand of her hair was picked up by Li Che's left hand and twirled around his fingertip, which he subconsciously teased.

Tokugawa Akiko would find this sight disgusting, and more importantly, Li Che must be looking through some classified naval documents right now, right?

Tokugawa Akiko has been by Li Che's side for some time now, and she was sent there in a manner that was almost like a marriage alliance. She was clearly Li Che's woman. However, while she could serve him tea and water and help him with his dressing and washing, she could not have any contact with anything related to military affairs. Even when Li Che was dealing with these military matters, she could only enter the room after Li Che had given her permission.

Moreover, upon entering the room, what they saw on the table were those military intelligence documents that had already been closed up.

But now, Zhu Miaoyun, a former princess whose identity is far more sensitive than Tokugawa Akiko's, is watching these important military intelligence reports together so brazenly. Tokugawa Akiko really finds it hard to imagine how Princess Yongning could do it.

From Tokugawa Akiko's perspective, Zhu Miaoyun is actually portrayed as follows—

Initially, Princess Yongning, Zhu Miaoyun, had absolutely no romantic feelings for Li Che, and there seemed to be no indication that their relationship was developing in that direction. Tokugawa Akiko, on the other hand, made a rather subtle "offensive" towards this Crown Prince. However, Li Che was clearly not someone who was obsessed with beautiful women. Back when Tokugawa Akiko was still in Yingzhou, she had seen many noble young men strolling through the red-light districts. Li Che was someone she would have offered herself to if she had just asked him to, but from the moment she came to the Crown Prince's side, Li Che had been busy with military affairs and had not relaxed for a moment.

However, even Li Che was "captured" by Princess Yongming in just a few days. In Tokugawa Akiko's mind, she had scoffed at Zhu Miaoyun's claim of "hundreds of romance comics." After all, everyone was well aware of what comics were like these days, and if a comic could be associated with romance, one could only think of illustrated versions of Dream of the Red Chamber or Romance of the Western Chamber. "Hundreds of comics" was pure nonsense.

But now it seems that perhaps my understanding as a Yingzhou person is still somewhat shallow? Could it be that Princess Yongning really read hundreds of romance comics? And has extraordinary abilities in matters of the heart? Otherwise, there is really no way to explain why Zhu Miaoyun was able to win over the grandson of the emperor in such a short time, and how their relationship has progressed to this point.

It's only been a few days!

Tokugawa Akiko didn't even have the heart to complain about Zhu Miaoyun's behavior of promising to be her strategist in this matter, only to have the strategist herself reap the benefits.

Tokugawa Akiko was simply in awe.

Having lived this long, what kind of scene haven't I seen?

I'm sorry, I've never seen anything like this before.

Li Che looked up and saw Tokugawa Akiko walk in. He subconsciously covered the documents on the table. This small gesture proved how special Zhu Miaoyun's status was in the eyes of the Crown Prince.

Akiko Tokugawa quietly came in, refilled the tea, and then asked Li Che and Zhu Miaoyun when they would have dinner before leaving the carriage.

After Tokugawa Akiko left, Zhu Miaoyun rubbed her head against Li Che's head again: "Pig~, keep talking, keep talking, this young lady will give you a good check and see how your studies in the 21st century went!"

Li Che chuckled and gently stroked Zhu Miaoyun's delicate nose: "I think you just want to hear me talk. Wasn't what I said enough? If we go on, and it touches on some technical issues, will you understand?"

"You have some nerve!" Zhu Miaoyun's eyes widened. "You were exchanging glances with that woman from Yingzhou before, and we haven't even discussed this issue yet. Are you already trying to fool me?"

"Fine, fine, fine." Li Che made a gesture of surrender: "I surrender, okay? You're being unreasonable. This Japanese girl wasn't someone I wanted to come to my side; she was forced into it. What could I do? Besides, I didn't even recognize you back then, did I?"

"Not recognizing me is a dereliction of duty! Since I was little, you've always been so rude, barging into my body and then messing with it in all sorts of ways..."

"Can you please avoid using such misleading language? It's as if my soul transmigrated into your body, and you're making it sound like I didn't pay you for using your body later—who did your homework back then?"

"Hehehe." Zhu Miaoyun chuckled and hugged Li Che's neck: "I knew my pig was the best!"

"After we recognized each other, the fourth princess of the Song Prince's Mansion started looking at me strangely. Could it be that the princess used to like you and was a lesbian? Is the reason she's looking at me unkindly because I stole your love?"

"No way, in my memory, I didn't know that fourth princess of the Song Prince's Mansion at all before this." Zhu Miaoyun was also a little confused when she mentioned this: "But that Guanyin sister came to find me later that day, and she probably wanted to find out indirectly whether I was forced or whether you had put some strange 'computer parts' on me."

"It's as if I'm the head of a criminal gang that traffics women."

"No, perhaps in her eyes you are just a simple traitor."

Li Che rolled his eyes, somewhat speechless, and the girl's silvery laughter immediately filled the carriage.

"But I really never expected that I would be able to come to the same world as you after my death. Now we don't have to share the same account anymore. This is truly a cause for celebration."

"Yeah, other people get to another world by using big trucks, but you're different. You get to use fighter jets from a Zionist entity [1]. You're not going to thank them, are you?"

“I thank them?” Zhu Miaoyun’s eyebrows shot up at this. “Do you know how many children they killed in Gaza? Let me tell you, I can’t control our original world, but you must never let those ungrateful bastards go back and harm those Arabs after this.”

"How can I possibly make that decision..."

"Aren't you going to inherit the throne in the future?" Zhu Miaoyun asked, tilting her head. "With the current strength of your country, if it develops for another 20 years, won't it be able to conquer the whole world with one hand?"

Li Che was speechless: "Why do you have such an absurd understanding?"

"Isn't that how all the novels you read are written?" Zhu Miaoyun complained somewhat discontentedly. "Although I don't quite understand the novels you read on my phone, I've still skimmed through them."

Which ones have you flipped through?

"Those books you left on the bookshelf, like one called 'The Great Ming Dynasty's Maritime Power,' which describes how in 1905, the Ming Dynasty was already blocking the doorstep of the United States and beating them up. It took 20 years for that novel to develop to this point. You'll be about the same in 20 years, right?"

Li Che now truly understands what it means to have too many complaints and no way to express them. He shook his head helplessly: "It's not as easy as you make it sound. We're the ones who've been attacked right at our doorstep. Now we just need to get through this battle."

"It should be over soon, right?" Zhu Miaoyun said. "Judging by the timeline, the Iberian flu should break out soon."

“But the problem is that there isn’t one.” Li Che shook his head: “In this world, I have been very concerned about the news of the Iberian flu, but so far everything is normal. There are many differences between the two worlds, and I cannot pin my hopes for ending the war on a major flu outbreak that may not even break out.”

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After arriving at the carriage door and closing it, Zheng Guanyin, leaning against the doorway, tried her best to appear calm, but her questioning tone betrayed the urgency of the fourth princess: "What's the situation inside now?"

Akiko Tokugawa extended two thumbs, then brought her two thumbs together, the meaning of which was self-evident.

Zheng Guanyin's eyebrows were about to rise again. Tokugawa Akiko spread her hands and said, "Although I don't know why you seem so unwilling to see this scene, from my point of view, at least the two people inside are so affectionate. I think even if you want to stop them, it's useless. It doesn't look like His Highness the Crown Prince has kidnapped Princess Yongning at all."

"He must have deceived the princess with sweet words!" Zheng Guanyin stamped her foot. "He has no chance of marrying the princess. Everything he's doing now is just toying with her feelings!"

"Why can't he marry a princess?" Tokugawa Akiko asked, somewhat puzzled. "For the past few decades, our Yingzhou has been trying to promote the union of the imperial court and the military. The most common thing I've heard lately about Princess Yongning is that the crown prince will definitely not marry her because it would affect his future succession to the throne. But I really can't understand what the connection is between these two things. Didn't Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty also have a princess from the Sui Dynasty as his concubine?"

"How can that be the same?" Zheng Guanyin shook her head: "The Sui Dynasty has only been established for a few years, but the Ming Dynasty has truly lasted for nearly 600 years! Zhu Miaoyun herself doesn't even know how terrifying political power she can possess, even though she is just a princess."

The two Han dynasties lasted only 400 years, yet a descendant of a Xiongnu prince was able to claim descent from Emperor Gaozu of Han (Liu Bang) simply because his maternal line included a princess from the Han imperial family, and to once again raise the banner of the Han dynasty to restore it. Do you know how Liu Yuan evaluated Emperor Wu of Han's attack on his ancestors?

Emperor Xiaowu of the Shizong Emperor expanded territory and expelled barbarians! Whose territory was expanded, and whose barbarians were expelled?

This is only the 400-year history of the Han Dynasty. Can't you understand now how valuable the Ming Dynasty was, which rebuilt China twice and lasted for nearly 600 years? Right now, it's just that Emperor Yongning has temporarily tarnished the golden reputation of the Ming Dynasty. Decades later, after Emperor Yongning's generation has grown old and passed away, when later generations look back on the Ming Dynasty, they will not see the internal and external troubles, the wars, and the perverse policies during Emperor Yongning's reign.

What they saw was Emperor Hongwu driving out the Manchus and restoring China; what they saw was Emperor Yongle's five expeditions to the Mongolian steppes and seven voyages to the Western Ocean; what they saw was Emperor Longwu saving the empire from collapse and turning the tide; what they saw was Emperor Jingyun quelling the rebellion and bringing all nations to submission!

Mingzi, you are ultimately a Yingzhou person. You don't understand, but most people on this land understand. Therefore, Princess Yongning and Li Che have absolutely no chance!

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Chapter 127 Founding of the Nation (1)

Li Che was aware of the various rumors and gossip circulating about Zhu Miaoyun and him; these rumors had existed before, but he didn't care, because at that time, Li Che truly felt "free from worldly desires" towards "Princess Yongning."

After all, Li Che isn't some scumbag wife who changes her profile picture 35 times a year and changes her husband's wife more often than BVVD releases a new car. He wouldn't send QQ messages to every pretty girl he sees.

He remains indifferent to all kinds of comments and messages from the outside world, because these things will not affect his choices.

In many female-oriented novels or various romantic dramas, there is always a situation that is almost impossible in reality: an emperor or king is truly in love with the female lead, but at the same time he also has a queen or other principal wife.

While the male and female protagonists make vows of eternal love, for one reason or another, the female protagonist can only be given a position like a concubine or even no rank at all (such as in "Scarlet Heart"). This situation would never have occurred in history.

An emperor is a creature who, unless he is a puppet or the woman's identity is too outrageous, will always make his favorite woman his empress. He will give her the best of everything and will never wrong his favorite woman.

Let's not even talk about exemplary emperors and empresses like Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun, Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma, and Zhu Di and Empress Xu. Some emperors even went to great lengths to make their beloved women empresses, even if their status was extremely absurd. For example, Li Zhi and Wu Zetian. Li Zhi went through a lot of trouble and defied public opinion to elevate his stepmother to the throne of empress, which speaks volumes.

(This kind of thing can't be blamed on Li Zhi. A person who is your enemy and your ally, your lover and your mother, who can provide both psychological and physical comfort, who will do everything she can to help you, but who may sometimes deceive you, but who loves you in general. You can't find many people like this even in the two-dimensional world. Who can withstand such a test?)

After Li Che and Zhu Miaoyun recognized each other, Li Che's thoughts became very simple. There was no point in thinking about his personal feelings now. What he needed to do now was to "do his job." The victor is not subject to criticism.

He is no longer a "political novice" who has nothing but political capital and actual military achievements, except for the universally recognized title of "good and wise grandson".

Although he did not directly command the operations, he was closely involved in both the Battle of Dongxinluo Bay and Operation Huniao in the south during this period.

In just a few short months, Li Che's status in the navy has become extraordinary. This is not only because of his status as the grandson of the Prince of Jin, but more importantly because of his way of getting along with the naval officers and soldiers over the past few months.

He never used his current status to intimidate others. On the contrary, although he proposed the general direction of the two large-scale naval operations in the past few months and put forward some suggestions based on the future naval experience in another world, Li Che never interfered with the formulation of specific tactics or the command of the front-line naval commanders.

Even though he had never been in contact with the navy before, he showed an amazing "familiarity" with many of the navy's technical equipment that was beyond the understanding of ordinary people in this era. This led some naval officers to take the initiative to consult him when formulating specific operational details. However, Li Che would always smile and say that he did not understand these things. After listening to the operational plans formulated by others, he would say, "I see, that's exactly right."

Even Liu Duncheng approached him privately, stating that since Li Che was able to come up with these unconventional yet feasible battle plans, it showed that he was capable and talented, and that he should not hide his abilities when discussing specific battle plans.

Li Che stated that he knew what role he was best suited to play. He admitted that he didn't understand the specific operational plans that required "micromanagement," and that interfering would likely only make things worse. He also described himself as a "paper strategist" like Zhao Kuo, whose best role was to advise veteran generals like Li Mu and then use his position to secure the necessary resources for the navy, including manpower, funding, and supplies.

"My soldiers are fighting bravely on the front lines. My duty is to ensure that you have no worries about your families. That's all that matters." — That's what Li Che said.

Such an attitude, compared to the inaction of the Naval Governor-General during the reign of Emperor Yongning (the Ming Dynasty's equivalent of the British Naval Minister was the Minister of War in charge of the Naval Affairs Office), the court's ignoring of various naval requests after the Java Sea Battle, and the shelving of most applications, truly felt like Yue Fei suddenly discovering that his emperor had changed from Wanyan Gou to Liu Shan.

The navy is now like the female protagonist in some minotaur stories. Although she still shows some reluctance to leave the Ming Dynasty on the surface, she is actually adapting and transforming into a new form little by little.

Therefore, although many people in the Navy now believe, like the current "mainstream view," that a relationship between Li Che and Zhu Miaoyun is impossible, if Li Che and Zhu Miaoyun were to get together, the Navy would definitely be the first to move the Civil Affairs Bureau over. After all, if the two of them were together, the entire Navy would not only receive more effective practical support, but would also be able to achieve the same moral balance with their former masters, which would be double the happiness!

Li Che knew very well that in this kind of political turmoil, you don't need to gain everyone's knowledge, or even the support of the vast majority of people; you only need to gain the absolute support of a portion of the population.

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The train is about to arrive at the station.

Li Che glanced at the scenery outside the window and felt the train gradually slowing down. For some reason, he felt even more uneasy this time when he arrived in Yingtian Prefecture than when he entered Yingtian Prefecture with the army.

The last time he went to the capital, it was only to "conquer the world," but this time, it concerns how to "govern the world" in the future.

As we all know, conquering the world is much easier than governing it. The situation that Prince Jin's Mansion and the Datong Faction are facing now is more difficult. They have to start governing the world while the "conquest" is still in progress.

Li Che believed that his grandfather could do the first thing well, but whether his grandfather could do the second thing well, and to what extent, was unclear not only to Li Che, but also to what extent Li Zongdi himself was probably not very clear.

Before the train pulled into the station, Li Che originally thought he would see a large number of guards on the platform. After all, he had received news from Yingtian Prefecture that his grandfather had compiled another list in Yingtian Prefecture. Although the old man was still maintaining great restraint, Li Che believed that such a disturbance would inevitably make the ancient capital uneasy once again.

However, when the train pulled into the station, the lively scene outside the window surprised Li Che and everyone on the train. On the platform, they saw a large crowd of people who had come to welcome the train. Although there were many of them, they seemed to be well-organized. As soon as the train entered the station, firecrackers started going off outside, and people were waving naval ensigns—probably the most suitable flag to display when the old national flag was no longer in use and a new flag had not yet been decided.

Li Che turned his head with some surprise to look at the advisors around him, probably hoping that they could answer some of his questions. Unfortunately, most of the advisors around our Crown Prince were naval professionals, and none of them were strategists. Faced with this situation, Xu Yueming, Chen Ce, and Ling Xiao could only look at each other in bewilderment.

Li Che now understands why the warlords in Romance of the Three Kingdoms all liked to find strategists. At this point, let alone having a strategist like Zhuge Liang, even a cunning strategist like Wu Yong would be good.

Wait a moment.

I think I actually have a cunning strategist.

"Please invite Princess Yongning over here." Li Che ordered someone to drag the cunning strategist from the next carriage over.

He hadn't seen Zhu Miaoyun since he woke up today. After all, after traveling for several days and nights, the train was already almost at Yingtianfu when he woke up this morning. Everyone was basically tidying up their clothes in their own carriages. Normally, everyone should be wearing formal attire with luxurious embellishments under such circumstances. However, Li Che wasn't interested in the military uniform prepared for him. He felt from the bottom of his heart that military uniforms these days were too flashy. Although the materials were very high-end, he just felt that after wearing this outfit, he would look like one of those internet celebrities wearing the Young Marshal's uniform on a short video platform.

So he insisted on wearing his old military uniform. Since His Highness the Crown Prince was wearing a uniform, the other officers naturally followed suit and wore military uniforms instead of dress uniforms. However, it was not appropriate for the princesses on the train to continue wearing military uniforms today. The train's nanny took out several women's Hanfu dresses that had been prepared. When Zhu Miaoyun entered the carriage, it was the first time Li Che had seen her wearing such modern Hanfu dresses that he had never seen in another world.

Although not as extravagant as the phoenix coronet and embroidered robes worn only on grand occasions, Zhu Miaoyun's attire today was still stunning enough.

Li Che then discovered that he actually had the potential to be a "fancy clothes fetishist".

"What's wrong? Is there a problem you want to discuss with me?"

Zhu Miaoyun walked directly to Li Che and noticed some wrinkles at the collar of Li Che's military uniform. As she spoke, she naturally reached out and smoothed out the wrinkles for Li Che.