Chapter 949 Preparations for the Founding of the Nation
Haihan is about to usher in the seventh year after time travel. At this stage, everyone in the country believes that the time is basically ripe for founding a country, and it is time to officially and publicly establish its own political power. As for the Ming Dynasty, which used to be Haihan's biggest concern in the past, it is now too busy to take care of itself due to internal and external troubles. How can it care about Qiongzhou on the southern coast. Even if the Ming court convicts and sends troops to the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, there will definitely still be policies and countermeasures at the top. After all, the Guangdong government has basically taken care of it, and there are basically no officials who are hostile to Haihan and ignorant of his interests. All have been phased out or expelled in various guises over the past few years.
Of course, the founding of a country does not mean announcing a country name to the outside world, but a very complex system project. The functions of each department need to make certain adjustments according to the new political system. The time required is not enough in ten days and a half. of. In fact, Haihan has been preparing for the founding of the country since the day he traveled through time, and at the same time, he was waiting for the right time.
Now reaching Zhoushan in the north and Amborna Island and Xingdao in the south, the sea area controlled by Haihan spans more than 8,000 miles. The population of the area under its control exceeds 300,000, and it has established trade and diplomatic relations with most surrounding countries. , the most important thing is that the proportion of naturalized citizens and the will of the people have stabilized under the rule, and all conditions for the founding of the country have become mature. This time Schneider personally went south to preside over the formation of the South China Sea Trade Alliance. In addition to his role in commerce and trade, it was basically to warm up the subsequent announcement of the founding of the country.
There are still more than two months left before the anniversary of Haihan's crossing on April 1 every year. The establishment of the South China Sea Trade Alliance is undoubtedly the icing on the cake for Haihan to announce the founding of the country at this time. By then, many countries can be invited to Sanya to watch the ceremony, which can be regarded as a milestone in Haihan's diplomatic career.
On the day after signing the agreement, Schneider distributed invitations to the guests present at the celebration reception to attend the ceremony in Sanya. Except for the two envoys from Ming Dynasty who looked slightly unnatural, others stood up one after another to congratulate Schneider and others. After all, in their view, what Haihan had done had long been the demeanor of a regional power. The reason for holding such a nation-building ceremony now was probably just to make it more legitimate when dealing with the Ming Dynasty in the future.
Countries like Champa and Annan are very supportive of Haihan's founding. Their cooperation with Haihan has become increasingly in-depth in the past few years, but after all, there will still be some voices of opposition in the country. The main reason is that the name is not justified, and they believe that Haihan is not a country, and the cooperation agreements and covenants established by the two parties are There is no practical effect at all. After the founding of Haihan, the diplomatic relations between the two sides can enter a state of normalization. At that time, cooperation in many fields will also shift from the current covert underground operations to the overt.
Of course, countries like Portugal and the Netherlands, which are both enemies and friends, had a complicated attitude after hearing the news. After the founding of Haihan, it meant that they had another formal opponent on the international stage, instead of the previous civilian armed forces. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, with the name of the country, Haihan's way of handling international relations will probably have to be normalized, and he can no longer play as he pleases.
The one who feels the most embarrassed about this is probably Daming. Although the founding of the Republic of Haihan has long been a matter of time, and the officials in Fujian and Guangzhou are well aware of this, when this day comes, how to handle the official relationship between Ming and Haihan is indeed a puzzling question. A big and difficult problem.
Haihan's current territory is centered on the Qiongzhou Island of the Ming Dynasty. It is really difficult for the officials in Guangdong and Guangxi to explain to the court that the territory was occupied by Haihan for the purpose of founding the country. And if the imperial court does not agree with Haihan's approach, which is almost certain, then it will definitely use military means to try to solve this problem. Even if the officials in Fuzhou and Guangzhou do not cooperate with their superiors, it will be very difficult for Ming and Haihan to establish normal state-to-state diplomatic relations.
But with Haihan's current relationship with the governments of Fuzhou and Guangzhou, he really couldn't say no easily to this invitation to attend the ceremony. At present, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi has been changed from Wang Zunde to Xiong Wencan. The latter served as the governor of Fujian before this, and he was very familiar with the Haihan people during his reign. The position of Governor Fujian is temporarily vacant, but with Xu Xinsu's popularity in the local area at this time, the possibility of taking over this position is very high. At present, all the joints that need to be taken care of have been taken care of, and he is just waiting for the official appointment from the court.
If Xu Xinsu succeeds in taking office, then the top officials in Fuzhou and Guangzhou are all officials who have good relations with Haihan. They are also very aware of the serious consequences of the conflict between Ming Dynasty and Haihan. It is unlikely that they can defeat Haihan at this time. His face prevented him from stepping down. Even if Xiong Wencan and Xu Xinsu will not go to Sanya to watch the ceremony in person, they will at least send representatives - just like they came to Ambon Island to participate in the talks this time.
The person who came to Ambona Island on behalf of Xiong Wencan was named Xiong Xin. It is said that he also had some close personal relationship with Xiong Wencan and was one of his close aides who had followed him for many years. Xiong Xin and Dong Yanyun, who came from Fujian, had interacted with each other on official business in the past, so they were old acquaintances, so they made an appointment with Schneider and Yan Chujie to meet in private, hoping to communicate in advance about the founding of Haihan. Otherwise, there will be no official Ming officials from these two places to participate in the founding ceremony of Haihan, which may cause misunderstandings among the people of Haihan.
After hearing Xiong Xin express their concerns tactfully, Schneider smiled and comforted: "Mr. Xiong, don't worry. We have already thought of the concerns of Mr. Xiong and Mr. Xu. In fact, as long as the impact of Haihan's founding is Just keep the scope in the south of the Ming Dynasty. We are not planning to deal with the Ming Dynasty court now. I believe Emperor Chongzhen and the adults in the court have no time to take care of Haihan. "
Xiong Xindao: "I'm afraid the matter of founding the country cannot be hidden from the imperial court. It may take more than a month, or it may take three to five months. The news will eventually spread to the north."
Schneider said: "This is easy to handle. If the imperial court issues a request for consultation, as long as the officials in Fuzhou and Guangzhou don't recognize it, then we can delay it. Anyway, the capital is far away, and it will only take a month or two for official documents to go back and forth. Wait for the delay from the capital. If we can’t help it, we will send someone over to verify it, and we will think of a way to deal with it.”
Xiong Xinxin said, "Just take it one step at a time. Isn't it a long-term solution? If my family loses its hat, it will be in trouble." However, he did not dare to say it so bluntly. He could only advise: "Although the court can't do anything to you, , but many adults in Fujian and Guangzhou who have good relations with Haihan will be punished for this. This... is not good after all, right? In my opinion, it is better to come up with a complete strategy first, which will not only allow you to build the country smoothly, but also Wouldn’t it be better to be able to explain something to the court? ”
Schneider smiled and said: "If Mr. Xiong has any good plans, you might as well talk about it first. If it works, we can also refer to it."
Xiong Xin saw that Schneider's face was quite relaxed and did not look angry, so he tentatively said: "If you can delay the founding of the country for a year or two... maybe many things can be easier to handle." Is this Mr. Xiong’s method?” Yan Chujie couldn’t help but said: “After a year or two, Mr. Xiong may have gone to Beijing to become an official. It’s his fault. The incident happened after he left office, but it seems that he was particularly capable during his tenure, right?”
Xiong Xin quickly denied it and said: "I never meant this! Master Yan, please don't misunderstand me!"
Yan Chujie said seriously: "To tell you the truth about the founding of the country, we have already started preparing for the founding of the country from the day we landed in Sanya. But we are not rebellious thieves. We will not be so arrogant as to make ourselves king after occupying a few hills. , I believe you have all seen what we have to do over the years. If it was just to establish a political power and become the emperor, we have had countless opportunities in the past few years, but we have not implemented it until today. Because we think the time is ripe, we have already anticipated the Ming court's attitude towards this, but this does not change our established plan. Of course, what Mr. Xiong just said is also true, so both of us should work together. , eliminate the trouble as much as possible.”
Xiong Xin and Dong Yanyun were trembling when they heard this. Although they had known Haihan's plot for a long time, it was one thing to actually hear it from Yan Chujie, one of the leaders of Haihan. However, judging from Yan Chujie's tone, it seems that this matter is not completely hopeless. They also know that the Haihan people are good at planning big things, and they have spent several years managing the current situation, which shows their high level of strategy.
Xiong Xin stood up and bowed deeply to Yan Chujie and said, "I just made a mistake and asked Master Yan for advice!"
Yan Chujie said: "I can't give you advice, but the procrastination trick that Mr. Shi just said was not said casually to fool the two of you, but it is well-founded. According to our speculation, the internal and external troubles in Ming Dynasty will further intensify this year. In addition to the peasant army, In addition to the rebellion, there will also be a large-scale famine in the Central Plains. The external trouble is Houjin in the north. Xuanfu and Datong will be attacked. The Ming army will probably suffer heavy losses. In this case, the court's attention will be drawn. The power will definitely be concentrated in the north. As for any gossipy news about the founding of the Haihan Kingdom in the south, the attention it will attract will be extremely limited. As long as it can be delayed for a year and a half, we will naturally have a way to deal with you. The court and the emperor.”
The seventh year of Chongzhen was undoubtedly a year in which the situation continued to deteriorate for the Ming Dynasty. At the beginning of the year, the peasant army invaded Hubei and Hannan. The famine in Shanxi and Shaanxi that began in April aggravated the civil strife, leaving a large number of refugees without food or clothing. In order to save his life and join the peasant army, the Ming generals' habit of killing good people and taking credit for their merits only added fuel to the flames.
In this year, the ruler of the later Jin Dynasty, Huang Taiji, organized a large army to unite Mongolia in southern Mongolia and organized a second western expedition to Chahar. In the second half of the year, when he returned to the northeast, he plowed grass valleys in the Xuanda area and broke through many cities on the border of the Ming Dynasty. The damage caused is uncountable.
The Ming Dynasty has now entered a situation where the gourd is pressed and the gourd is lifted. It is completely unable to completely solve its domestic and foreign troubles. The army is exhausted, the court's income has dropped sharply, and the people in the northern region where the population is concentrated are living in dire straits. Only the southeastern coastal areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangzhou are still living a relatively peaceful life. Of course, if the Haihan armed forces had not settled the civil unrest in Guangdong and Guangxi, coastal pirates and foreign Western colonial forces in recent years, these areas may not necessarily have the current tranquility.
Under the current situation that Ming Dynasty is in, if Chongzhen can still free his hands to deal with Haihan in the south, then Yan Chujie can only applaud him. Of course, this possibility is not high, because in the Ming court's mind, Qiongzhou Island was just a southern barbarian land used to exile prisoners, rather than a South China Sea treasure land containing endless wealth. The group of people in the court, including Chongzhen, simply I don’t know what Qiongzhou Island looks like specifically, and my knowledge of it only comes from official documents and descriptions from some officials who went to Beijing to report on their work. As long as Chongzhen was not crazy, he would not focus his main energy on the ownership of Qiongzhou Island and the rebellion of "overseas foreign states" like Haihan. At most, he would just issue an order to the officials of Guangdong and Guangxi to deal with it.
As long as the imperial court does not send big shots to the south to supervise the war, Haihan and Xiong Wencan can come up with a hundred ways to delay the situation and continue to drag out this ambiguous diplomatic situation. After a year or two of procrastination, Haihan was free to slowly negotiate terms with Ming Dynasty, which was on the verge of survival. It has only been more than two years since the Great Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty, Huang Taiji, proclaimed himself emperor and launched a large-scale attack on the Ming Dynasty. By then, apart from asking Haihan for help, it seemed that the Ming Dynasty would have no better way to defend itself against the enemy.
Of course, it is impossible for Yan Chujie to explain these historical facts to Xiong Xin and Dong Yanyun now. They can only stop there first. As for whether the officials behind them believe this statement, Haihan actually doesn't care too much. Anyway, if the Ming army wants to use force against Haihan, it will definitely not be able to do so. To cut off the commercial exchanges between the two sides, it is actually cutting off the officials' own financial channels. Naturally, it is an unpopular measure and will be difficult to implement.
Dong Yanyun said: "If this is really the case, then we can perfunctory the court first."
Xiong Xin said that you and your master are far away in Fujian, and Qiongzhou is not part of Fujian, so there is no need to worry, but my job is in Guangdong and Guangxi, and I am the person responsible for dealing with Haihan. If anything happens, he will be the first to suffer. I must be among the group of people. Xiong Xinxin was very angry, but looking at the attitude of the Haihan people, it seemed that they didn't take it very seriously. At the moment, he could only lament in his heart that the Ming Dynasty was about to end, but on the surface he had to be polite to the Haihan people, for fear of offending them. This group of people has now occupied the entire Qiongzhou Island, parts of the Leizhou Peninsula and some islands in the Pearl River Estuary. If they are offended, they may really do something as drastic as attacking Guangzhou.
(End of chapter)