Chapter 1735 Delicate Situation
Haihan's diplomacy has never been a simple choice of likes and dislikes. Relevant decisions are often made based on comprehensive considerations of all aspects, especially economic interests, which are Haihan's top priority when considering maintaining diplomatic relations with other countries. Heavy. Whether it is establishing diplomatic relations, going to war, or other more complex diplomatic means, the ultimate goal is to obtain more benefits for Haihan.
For various reasons, Haihan was unwilling to use war methods against the Ming Dynasty, but it was still necessary to suppress this empire that was already in decline from time to time. Haihan voluntarily gave up the use of military means to overthrow the Han regime on the mainland, but at the same time he also tried to indirectly control the direction of the country through economic, cultural and other fields. Although this is not as exciting as sending troops to the mainland to push down state capitals and counties, the rewards are also clearly visible.
According to the design of the Executive Committee, after this round of diplomatic suppression, Ming Dynasty will fall into a state of political isolation in the Far East. Foreign trade, especially ocean trade, can only rely on controlling most of Ming Dynasty's coastlines and ocean trade routes. Haihan, so that he could benefit from monopolizing Ming's maritime trade rights.
However, this complex plan is still in the initial stage of implementation. Due to limited vision, few people can yet understand Haihan's true purpose. The person involved, Fei Cexian, was even more confused by the talk and had no idea why Haihan did these seemingly unnecessary things. In his opinion, the diplomatic relations between Ming Dynasty and Haihan were actually only in two states: war and peace. He could not imagine that Haihan had a more complicated plan.
Portugal and the Netherlands are the two countries with the most sensitive sense of smell. After all, they are old colonial countries, and their application and understanding of various diplomatic methods are far better than those of closed countries like Ming Dynasty. Although they did not fully understand the true intention of Haihan's boxing combination, they were keenly aware of the business opportunities it might contain.
"The East India Company will abide by the diplomatic agreement signed with your country and ensure that its position will not change." After responding to Haihan's request to stand in line, Su Keyi immediately asked Schneider, who approached him: "Your country does not You won’t really use force against Ming, right?”
Schneider smiled and said: "Why do you have such an idea?"
"Because... I really can't think of any reason for your country to use force against the Ming Dynasty." Su Keyi stated his thoughts calmly: "Your country has controlled most of the coastline of the Ming Dynasty, and has also knocked on the door of the Ming Dynasty in terms of trade. As for recruiting immigrants from the Ming Dynasty and colonizing your country's occupied areas in the Ming Dynasty, I think it is difficult for the Ming Dynasty to create too many obstacles for your country. In such a general environment, messing up the Ming Dynasty will do more harm than good to your country. That’s right.”
Schneider responded noncommittally: "Of course war will cause social unrest, so wouldn't annexing the country of Ming, or occupying part of its territory, be a good thing for Haihan?"
Su Keyi was not so sure this time, and responded with a little hesitation: "Maybe your country cannot take such drastic measures against Ming Dynasty for some reasons!"
For powerful countries, annexing weak ones in the process of continuously expanding their territories is just a natural method. Of course, it is not very accurate to describe the Ming Empire as weak, but in front of Haihan, the military strength of the Ming Dynasty did not appear to be strong enough, which is why Haihan eroded many key places near the coastline in the past ten years.
However, when Haihan gained power, he never extended his measures to annex the Ming Dynasty's territory to the inland areas. He only maintained his control over the maritime areas. Other countries did not understand Haihan's seemingly very restrained approach. It was not until the Ming Dynasty established diplomatic relations with Haihan that the outside world believed that Haihan hoped to open the country to the Ming Dynasty through peaceful means, so as to better Make full use of the market and resources owned by Ming Dynasty.
But just when everything started to go on the right track, Haihan finally no longer had to carry out smuggling trade with Ming Dynasty semi-openly, but he made a statement that he had the intention to use force. This was not a reasonable behavior in the eyes of interested people. Su Keyi has been paying attention to the diplomatic trends between Haihan and Ming Dynasty since he stationed in Sanya. As the saying goes, bystanders know better. His understanding of the situation is definitely more comprehensive and detailed than that of Fei Cexian, so Fei Cexian was taken over by Ning Qi. They talked so much that they couldn't figure out the direction, but Su Keyi discovered some details that Haihan was trying to hide.
Although Su Keyi could not fully understand Haihan's intentions, the speculation based on his understanding was not too far from the actual situation. It was just that it was not that easy for him to extract words from the experienced Schneider. The two went around and around. , Schneider just didn't give an affirmative answer, leaving Su Keyi unable to confirm whether his guess was correct.
On the other side, Thomas faced Tao Donglai, who had just finished confronting the Ming Dynasty envoy. Although he had learned from Fei Cexian's lesson and tried to avoid irritating the other party verbally, Tao Donglai was really aggressive today. Strong, when Thomas raised a similar question to Su Keyi, he summoned Tao Donglai to give a tough response.
"Whether our country will use force against the Ming Dynasty is based on our country's security and development considerations. It is a decision made after careful consideration and full discussion by the Executive Committee. I am blowing this news to your country today just to remind your country to maintain Take good care of your position and don’t get involved in the diplomatic affairs between our country and Ming Dynasty easily!”
Tao Donglai had a serious face when he said these words, which made Thomas have to swallow back some of the questions he had prepared. The other party's last sentence was obviously a warning to himself not to ask questions related to the diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The information that the envoys from various countries received this night was so large and complex that it was difficult to digest at once. Many people still couldn't sleep after returning to their residences, such as Fei Cexian. Although he had been in Sanya for several months and had long been accustomed to the water, soil and climate here, he felt extremely uncomfortable today. He lay in bed tossing and turning without feeling sleepy.
Fei Cexian got up and drank a cup of herbal tea, which slightly relieved his dry mouth after drinking. But the depression in his heart could not be eliminated.
Judging from tonight’s talks, Fei Cexian believes that Haihan is deliberately trying to win over other countries to isolate and suppress Ming. Even if what Ning Qi said is true, Haihan has no intention of launching a military attack on Ming, but they are diplomatically Such measures taken by the field are still extremely unkind. Fei Cexian's defense did not win any sympathy from Ning Qi, and Haihan showed no sign of changing his attitude. For a period of time in the future, Ming Dynasty will probably be shrouded in the cloud of war. The most irritating thing is that Haihan’s behavior has no reason or purpose. Fei Cexian doesn’t even know how to report this change to the country, and even if he writes today’s events into the memorial, the senior officials in the court will not I may not be able to understand what is going on here.
Among Fei Cexian's responsibilities, safeguarding the interests and dignity of the Ming Dynasty is naturally the first. However, if Haihan wants to use force or even formally declare war against the Ming Dynasty, then the court will only think that he did not do a good job in diplomatic work in Sanya. Otherwise, why did the two The two countries only established diplomatic relations last year, and are they going to start fighting this year?
Before coming to Haihan, Fei Cexian could not understand why the local officials in Fuzhou and Guangzhou would obey Haihan's words and not dare to provoke this group of thugs who invaded the Ming Dynasty. But after coming to Sanya and slowly deepening his understanding of Haihan, Fei Cexian realized that the southern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty had actually been under the cloud of war in recent years.
The Shibazhi pirate gang that used to dominate the southeastern waters is gone, replaced by the Haihan Navy, which is stronger and more aggressive. No local official could bear the responsibility of triggering the war. It would be better to step back a little and give Haihan a certain amount of space, so that he could not only get the benefits Haihan offered him, but also keep the black gauze hat on his head. Some people who are good at business operations, such as Fujian Xu Xinsu and others, can even use Haihan's support to rise to the top and become the most powerful local emperor.
The imperial court knew very well that the territories occupied by Haihan were difficult to get back through negotiation, and if Ming did not want to lose more territory, it had to maintain its relationship with Haihan. Therefore, in order to maintain peace between the two countries, the imperial court did not hesitate to agree to a series of harsh conditions for establishing diplomatic relations proposed by Haihan. The cabinet bachelors would not care about Fei Cexian's situation in Sanya. Thousands of miles away, they could not understand Fei Cexian's work process and could only see the final result.
Fei Cexian put down his tea cup and sighed heavily. Before he went south, someone from the Ministry of Rites had reminded him that sending Haihan as an envoy was both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing was that the official contact with Haihan itself was a bad thing. Haihan's lavish treatment of Ming officials was well known in the southern coastal official circles. As long as you obey their wishes, the rewards you will receive will be much better than plundering people's wealth and support in official positions.
The bad thing is that Haihan has a strong desire to control. If he is unwilling to do things according to Haihan's wishes when he is in office, then this official will be a doormat, and he is likely to be inhumane inside and out. . At that time, Fei Cexian didn't quite understand this description, but now in such a delicate environment, he finally realized the good and bad feelings.
Haihan has explicitly hinted to Fei Cexian more than once that he can provide him with generous remuneration, which will not only ensure that his treatment during his tenure is far better than that of ordinary officials, but also that his life after leaving office can be arranged. Whether it was plantations in Nanyang or local officials under Haihan's rule, Fei Cexian could choose. All he had to do was to cooperate with Haihan's arrangements in diplomacy as much as possible.
However, Fei Cexian still had a high degree of loyalty to Ming Dynasty and did not easily agree to Haihan's conditions. He also used his identity to fight for Ming Dynasty's interests from time to time. But when it comes to national-level decision-making, Fei Cexian's identity obviously has no influence at all. When Ning Qi informed him of Haihan's arrangements today, he probably didn't think of paying attention to his inner feelings.
Fei Cexian thought that he had tried his best to fight for the Ming Dynasty, but maybe it was really limited by his ability. The efforts he put in had no effect on Haihan, and he did not even gain the respect of the Haihan people. And when he thought that after reporting this situation back to the country, he would have to deal with the pressure from the court, Fei Cexian became even more depressed.
He put on a coat and walked to the balcony. From here, he could overlook the Port of Victory. There were still lights on the pier in the distance. He knew that those were the ships that were anchored for loading and unloading cargo all night long. A busy scene like this, as long as the weather was good, It's sunny, almost every day.
Just a few months ago, he had witnessed dozens of Haihan warships loading supplies in Victory Port all night long. The situation at that time left a deep impression on him. Those warships did not complete the work until dawn. It was loaded and then sailed out of the harbor when the sky turned white. A few days later, it massacred all parties in the remote Philippine Islands, and almost completely annihilated the local Spanish fleet.
Of course, Fei Cexian saw the subsequent battle situation from articles published in local newspapers, but at this time, what he was thinking about was how busy the Victory Harbor would be if Haihan really wanted to use force against the Ming Dynasty one day. scene. Given the size of the Ming Dynasty, the number of warships and supply ships needed by Haihan would be multiplied countless times. Even if the docks of Victory Port were fully operational, it would probably take several days to complete the supply loading task.
However, these ridiculous thoughts only flashed through his mind and did not spread further. Ning Qi said that Haihan's next target of using force would not be the Ming Dynasty, and Fei Cexian didn't know whether to believe this or not. Experience told him that "Haihan's mouth is a liar", but the current situation forced him to believe Ning Qi's statement. Otherwise, if he really reported to the country that Haihan planned to tear up the peace agreement, there would be no chaos in the court. ?
If it is not reported to the country, once Haihan takes action, Ming will be unprepared to fight, and the results can be imagined. But if it is reported, regardless of whether Haihan takes action or not, Ming Dynasty will be in chaos first. If it is just a false move as Ning Qi said, then the final charge of lying about military information will definitely be pinned on Fei Cexian.
Fei Cexian felt a pain in his temples on both sides of his head. He had never encountered such a complicated situation in his past experience as an official, and he really didn't know how to handle it properly. But he knew that if he chose the wrong method, his career might end here.
"If I had known this, I might as well have been a leisurely official in the capital!"
This may be the first time that Fei Cexian truly regrets his mission to the south as an envoy to Haihan. Although the Ministry of Rites is a Qingshui Yamen, at least it does not have to deal with such complex international relations, let alone bear such heavy responsibilities.
(End of chapter)