Chapter 2518
Although the vassal kings who were entrusted to local areas during the Ming Dynasty could enjoy glory and wealth, they basically had no chance of inheriting the throne. Therefore, these vassal kings' views on dynasty change were still very different from that of Emperor Chongzhen in the Forbidden City.
For Chongzhen, the change of dynasty meant that the Zhu family lost the world, and he was no longer the king who ruled the world. It would not be an exaggeration to describe this as the sky falling. But for the vassal king who had no real power and could only stay in his fiefdom for the rest of his life, it was tantamount to breaking the cage that imprisoned him. From now on, they no longer need to be bound by royal rules, and they no longer need to pay homage to ridiculous imperial edicts. They can leave their fiefdom, choose a different life, and achieve many things that they did not dare to think about before.
Of course, before that, the vassal kings must deal with one thing first, and that is the relationship with Haihan. If they don't get Haihan's support, or even become Haihan's enemies, then their future life may not be as easy as when they were vassal kings.
Of course, the vassal kings have the freedom to choose whether to be a supporter of Haihan wisely, or to fight Haihan with self-respect. And the truly smart people had already begun to have secret intrigues with Haihan when the situation in the Ming Dynasty was not good. Moreover, at that time, the vassal king had more negotiation capital, so the representatives sent to Sanya were even personally received by Tao Donglai. This is why Tao Hongfang knew the relevant inside story.
Although Tao Hongfang, who was still studying at the time, did not quite understand the purpose of King Zhu Jiafan sending people to Sanya, but later as his knowledge increased, he gradually became able to understand what these people were planning.
Some people want to replace Chongzhen and take the initiative to act as Haihan's puppet to take over the world of Ming Dynasty. Some people want to rely on Haihan, even if they cannot keep the title of vassal king, they still want to keep their family's wealth and special status in the local area.
Of course, there will also be careerists who think highly of themselves, hoping to take advantage of the changing situation in the world to cooperate with Haihan and get better treatment for themselves than the vassal king, such as becoming Haihan's hero in bringing peace to the world. The reason why these people think they have such qualifications is because before this, Ming Dynasty already had a successful example who was not a vassal king but was better than a vassal king.
Tao Hongfang clearly remembered that his father once said to him in private that many people in the Ming Dynasty hated Xu Xinsu, but the reason was not entirely because Xu Xinsu betrayed the interests of the Ming Dynasty, but because these people could not make themselves become Xu Xinsu. .
In other words, if you can be as powerful as Xu Xinsu in the local area, and even regard the imperial decree as nothing, then I am afraid that many people will rush to cooperate with Haihan. Even if some of them are descendants of the Zhu family with pure blood, they still have uncontrollable ambitions that they want to realize.
But at that time, Haihan's influence was limited to the southern coastal areas, and it was unable to control the northern areas where the Ming vassal kings were located, and it was unlikely to support a local separatist force similar to Xu Xinsu in these places. However, through these secret contacts, Haihan also mastered some special resources, which will help in the future to take over the ruling area originally belonging to the Ming Dynasty.
Tao Hongfang said: "Now the Ming Dynasty only has symbolic governance rights in the areas near Gyeonggi. If these vassal kings do not want to be driven back to live under the same roof with Chongzhen, they have to find a way to live on their own. They have to find a way out. But there are really not many choices left for them. If they don’t take the initiative to seek cooperation with our country, they can only wait to slowly become rural rich people.”
Bai Letong said: "When it comes to this topic, we must also praise our country's propaganda methods. As far as I know, the sales scope of official newspapers like Haihan Times has long been beyond the scope of our country's rule. Even in the Ming Dynasty, there were a considerable number of subscribers, and most of them were powerful people in the upper class of society. Many vassal kings could also see the various news published in the newspaper. In comparison, you will naturally gradually understand the strength of our country, and you will inevitably have various thoughts over time. ”
What Haihan could give, Emperor Chongzhen in the Forbidden City could not give. The human heart is complex, but the truth is that simple. The princes of the Zhu family took the initiative to come to seek cooperation. It can be regarded as the general trend and what people want, and it will happen naturally. But which member of the Zhu family the two officers were escorting south, the young men couldn't guess without more information. Taking into account their own identities, they could not chase him out to investigate the matter. They could only chat about it after dinner.
There was no words to say that night. Early the next morning, everyone didn't even eat breakfast. After simply washing up, they left the guest house and headed east.
They had long heard about the prosperity of Zhoushan Dinghai Port in various reports. Now that they were lucky enough to stay here for a short time, they naturally had to take the time to see it.
When we arrived near Xiaozhu Mountain, we saw that there were already many horse-drawn carriages and rickshaws waiting to pick up customers. This place is located in the middle of Dinghai Port, dividing the entire harbor into two, and becoming the dividing line between the military base and the commercial port. These civilian vehicles cannot enter the military base, so they are here to attract customers in Xiaozhushan. Most of the soldiers who go out from the military base go to the commercial district to spend money, so there are quite a lot of people who call for taxis here.
Of course, there was no need for Tao Hongfang and the others to hire a car themselves. Their own entourage rushed ahead to make arrangements quickly, and then the group took four carriages to the business district of Dinghai Port.
If we make a horizontal comparison from the perspective of topography, the length of the coastline of Dinghai Port Business District is actually almost the same as that of Sanya Victory Port. However, the depth of space is slightly better than that of Dinghai Port, so the area available for development is actually larger than that of Shengli Port City. Some.
And Shi Diwen did not waste this Feng Shui treasure land. After more than 20 years of continuous management and construction, it has been successfully promoted to the most prosperous port in the entire East China Sea region.
The young officials asked the hired carriage to run along the port area first, and not surprisingly found that the scale of port construction here was indeed comparable to that of Victory Port. Moreover, there are many warehouses and shops near the pier, and giant advertising signs with Haihan characteristics can be seen on the roofs everywhere, so that ships entering and leaving the port can notice the above contents from far away on the sea.
There were also all kinds of ships entering and leaving the port. As they casually looked at the carriage, they could already identify ships from many countries, including Galen ships and Frut sailing ships from Europe. The sharp-eyed Ning Zijing even discovered a business warehouse flying the VOC flag of the Dutch East India Company. It seems that Western businessmen also attach great importance to the influence of this regional trade center.
(End of chapter)