Since these two high-ranking officials took action, gods from all walks of life have also rushed to express their opinions through public channels. However, given the original publication speed of Haihan Times, there is obviously not enough space on the front page to publish articles by so many senior officials. For this reason, Haihan Times even issued a special political issue, one every other day, to satisfy the sudden influx of submissions.
The original author may have used this to expand his influence and win the support of other time-travelers. However, as the number of participants increased, the positions gradually differentiated, and some senior officials who had no intention of competing for the qualifications of the Executive Committee began to write articles expressing their own opinions. .
Behind the debate between industry and agriculture is essentially a dispute over the direction of national development. And almost every official involved can express his or her own views on this issue from the standpoint of his or her own industry or department.
However, any position is based on self-interest considerations, and it is almost impossible to convince opponents with conflicts of interest by citing articles with examples.
The camps between the two factions of opinion quickly became clear. Officials engaged in industry and military affairs almost all supported foreign expansion. There are even some more radical opinions that Haihan should go all out in the next two to three generations to compete for strategic key points and resource origins around the world to ensure that in the next few hundred years, there will be enough advantages to become a global hegemon.
When the country's national strength reaches a certain level, it may not be necessary to launch a large-scale war to annex the traditional Han territories in East Asia. The remaining power of the previous dynasty can be defeated by the strength gap alone.
Officials engaged in economic, trade, and civil affairs are more inclined to integrate Han-controlled areas first, digest resources and accumulate strength, and then seek external expansion.
Their reasons are of course very good. Haihan's foundation has always been on the East Asian continent. Now that the foundation is not stable, they must expand forcefully, which will cause many problems in all aspects and may even affect the foundation of the empire's rule.
This kind of public discussion using the newspaper platform has never happened since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Although ordinary people cannot express their opinions in the same way, this does not prevent the issues debated by high-level officials from becoming popular topics of discussion after dinner.
What the ordinary people are most interested in is not which of the two factions is higher or lower, and how to win or lose, but that Haihan is powerful enough to discuss such an issue in public.
Whether it is inward or outward, it means that a certain degree of military means will inevitably be adopted, and even a large-scale war will break out. However, the attitude shown by these senior officials in the newspaper is extremely calm about this, and it seems that no matter what, The land here can be captured by Haihan as long as he likes it.
Large-scale annexation and expansion means the influx of a large amount of wealth and population, which is of course a good thing for Haihan, and the people have always been happy to see this happen. Whenever the Haihan Army achieved a great victory overseas, and the news spread back to Sanya, celebrations would often be held with the participation of all the people.
For ordinary people, the internal or external route is not that important. What they value more is the practical benefits. For example, a previous article published in the Times said that Sing Tao's new overseas territory not only means the expansion of Haihan's territory, but will also bring more opportunities for citizens to make a fortune or enter an official career.
Even if you are a commoner, you will have the opportunity to become a big landowner in the new territory and become a local official. This is the most intuitive benefit to the people.
Of course, not everyone is happy to see such a situation. For example, envoys sent by various countries, especially those from Western countries and small countries in the South China Sea, will be nervous about the recent trend of public opinion.
Once Haihan decides to focus its development in the south and west directions, the country they represent will be the first to bear the brunt, and it may even lead to disastrous consequences. The Portuguese embassy and the Dutch embassy were the first to sit still. As Western colonial powers, they could not sit back and watch Haihan discuss in such a public way how to seize their own sphere of influence. They must take action.
Even if Haihan cannot be stopped, he must at least express his position and apply diplomatic pressure to make Haihan aware of the international risks his actions may cause.
So the Portuguese Ambassador Thomas and the Dutch Ambassador Su Keyi took the lead and united Siam, Aceh, Johor, Perak, Kedah, Selangor, Terengganu, Kelantan, Pattani, Brunei, Sulu, and Matalan in the South China Sea. and other countries submitted a joint petition to the Executive Committee, demanding that Haihan terminate its military expansion operations in the South China Sea.
Of course, as a die-hard ally of Haihan and one of the beneficiaries of foreign expansion, Annan did not participate in the joint petition.
Annan has truly benefited from Haihan's expansion over the years. Not only did it export a large amount of grain, coal, iron and other materials to Haihan, but it also relied on Haihan's support to become the leading military power in the Indochina Peninsula.
As of now, almost all the ports operated by Haihan have trade institutions established by Annan. Annan's current maritime trade system throughout East Asia was almost all developed on this basis.
Which direction Haihan will go next may not be determined for the time being, but Annan's attitude has never changed - wherever Haihan goes, Annan will follow closely.
Therefore, although Annan was invited to participate in the petition submission activity of foreign embassies, Annan refused to participate without hesitation.
Not only that, Annan's embassy also published an article in Haihan Times, which emphasized that the brotherly friendship between the two countries is unbreakable. Annan will continue to support Haihan unconditionally, and will face obstacles on the way forward together with Haihan. .
Of course, even without Annan's participation, so many countries have signed the petition, and its influence cannot be ignored. The Executive Committee had to hold a special meeting to discuss how to deal with pressure from the diplomatic field.
"My opinion is very simple. If you feel that they need to be quieted down, let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs first step in to appease them, and other departments can do what they should do. When the rice is cooked, no one will make a fuss. .”
Yan Chujie didn't care about the influence of this joint petition. In his opinion, these ambassadors who only used words and pens were not enough to shake Haihan's established development path.
With strong national power and an invincible army as the guarantee, does Haihan need to pay attention to their opinions? Do I need to ask for their permission?
Giving them space to speak out and giving them decent diplomatic treatment, in Yan Chujie's opinion, is the greatest respect that Haihan, as a big country, can show to these small countries.