Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 404: Make friends first, and keep fighting

No one knew that the emperor had made a promise to the Mu family on the Li River. The river flowed rapidly, merging into the Xijiang River and then the Pearl River. The emperor was getting closer and closer to Guangzhou.

Guangzhou City, like Nanjing City, is different from the relatively square cities in the north in that it was built according to the terrain of mountains and rivers.

On the Guanyin Mountain in the north, the Zhenhai Tower at the highest peak has five floors and overlooks the entire city.

The Great North Gate of Guangzhou City is on the west side of Guanyin Mountain. After entering, there is a Great North Street heading north, which leads all the way to Guide Gate in the south.

However, most of the government offices in Guangzhou city are concentrated on the east side of this street, located between the two important north-south waterways in Guangzhou city, the Right Main Canal and the Left Second Main Canal.

The Office of the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, the Office of the Governor-General, the Office of the Guangdong Provincial Government, the Guangzhou Government Office, the Guangzhou Government School, the Salt Transport Office... are all located in this area after entering the south gate of Guangzhou City.

At this moment, the city of Guangzhou is already making tense and orderly preparations to welcome the emperor.

No matter when, when a person of this level comes, how can he not restore the hygiene and order in the city?
Moreover, this time not only will the imperial emperor stay in Guangzhou for a long time, but there will also be many envoys from vassal states.

The emperor's residence was set at the Governor's Mansion.

This is naturally the place that needs the most preparation.

The history of the Governor's Mansion can be traced back to the Qin Dynasty. After the Qin Dynasty unified the country, General Ren Xiao was appointed as the prefect of Nanhai County. It was he who governed Lingnan and built the first Guangzhou City. Later, a Ren Xiao Temple was built here.

Later, the maternal uncle of Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, built Baozhuangyan Temple here, which was quite large. In the Five Dynasties, it was renamed Changshou Temple, and in the Song Dynasty, it was renamed Jinghui Temple.

The architectural foundation of a large temple is generally very good. When the Ming Dynasty was founded, the eastern half of the Jinghui Temple was taken and converted into a governor's mansion in the sixth year of Hongwu. Since then, new pavilions and halls have been built continuously, and the environment and supporting facilities have become more and more perfect.

In later generations, this place became the Guangdong Guest House, which shows that it is indeed suitable as a place for travel.

Normally, this Governor's Office was not used much, after all, each government office in Guangzhou had its own special office. It was only used in special occasions when other senior officials were sent to Guangdong to solve temporary problems.

Now everyone in Guangzhou is making careful preparations, and the specific matters will of course need to be arranged by Liu Zongzhou, the prefect of Guangzhou.

The governors and the three officials had to pay attention to the whole of Guangdong. When the emperor stayed in Guangzhou, it was still late summer and early autumn. Everyone knew that the emperor attached great importance to water conservancy and people's livelihood. During this period, if there were any problems in other prefectures and states in Guangdong, the emperor would naturally know about it quickly.

Zhu Changluo has now passed Wuzhou and is walking eastward along the Xijiang River. On the left is Zhaoqing Prefecture and on the right is Luoding Prefecture. After Zhaoqing Prefecture, he will reach Guangzhou Prefecture.

Mu Changzuo and his son had chatted with Zhu Changluo several times along the way. Now that they were gradually entering a flat area, they couldn't help but feel more cheerful.

Along the way, he did not shy away from having in-depth conversations with military generals like Yu Zigao, and civil officials like He Shengrui and Xu Guangqi.

Especially after the Privy Council's Maritime Advisor Jie Jingfu met up with the imperial carriage in the west of Zhaoqing City.

That night, the emperor summoned the father and son while they were on the march. Also present were the Confucian scholar Fu and Yu Zigao, as well as Fang Congzhe, the chief minister of the Lifanyuan, and a newly minted Jinshi named Sun Chuanting.

"The last step is to make friends and conquer the city with troops." Zhu Changluo looked at the teacher of interpretation, "You have been here for a few months. Tell me what you know about the situation in Nanyang and Outer Yunnan."

"Yes."

The explanation of the Scripture Master was that he came here to clear up the coastal defenses, but in reality he was of course preparing for the future.

The emperor is on a southern tour, who is so blind as to cause trouble at this time?
The Privy Council has been following the situation in Nanyang and Outer Yunnan. Although the northern border was given priority before, intelligence gathering in the south has been ongoing, especially for the Changming and Zongming.

An external inspection office had long been set up within the Jinyiwei.

Now, they are military, affiliated with the imperial guards, but they will work in the Lifanyuan. At the same time, the Jinyiwei Nanzhenfu Division has been incorporated into the Privy Council. To the outside world, the eunuchs, imperial guards, military and Lifanyuan of the Ming Dynasty are all different tentacles. With Zhu Changluo as the core, they work together for the grand strategy of the Ming Dynasty.

After arriving in Guangdong, Master Jiejing naturally communicated with various people here and summarized and analyzed the situation.

There was nothing much to say about the situation in Nanyang and Outer Yunnan. As long as maritime trade was not banned, there had always been a lot of news that could confirm each other. In the maritime trade, there were also eunuchs, imperial guards, and shopkeepers who had previously taken on other missions.

Therefore, the interpreter talked about the Western forces that were advancing step by step in Southeast Asia and Outer Yunnan, as well as the competition among them and the strength of their power.

As for Burma, Annan, Aceh, Johor, Luzon... based on their past power structure and strength, as well as the local climate and geographical environment, all we can say now is that the general trend is obvious.

If the Ming Dynasty did not leave, Southeast Asia and Outer Yunnan would sooner or later be swallowed up by the Westerners, it would just be a matter of which side would take over.

"The barbarians are intimidating. The vassal states are a mess. Moreover, although Westerners have better firearms than them, they mostly rely on warships to control key ports and then trade with them. The leaders of the vassal states use the lowly people as slaves. If they have no intention of expelling the foreign invaders, they can rely on them and enjoy wealth and honor."

"Their country is tens of thousands of miles away. If they were not a loose group of sand, how could they be powerless to resist even if they had strong ships and powerful guns?" Zhu Changluo nodded, "Officer Jie has pointed out the key point. It is like trying to get the skin of a tiger, but it is still profitable. These Western barbarians know how to give up some small profits, so they can often occupy key points with only a few hundred or two or three thousand people."

He looked at Mu Changzuo and said, "The Duke of Qian has been in charge of the southwest for generations. The old Duke knows the three Xuans and six Wei very well. Although Nanyang has different religions and political systems, they are generally similar. Old Duke, can you tell me how the various ethnic groups in Outer Yunnan usually operate?"

"The minister obeys the order."

Then Mu Changzuo took over and used the examples of the Three Xuans and Six Wei to introduce the political systems of these vassal states.

In fact, regardless of whether they believe in any religion or not, their current situations are similar: small tribes are subject to large tribes or even different large tribes, and then form tribal alliances. Except for vassal states such as Annan and Ryukyu, which have more traces of royal rule and even have an imperial examination system, most vassal states are still in the tribal era in essence.

This is also due to geographical and climatic reasons. The difference between the rainy season and the dry season, the dense rainforest, the mountain barriers, and the backward transportation infrastructure made it difficult for the cold weapon troops with backward technology to form a unified situation in this area and establish a central court and a system of local officials.

Therefore, although the interest relations here are complicated, they can generally be traced back to small tribes.

After all, everyone has selfish motives, which is why Europeans can be very successful in backward areas.

In addition, before going out to sea, Europeans had been fighting in their own little nests, and their opponents were often a coalition of feudal lords and nobles. They had a lot of experience in using various means against each other.

It’s different in the Ming Dynasty.

Let’s not talk about the enemies in the south, let’s talk about the enemies in the north. Whenever the enemies in the north began to give the Central Plains dynasty a headache, it must be that they had completed internal integration and established a power system that was slightly better than before. Otherwise, they would still be a mess.

Just like Dayan Khan, who is the closest to us. Before that, the Oirat had been driven to the west by the Ming Dynasty, and the Tatars could not pose much threat to the Ming Dynasty. But Dayan Khan established the left and right wings with a total of six Wanhu, determined some rules, and roughly divided the interests. From then on, he became a major concern for the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years. Even if there was no powerful leader in the Khan's court after that, the Ming Dynasty was still pressed within the border wall and could not move.

This is the power of the framework system of 60,000 households on the left and right wings: no matter how the various 10,000 households fight with each other, when facing foreign enemies, there are more or less old precedents to follow, and they can support each other.

These are the experiences brought to them by their neighbors to the south.

After Mu Changzuo finished speaking about his understanding, Zhu Changluo looked at the people from the Lifanyuan again, especially at Sun Chuanting.

"The Lifanyuan was established to negotiate and determine the general situation before resorting to military force, which is the last resort." Zhu Changluo said, "Nanyang is in chaos, and the Ming Dynasty should go! The Lifanyuan's Ming Dynasty envoys, the maritime trade bank, the sea expansion militia and civilian merchants approved by me, plus the Nanyang fleet. This general situation cannot be swept by a large army, but by slow and steady efforts. The influence of the Ming Dynasty has been away from Nanyang and Outer Yunnan for a long time, and there needs to be a period of accumulation."

Sun Chuanting thought that the emperor valued him only because he was young, but now he was named by the emperor again.

"Sun Chuanting, tell me. If you were to be an envoy of a country, what would you do?"

Although Sun Chuanting had done a lot of homework along the way and knew what he would do in the future, he was still a little nervous when the emperor did not ask Fang Congzhe who accompanied him but asked him instead.

"After listening to the words of the old Duke and the counselor, Your Majesty will make a clear direction. I will first present my humble opinion to Your Majesty, and then listen to His Majesty's instructions."

He first made a transition, then sorted out his emotions and slowly expressed his views.

Since it is a slow and steady job, if you are sent to a vassal state as an envoy, the word "seeking friendship" naturally means finding people who are friendly to the Ming Dynasty and who rely on the Ming Dynasty to achieve some purpose. At the same time, it is also intelligence work. If it is not a friendly country, it will not send envoys to stay permanently. The expression of friendship is trade. Envoys and ministers must also actively promote business, because it will generate benefits, and these benefits can become tools.

"The moral education of Confucianism and the skill of diplomats." Zhu Changluo said with a smile, "We also need novelists, doctors, etc. Look at the barbarians in the West. For thousands of years, they ate raw meat and drank blood, were ignorant and docile, and now they have just been civilized. They have made some achievements in natural sciences and are not reluctant to spread them overseas. Although they are assisting in missionary development, they also have a heart that makes people admire and yearn for them. Isn't the prosperity of Chinese culture and the exquisiteness of its skills far superior to theirs?"

After saying that, he looked at them and said, "If some leaders are willing to live in the future southern capital to enjoy wealth and luxury, the old land can be managed by the Ming Dynasty. Whether it is to send officials to govern or to cooperate with Zongminghao, Changminghao, and Takuhaituanlian merchants, it is the same. What we want is that my civilization and culture will gradually permeate, which is far more powerful than weapons."

Before arriving in Guangzhou, the emperor began to personally plan his future plans for Southeast Asia and Outer Yunnan.

It doesn't mean that we won't use force, but Xuanwei will definitely be needed.

After the Privy Council reorganized the border garrisons, the soldiers needed it; the Ming Dynasty's influence had been away from Southeast Asia and Outer Yunnan for many years, and some of the local tribal leaders who feared the power also needed to serve as warnings to others; the forces going there to compete for and expel the Europeans also needed military support, after all, they could understand this language better.

But what the Ming Dynasty's civil and military officials needed to learn more was to change their past mindset of being the Celestial Empire, establish norms for diplomatic work from an equal and pragmatic perspective, and explore new methods and experiences.

In this regard, Zhu Changluo's understanding is naturally a little deeper than theirs.

People in Guangdong were worried that the emperor would hear about a disaster or illegal activity somewhere and punish Guangdong, but Zhu Changluo had no intention of doing this when he went to Guangzhou.

Now that he has been appointed prime minister, these daily civil affairs should be handled by the Executive Yuan and other prime ministers.

This is also a new rule that Zhu Changluo needs to establish: many things are not responsible to the emperor personally, but to the entire court system and their own official positions and salaries. If something goes wrong, there must be a system such as the Jinxianyuan and the court to punish.

The imperial carriage is approaching Guangzhou, which means the Emperor's birthday is approaching.

Although it is already the end of July in the lunar calendar, autumn has not begun in Guangzhou like it has in the north.

There may be one or two rainstorms every day, and the Pearl River Estuary and its surroundings are becoming increasingly busy.

In fact, in order to take advantage of the wind, some envoys from vassal states had already arrived in Guangzhou.

But some of them only arrived at this time.

There were only three ships left from the Johor fleet, and a smaller ship was missing.

The Dutchman had a grim look on his face, while Prince Jalil of the Kingdom of Johor looked at the vaguely visible coastline and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"We are finally here." Jalil ordered hurriedly, "We should speed up the repair of the ship. When we get to Ming, we can't let them see our dilapidated ship."

The Dutchman gritted his teeth and said, "If you had used my flagship, it wouldn't have turned out like this, and not a single ship would have sunk!"

"The upper country is a country of etiquette!" Jalil looked at him, "Using your flagship and artillery? In the eyes of the upper country, that would be extremely rude!"

"Then, Your Highness, are you going to ask for help from Seres with just your mouth? I haven't seen any of their warships all the way here. Can they still sail over there?"

Jalil was speechless after hearing what he said.

Along the way, he encountered two storms and he really thought he would be buried at sea.

The sea is so dangerous that there is really no need for the noble figures of the Celestial Empire to cross the ocean and take such risks.

On the contrary, it is said that these desperate Westerners dare to sail tens of thousands of miles and come here to plunder and do business without fear of death.

Fortunately, when he was feeling depressed, five black dots suddenly appeared in front of him, one large and four small. When he got closer, he found that it was a Ming warship flying the Ming flag.

The Dutchman suddenly became nervous: "They are in a fighting posture! They are going to turn around and get close to our side!"

"Tell your men to lower the sails! I am an envoy of a country that respects etiquette and will never resort to force without first asking for your identity!"

The Dutchman said nothing. He just pursed his lips and estimated the size of the warship, observed its style and performance, and evaluated its combat effectiveness.

...I don't know why, but I feel like this ship's style is Portuguese, but also not...

(End of this chapter)