New Shun 1730

"Uh..."

The matter between Liu Yu and Tian Zhenyi is not a secret.

There is no impenetrable wall in the noble circle. Before, they just kept it secret and turned a blind eye.

The emperor would definitely keep an eye on Liu Yu. He often communicated with him in Weihai, so this could not be concealed.

It's just that Liu Yu never mentioned it. He always claimed that he would not talk about his family until the Xiongnu was destroyed.

Now the emperor took the initiative to mention it. Although Liu Yu knew that the relationship between the royal family and the nobles was not just the relationship between the monarch and the ministers, sometimes some "family patriarch" elements had to be added to maintain the relationship between the royal family and the nobles.

Things like controlling marriages also happened from time to time. The emperor was not the patriarch of the nobles' family, but he had to make such a gesture at appropriate times to show the difference between inside and outside, and between public and private.

Now that the emperor took the initiative to mention this matter, Liu Yu couldn't play dumb. He nodded shyly, holding his breath and his face turned red, looking very shy or ashamed.

As a "secular philosopher king who is a role model of morality", the emperor's every word, action and gesture must conform to the Confucian rules.

The same is true for the nobles who are very close to the emperor.

In private, you can play around. There is no problem with things like stealing ashes and exchanging men. These things are much lighter than the crime of "privately deciding to spend life with a man and a woman".

The former is just a moral condemnation, while the latter is a challenge to the bottom line of orthodoxy.

This is a very sick society in Liu Yu's eyes, but in fact, people like Liu Yu are sick in this world.

Now that the emperor mentioned it, Liu Yu wanted to turn this matter into a "feelings and ending with etiquette" angle, but he didn't expect the emperor to laugh and say: "I also heard the queen talk about the woman in the Duke of Qi's family. She is really an amazing woman. You did a good job. You started with emotions and stopped with etiquette. You didn't do anything out of the ordinary. You are also waiting for your parents' orders and matchmaker's words."

Let Liu Yu relax first, Li Gan was actually very happy.

People who don't care about things are terrible, thinking that this person has no weaknesses.

If a person cares about people, things, and feelings, he has weaknesses. Only a minister with weaknesses can be trusted.

Xu Shu's filial piety is a weakness, so Cao Cao can use it.

Yue Fei's loyalty is a weakness, so Zhao Jiu can use it.

An emperor who can control the government is not necessarily a bad person, but he is definitely not a good person in a purely moral sense.

Liu Yu's performance before made Li Gan always feel uncomfortable, because he couldn't see through it, couldn't figure out what Liu Yu cared about, and couldn't find Liu Yu's weaknesses.

In terms of courage, he dared to go to the hot air balloon in the cautious atmosphere of the Yiguogong family, risking being accused of "spying into the forbidden palace", just for the sentence "to make people see it often, to promote practical learning".

In terms of desire, he didn't buy land or fields, and if he had money, he would invest in the navy and the Qingzhou army. Although there was no way to save money on food, clothing, housing and transportation, his behavior was very different from that of the nobles.

The Qingzhou Army, which he built by himself, is good at fighting. For the Nanyang that he has always been thinking about, he took the initiative to hand it over without saying a word.

He is even more unrestrained in speaking and doing things, and it is impossible to guess what this person is going to do.

Now I finally found someone that Liu Yu cares about.

This feeling makes Li Gan feel like he has a cat, which is close and distant, and he doesn't know whether it will scratch or snore in the next second. Finally one day he found out what the cat's favorite dried fish is, and the cat can be rubbed for this dried fish.

It's really great.

What's even better is that Dashun has a system of collective responsibility.

In the eyes of the emperor, people like Liu Yu are a bit like a scoundrel: beheading is just like the wind blowing the hat.

This kind of person can be led by affection, but cannot be forced by force.

From Li Gan's previous feeling, if the way is the same, then loyalty is undivided; if the way is different, then go to hell, agree to do it, and if you don't agree, do it by all means.

Threatening Liu Yu is useless, Li Gan thinks it's useless. But perhaps it is useful for such a person to threaten the people he cares about, especially when the people he cares about are not just one person, but a large family of thousands of people.

After the nobles of Dashun took charge of the army and gradually stabilized the situation in the country, there was gradually an unspoken rule: the nobles who inherited the title would no longer marry each other.

Liu Yu's parents' generation was the last batch of nobles to marry each other. After that, basically try not to marry each other.

If the nobles are all trash and completely reduced to decoration, there is no problem with marriage. But as long as the nobles still have military power and control the army, this kind of marriage is not liked by the emperor.

Now we need to carry out military reform, so that the nobles have status but no military power; can lead troops but not control them; can be generals but have no private soldiers... Marriage between nobles is no longer so taboo.

On the contrary, in Li Gan's view, for people like Liu Yu, the more things they carry on their backs, the safer they are and the easier they are to control.

The Earl's Mansion is in the capital.

The Earl's family is naturally in the capital.

Once the title is conferred, it is actually a separation, and the relationship with the Yiguogong Mansion will be different from then on. If Liu Yu really wants to do something, the first to oppose it is not others, but the Yiguogong Mansion, Xiangguogong Mansion, and the possible Qiguogong Mansion in the future.

The emperor has not thought about the possibility of Liu Yu's rebellion, but only thinks about Liu Yu's way of doing things "forcing the government to do things". Carrying a few big burdens behind him can at least make him restrain himself a little and have some concerns when doing things.

Before, Liu Yu did things without any concerns, and his habit of beheading as if the wind was blowing his hat, which made the emperor praise him for his meritorious service, but it was inevitable that he would feel unhappy.

If he were someone who was emotionless and squatting in the Earl's Mansion, Li Gan probably wouldn't care because of Liu Yu's temperament and his determination to get things done.

It's just that there are too many flaws in what Liu Yu did. If word really spreads, his reputation will definitely be bad and it will definitely attract a lot of criticism.

Fortunately, Liu Yu was not from the imperial examination, and Neo-Confucian ethics had limited constraints on him. As long as he didn't go too far, this matter could be solved.

"The Duke of Qi should be back soon. Since you have been able to show affection and restrain yourself before, I don't need to warn you too much. Just remember, don't lose your dignity and attract criticism. You are now He is not only the son of Duke Yi, but also my newly appointed earl."

"If you do something outrageous, it won't look good on your face."

Hearing that the emperor had acquiesced, Liu Yu was quite excited, made a few humble gestures of gratitude, and cursed in his heart.

Seeing Liu Yu so excited, Li Gan felt even more reassured and said with a smile: "If this matter is in the market, it will be a good talk; if it is in the court, it will be despised. You'd better be more cautious about this matter. I won’t say anything anymore, just know it in your mind.”

"After the Duke of Qi returned, you also said that France would send a mission. I read about the Spring and Autumn and Warring States affairs a few days ago, and I have some understanding, but there are still some things that I can't figure out."

"Since you said that the Western countries will go to war over the throne of Austria. The British and Dutch Rakshasa are one group, and the Faosi are one group. According to you, the Austrian king is old and can no longer be born. Man, you don’t have a few years to live. You are going to fight against the Netherlands again with the "several spices from Henan tax" that I described.

"At this tense moment, if we entertain the French mission in a high-profile manner, wouldn't we be asking the French to take advantage of our country's power? It might even make Britain, the Netherlands and other countries hostile to our country?"

Hearing that the emperor had such worries, Liu Yu was overjoyed.

This kind of worry proves that the emperor has really given up the posture of a closed-eyed emperor and considered joining forces.

Although it had not been used for many years, the method was a bit unfamiliar, and the information was unclear, so the thinking was inevitably a little wrong.

"Your Majesty, our country and the French country have different needs in this matter. The French country wants to use the prestige of our country to intimidate the British and Dutch Rakshasa; how can our country not use the power of France to threaten the Rakshasa?"

"Although the world has undergone great changes, and all the heroes of the West can be called a great country, the title of emperor is the most respected in this dynasty."

"Especially since I conquered the new country of Junggar and defeated the Rakshasa in the bitter cold land of Northeast China, it has only been twenty years since the Western countries replaced themselves with flintlock guns and new military formations."

"In their eyes, the Celestial Empire is rich and has everything. Tens of millions of dollars in finance and taxes are at their fingertips. It has a population of 20 million. It is actually the largest country in the world. Even though the military is lagging behind now, it is easy to change if they want to. But they don't know that our dynasty is I don’t know the details, not to mention the difficulty of our military reform and the low tax revenue.”

"Furthermore, Western countries still have feudal nobles, and it is extremely difficult to centralize power. For example, the French great scholar Voltaire and others all think that the system of this dynasty is the best, and it is like having an arm and a finger from top to bottom. In their eyes, this dynasty has real nobility. It is the shape of Kunlun, the tall and tall one, the largest empire in the world, and the most noble imperial title, at least for the time being."

"I don't want to embolden others' ambitions and destroy my own prestige. If this dynasty does not change, the only thing that can stop the Westerners is the waves of thousands of miles. If there are no waves of thousands of miles away, if they are in the surrounding areas such as Japan's Annan, France, Britain, the Netherlands, and the West If any one country deploys one-third of its fleet, it will be able to defeat us and move our borders to the sea, shaking the south of the Yangtze River."

"But... they don't know yet. The outside of the gold and jade is covered with catkins. They can only see the gold and jade, not the catkins."

"Not only are there trade profits, but they are also worried that our country will really form an alliance with France. If our country really declares war on the Netherlands, Britain will have to send a mission and take the initiative to pay a pilgrimage to your majesty to ask for our country's neutrality towards Britain. Rather than being arrogant enough to do so because of The Anglo-Dutch Alliance went to war directly against our country.”

"That's why our visit to France by the French mission should be made with great fanfare and known all over the world; but when it comes to the specific negotiations, we must only promise not to sign the alliance agreement, but not refuse it outright. It is a serious crime for me, please call me a promiscuous woman. Comparison is to make people's hearts flutter with a smile and a smile, but without making a promise, you really need to be able to grasp the importance."

"On the contrary, we can sign a tariff agreement to reduce taxes on French merchant ships. I asked the French that the number of people from their country who enter our country's trade in a year is only 70,000 to 80,000 taels at most. Besides, if it is signed today, it will not matter if the situation changes in the future. Change. At the moment, France really has nothing to sell to our country, and American ginseng and the like are medicinal materials, so it would be good to make a gesture of reducing tariffs. "

"You can also sign a secret contract to allow them to supply and repair at the ports of China and North Korea during the war, but only France, Spain, etc. are not allowed."

"The momentum is huge. It is for the Rakshasa and the British to see."

When Li Gan heard this, he already understood. After thinking for a moment, he laughed and said, "That's right. Negotiating with Rakshasa to explore the northwest border must be delayed. It will be delayed until Rakshasa and Turkey go to war; it will be delayed until the French envoy comes to the capital with great fanfare, and then negotiations with Rakshasa can be delayed. ”

"As for Britain, we should maintain our attitude and ask them to send people to perform Hajj and take the initiative to ask for permission."

"In your eyes, China is not yet capable of participating in affairs in Southeast Asia and even India, so it cannot make an alliance with France at this time. But it also makes France convinced that there may be an opportunity for alliance in the future to obtain its country's technical weapons."

"In the future, you can advance or retreat. If you retreat, you will stick to Nanyang and re-establish the Yongle Dynasty's Nanyang vassal, and all Western countries will treat them equally; if you advance, you will fight for battle on the sea to share India, unite vertically and horizontally, and use their military strength to make allies and enemies... If Nanyang If India is really as profitable as you say.”

Liu Yu thought, it's not very profitable, and it may even lose money in the short term for the national treasury. The initial investment in colonization is quite large, and the South Seas don't produce silver, and the mortality rate of tropical immigrants is too high. The real benefit is India, but the Dutch spices can also make a fortune while Europe is in chaos, which can be used as bait.