"I don't agree with what Mr. Zhu Hou said. We can't compare with him, but can't the prince also compare with him?" Wang Anbang fired a hidden arrow at Zhu Xiaochuan.
"There is also our emperor." Chen Wenqi also took advantage of the situation and stabbed him.
"Our emperor is Tathagata Buddha, and the princes are Bodhisattvas. Even if Xiao Chen is Sun Wukong and can transform into seventy-two somersault clouds, he can still hide it from the eyes of Buddha and Bodhisattva. Can he read the palms of Tathagata Buddha's hands?" Zhu Xiaochuan This was more true, and several people laughed together after hearing it.
Gong Shouli sneered, Xiao Chen, after all, you are still a monkey!
Xiao Chen also laughed a few times, thinking that you all think you are very smart, but you don't know that the smartest person here may be Zhu Xiaochuan, who looks very honest!
Everyone said that the emperor's most loyal confidant was the Black Dragon Guard, but the closest Black Dragon Guard was also stationed outside the city, and the one who always guarded the emperor was the Jinyi Guard!
Zhu Xiaochuan's Jin Yiwei.
After chatting for a while while eating and drinking, Li Wanjiang talked about Xiao Chen's physical condition and expressed his deep concern.
Now Xiao Chen is of great use to him, so the concern for Xiao Chen at this moment comes from the bottom of his heart.
"I decided to send Shangguan Qiji to follow you back to Yanyun County. With him taking care of me, I can feel more at ease." Li Wanjiang also had good intentions.
Xiao Chenxin said, Your Majesty, you are relieved, but I am not too relieved. You don’t know that this kid has a grudge against me. He is holding back and wants to kill me!
But he still had to accept the emperor's grace, and he had to pretend to be very moved.
"Eunuch Gong, I see that you are quite tired from standing. Why don't you go and rest first? Just let me serve the Emperor." Xiao Chen was about to talk about business.
Gong Shouli rolled his eyes at him.
Who do you think your boy is? How dare you order me!
"Shou Li, you go ahead." Li Wanjiang waved his hand and kicked him out, knowing that there was something wrong with Xiao Chen!
"Your Majesty, how many warships can our Great Zhou Navy send to participate in the battle to regain Shunfeng Port?" When Gong Shouli and all the serving eunuchs had gone out, Xiao Chen got straight to the point.
"This... there are about four main warships and a dozen small warships." Li Wanjiang frowned.
Everyone was speechless after hearing this. Compared with the Ross fleet, which had dozens of large advanced warships, the strength of the two sides was too disparate.
Therefore, it is basically impossible to fight against others from the sea. The only way to win is to attack from the land.
"That's what I guess." Xiao Chen nodded, "Your Majesty, Nishimura Zhicun and the others came to see you before they left. I heard what he said, and it seemed that he was willing to send troops to help us regain Shunfeng Port. , of course he didn’t say it explicitly, but I feel that they are sincere.”
"Well, that Nishimura Zhicun also hinted to me, haha, such an important matter should not be discussed with me by his little Zhongnayan." Li Wanjiang said.
Li Wanjiang's idea was different from Xiao Chen's. He felt that the Japanese people were not sincere enough. The reason for the hint was to test whether Li Wanjiang had the intention to regain Shunfeng Port.
If you are sincere, you shouldn't let a little Zhong Nayan come to see me. You should at least send a minister of Taizheng, a minister of the Ministry of War, or a general of the Wei Mansion, right? He must also be the special imperial envoy of your Emperor Shenzhao.
The rest of the people are waiting, so I won’t talk to him.
There is no way to talk about it at all. If you say another word to me, you will lose your identity.
Because you only sent one Zhong Na Yan, not only were you not sincere, you also underestimated me. Is this the attitude a lower country should have towards a higher country?
That is to say, I can’t use my hands now, otherwise I would have destroyed you long ago!
"Your Majesty, I feel that they are still sincere. The reason why they only sent a small Zhongnayan may be to avoid attracting the attention of the Russians. Of course, they are also testing the Emperor's attitude. If the Emperor decides to attack Shunfeng Harbor And if we are willing to follow them, they will definitely send higher-level people to find us." Xiao Chen said.
"Well, what Xiao Chen said makes some sense... What if it's your opinion?" Li Wanjiang nodded.
"In my opinion, we can temporarily cooperate with the Japanese. As far as the current situation is concerned, we can work together to fight the Russians, which can be a win-win and mutual benefit." Xiao Chen's attitude was very clear.
"They little devils are so kind-hearted that they will help us?" Wang Anbang said, "I'm afraid they are just too ambitious and have other agendas."
"What Mr. Wang said is correct. They are essentially the same wolf cubs as the Russians. They want to take a bite of fat when they see it. However, their current goal is the same as ours, which is to drive away the Russians." Going out to Sunny Harbor is also the basis of our cooperation and is a win-win situation."
"As for mutual benefit, on the one hand, both of us can obtain corresponding benefits in this battle. On the other hand, we use each other. He uses our land power and we use their sea power to win this battle. In the end, we can sign some kind of treaty with him and even make considerable concessions."
This topic is sensitive.
In the diplomacy between the two countries, any concession would be a sign of weakness. With Li Wanjiang's temperament, it would still be quite a concession for him to make concessions to a small island country... I'm afraid he would never agree.
"Oh? I don't know what you mean by concession, Xiao Chen?" As expected, Li Wanjiang's brows furrowed.
"Business is the main thing, military is the supplement." Xiao Chen said, "The Japanese are developing very fast now, and their population is also growing rapidly, but their land is too small and all kinds of resources are very scarce, so they are in urgent need of a lot of material support, but our Zhou Dynasty Now that overseas trade has not been opened up, they can only trade with southern countries and even distant western countries."
Wilson was once one of Japan's trading partners. Although Western merchants like them could transport a large amount of materials, the cost naturally increased greatly because of the long distance.
For example, if the Japanese need one tael of silver to buy ten kilograms of cotton from Dazhou, then if they buy it from the West, they will need at least one tael or five taels of silver. This price difference is too huge, and they cannot afford it. rise.
This resulted in them frequently lowering prices for Western businessmen, which resulted in a very bad reputation in international trade. Wilson once scolded them as stingy little devils!
If this vicious cycle continues, Western trade routes may be cut off, and the Japanese may be forced to take desperate measures due to the lack of domestic materials and launch attacks on the Zhou Dynasty, forcing the Zhou Dynasty to trade with them.
Instead of doing this, we might as well take the initiative to open one or two ports to trade with them.
Of course, this is definitely an act of feeding meat to dogs, because with sufficient supplies, they will develop faster in the future and their national strength will become stronger.
This is definitely quite disadvantageous for Da Zhou.
