Zhou Changfeng's worries are not unreasonable. Although he is not interested in classical history, he has some understanding of the past dynasties.
Although the Ming Dynasty, which is known for its toughness in diplomacy, has the reputation of "not making peace with each other, not paying indemnities, and not paying tribute," in his opinion, it has gone from the extreme of cowardice in the Song Dynasty to the other extreme.
This was influenced by folk customs. People in the Ming Dynasty despised the weakness of the Song Dynasty. Throughout the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, even a slightly mild diplomatic attitude would be opposed by literati.
There were very few diplomatic methods in the classical era, nothing more than paying tribute, claiming vassal status, sending protons, making marriage, and prohibiting trade. However, the political correctness of the Ming Dynasty did not allow them to appear, so the only option left was war. .
Viewed objectively, Zhou Changfeng believes that this is also not reasonable. It should be noted that war is undoubtedly the most resource-consuming strategy in ancient times with low productivity. In many cases, the goal can be achieved at a lower cost.
When the country is at its peak, such a tough diplomatic attitude is fine and can actually inspire people; but when the country is in decline, continuing to be so tough is accelerating its demise.
The extremes of the Song and Ming Dynasties are obviously undesirable. The majestic war strength can certainly inspire the army and the people, but this is "dead energy", while flexible diplomatic methods can have the magical effect of lifting a thousand pounds, which is called "transforming energy".
The two complement each other and are indispensable. Only by using them properly can you gain the upper hand in the diplomatic game.
At noon on this day, the Forbidden City, Wenhua Hall.
Looking back at history, the cabinet first established in the Yongle period usually held offices and directors in Wenyuan Pavilion. This rule was still used in the later Ming Dynasty, because the location and regulatory level of Wenyuan Pavilion were indeed suitable as the working place for cabinet bachelors.
However, after the constitutional government, the reorganized cabinet moved to Wenhua Palace.
Since the number of government affairs in modern countries far exceeds that in ancient times, the number of cabinet members is at least a dozen. The Wenyuan Pavilion, which has limited space, is a bit crowded because it is also responsible for collecting books.
The Wenhua Hall was originally used to teach Buddhist scriptures and banquets, but now it is hardly used, so it was simply moved here.
Although there are examples of "re-establishing the prime minister, who is in charge of the maintenance of the machinery, and setting up twelve ministers in the cabinet, who are all involved in the maintenance of the machinery." However, the number of ministers in the cabinet does not necessarily have to be twelve, and in many cases there will be slightly more.
Similar to the British cabinet members who enjoyed titles such as chancellor, minister, lord, secretary, etc., the cabinet ministers of the Ming Dynasty also followed the previous habit of additional titles of bachelor.
The bachelor of Fengtian Temple is in charge of personnel work, that is, the personnel cabinet minister;
The bachelor of Hua Gaidian is in charge of financial work, that is, the financial cabinet minister;
The bachelor of Jinshendian is in charge of civil affairs work, that is, the cabinet minister of civil affairs;
The Bachelor of Wen Huadian is in charge of diplomatic work, that is, the Minister of Foreign Affairs;
The Grand Bachelor of Wuyingdian is in charge of national defense work, that is, the Minister of National Defense;
These five cabinet ministers are the most important and are called the "Five Prime Ministers". In addition, there are many cabinet members, such as those responsible for education, water conservancy, health, transportation, etc., who are collectively titled Bachelor of Wenyuange.
The cabinet is headed by the prime minister and is not responsible to the Consultative Yuan (parliament) but only to the emperor.
However, a very important point is that although the cabinet does not need to care about the Consultative Yuan, it is subject to the supervision of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
This is a special feature that is different from the typical binary monarchy system, which limits the emperor's power to a considerable extent - this was the last effort made by the new party when it was compromising.
In addition, the traditional Chinese power of granting and refuting and the power of granting and returning were also used. The former was controlled by the Six Sections and the latter was controlled by the chief minister of the cabinet (prime minister).
"If the edict is inconvenient for the time, it must be sealed; if the prison sentence is unreasonable, it must be refuted." The two are called together, which is the refutation.
At this moment, in a meeting hall in the east room of Wenhua Hall, several cabinet ministers were having daily exchanges and discussions.
"At present, the British are just complaining, but they dare not use practical means."
"The current signs are still very good, but it may be that the time is too short and the attitudes of all parties are not yet clear. Let's give it some time. At the latest... it should be clear at the League of Nations conference."
Li Guangyuan, the bachelor of Huagaidian University and the finance minister, said casually while flipping through the brochure: "Indeed, this matter cannot be rushed. According to last year's plan, we might as well make a fuss about exporting materials."
"Let's just limit it to strategic supplies. This way, the direction will be clearer." Yu Shenhua, Bachelor of Wenhua Palace and Foreign Minister, took a sip of tea. "Now the world situation has become unstable again. There is a commotion in Folangji. Look. This situation will not subside for two or three years."
Li Guangyuan only caught the second half of his sentence and said: "A few days ago you said it was better not to get involved and just sell things. Now it seems that Britain and France think that way."
The topic suddenly turned to the Iberian Peninsula.
"It's probably the so-called 'non-interference policy' again, looking at Spain's internal strife with a cold eye."
"That's not certain. What if the Germans end up personally? Britain and France will definitely not be able to sit still."
If the German Society helped the Republican Army win the final victory, France would be faced with cheese sandwiched between the East and the West. Naturally, the French would not dare to take this risk, and this would also go against the British national policy of "balance of power diplomacy."
Suddenly, Yu Shenhua turned to look at the Minister of Defense beside him and asked, "Does the military think it is necessary to send someone to visit?"
The latter looks gentle and elegant, and at first glance he looks like a complete scholar.
Lin Xi, who was flipping through the documents, nodded slightly and replied casually: "Of course I have to go, it's a beneficial and harmless move."
The topic got a little divergent, but everyone quickly brought it back to the main topic.
After some discussions, they reconfirmed their previous idea, that is, Britain would counterattack Ming Dynasty's oil import restrictions in a tit-for-tat manner and reversely restrict the export of three major military strategic materials.
They increased their prices step by step, adding another if one failed, and even directly and unilaterally reduced prices to the German Society, a thorn in the side of Britain and France, to increase exports.
The first is tung oil, which has been widely used by people since ancient times. It is indispensable for furniture, ships, oilcloth, oilpaper, etc.
Its characteristics of high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, non-conductivity and fast drying make it also play a key role in industrial production - paints made of different oils, soybean paint takes 41 hours to dry, linseed oil It takes 28 hours, perilla oil takes 18 hours, and tung oil only takes 7 hours.
At the same time, it is also one of the important organic raw materials. Hundreds of products represented by anti-rust paint require it to produce, and its status is evident.
And because most of the introduction of tung oil in various countries around the world ended in failure, or with little success, Daming occupies an absolute monopoly on tung oil exports, with annual output accounting for 90% of the world's total, and the remaining 10%. Mainly from Uruguay and Argentina, and the quality is not as good as that produced in China.
In the past three years, Daming's annual tung oil export volume has basically hovered around 90,000 tons and 100,000 tons. It can be said that it is present in machines and industrial products in various countries around the world.
