Section 21 The Foreign Policy Debate
"That's easy to say." Yang Shixiang felt more at ease, "I feel relieved to have a brother here to take charge of the overall situation. As I said just now, I will tell Mr. Wen and Ma Gong his interests when he finds the opportunity."
"I'll definitely tell you." Liu San said. I was very dissatisfied.
Yang Shixiang's recruitment theory is very popular among vested interest groups in Lingao, especially those who have benefited the most. The Australians have brought them wealth that they could not have imagined in the past, but they are well aware of the risks behind this wealth. The potential to confront the Ming gave them sleepless nights.
Compared with the simple gratitude of those destitute refugees who were taken in to work as soldiers, this group that has benefited the most under the new regime is somewhat shaken. The General Administration of Political Security pointed out in a secret investigation report that the new rich in Lingao have limited determination to defend the fruits of victory. Many people are afraid of their status and think that they are suspected of being "thieves".
The report goes on to point out that some people are even planning to transfer part of their property and family members to the Ming Dynasty-ruled areas outside Lingao.
Although the Ming Dynasty had a limited local presence, it had accumulated power for nearly three hundred years. This sense of uneasiness is widespread among emerging local vested interest groups in Lingao before the Crossing Group has fully demonstrated its ability to protect the interests of the people. The idea of recruiting security is very popular among this group of people. Especially the new rich who are on the rise. They relied on the opportunity of the Time Travel Group to gain profits and become rich. They hoped that the rule of the Time Travel Group could last forever, but they were also afraid that the government's conquest would destroy everything. Therefore, they urgently hope that the Cross-Travel Group can recruit people to gain a "legitimacy" status to protect their newly accumulated property.
In order for this group of people to follow the Cross Travelers wholeheartedly, the Cross Travel Group still lacks an outright victory to break their fear and superstition of the government.
Recently, more and more people have expressed their hope through various channels, either explicitly or covertly, to actively seek recruitment through the Travel Group. Yang Shixiang is also among this group of people. Without Chuanchuan Group, there would be no Runshitang today. Yang Shixiang is also more concerned about "how long can the red flag fly?" Not only because the interests of Runshitang and Chuanchuan Group are more closely aligned, but also because Runshitang’s market and raw materials all come from the mainland. Once the Ming Dynasty and Chuanchuan Group mobilize their troops, it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, and business will become complicated. Very difficult.
The issue of recruitment has been mentioned by people within the Cross Travel Group in the past. They believe that the biggest benefit of recruitment is that they can obtain a relatively stable development time, which is cost-effective compared to the cost of recruitment. But this opinion has not become mainstream.
Most of the elders believe that recruiting people is just asking for trouble, and the cost of favors is too great. Moreover, under the Ming Dynasty's system, it is still unknown whether the recruitment of the Chuangzhong, which is based on the condition of separatist rule and Lingao, can be achieved. Even if you can recruit people, the benefits will be very limited. But there are quite a few restrictions.
This time, the Foreign Intelligence Service analyzed that Li Luoyou's sudden visit was motivated not only by wanting to do business, but also by possibly representing the government or the Zheng family to investigate Lingao. The decision is war or peace.
This involves a key question, what kind of foreign policy the Lingao regime intends to adopt at this stage. Is it to support the Ming Dynasty and resist the Qing Dynasty, or to support the Qing Dynasty and attack the Ming Dynasty? Of course, the ultimate goal of the elders is the same: to destroy the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. But on the issue of who should be destroyed first, the Senate was divided into two distinct factions. At a working meeting of the Senate Standing Committee shortly after the second plenary session, the two sides had a heated debate about this.
The Fuming faction is represented by Liu Zheng of the remote exploration team. Liu Zheng is an out-and-out imperialist. Every time at a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee, he would imitate the old Cato and yell: "Shengjing still exists." With this hand, he became the leader of the emperors among the senators.
This faction advocates aiding the Ming Dynasty within a certain range and obtaining benefits at the same time. Specific policies include selling arms to Ming Dynasty, contracting water transportation, and providing credit loans to Ming Dynasty based on Ming Dynasty's willingness to provide mortgages. Judging from Ming Dynasty's financial situation, it is almost impossible to recover the loan and interest; if necessary, use The navy launched military operations in Liaodong, harassing the Manchu regime and constantly weakening the enemy to reduce its pressure on the Ming Dynasty.
The purpose of aiding the Ming Dynasty, according to Liu Zheng, is: first, to alleviate the suffering of the people of the Central Plains and minimize the sacrifices and losses in the Central Plains; second, to reduce the hostility of the Ming Dynasty and make it a temporary ally - even if it cannot be regarded as an ally , at least it can be a trading partner. After all, Daming is the most important raw material, population supplier and sales market for the Chuanchuan Group. Third, once the time-traveling group lands on the mainland and establishes its own political power, it will at least have a basic social structure that can be used, and there will be available intellectuals instead of a blank slate.
Of course, this group of people is actually composed of purpose. Many of them are fans, expressing their favorable impressions of the Ming Dynasty in a clear-cut manner, hoping to prolong the life of the Ming Dynasty; some just hope that the people of the Central Plains will suffer less pain from the change of dynasties, and avoid the suffering of life and death, and the destruction of their families; and some are just looking for profit. After thinking about it, I believe that supporting Daming is good for the overall interests of the crossing group.
Another group of real interestists led by Li Haiping of the Navy. This group of people is completely profit-oriented and advocates that the goal can be achieved by any means. There are supporters of the "virus flow" who advocate indiscriminate virus attacks; there are advocates of the "drug trafficking theory" who hope to sell opium and coca on a large scale to Liaodong; there are advocates of the "smash and rebuild theory" who He believed that assistance should be provided to the Manchus and Qing Dynasties to speed up their entry into the country. Let the Manchus, Nanming and peasant armies compete in the Central Plains. The fight will be so smoke-filled that the Central Plains will turn into a white field, and the old social system and economic structure will be completely smashed from top to bottom.
"The great leader once said that a clean house is a good place to entertain guests." Li Haiping unabashedly advocated the theory of smashing and rebuilding at the Senate meeting, "We cannot build a new society without smashing the old system. This smashing of the old system I think the task of slashing and killing should be left to the Qing Dynasty."
"No matter what, we cannot let Tatars enter the country and harm the people - one of the main purposes of our coming here is also to save China. The rotten peach of Ming Dynasty can be picked afterwards." Ding Ding raised Li Haiping's views at the Standing Committee Fierce retort, "You don't even have the basic national identity and do you still have any conscience?"
"We come from another time and space. What national identity do we have with the indigenous people? Will the people of the Ming Dynasty recognize that we are Chinese?"
"Your idea is unbelievable." Ding Ding was so angry that he jumped up. "Not only are you a traitor, you are simply a national nihilist."
"Quiet, quiet," Wu Nanhai, who temporarily presided over the meeting, quickly banged the hammer, "don't engage in personal attacks."
"How do you seize the local control rights of the clan gentry in the Ming Dynasty and the right to speak controlled by the Confucian scholars? If this is not solved, no one can save China. It is not difficult to establish a national political power. It is rare to transform society without bloodletting the society. Our new system is untenable, and it won’t be long before we go back to the old path of traditional society.”
Li Haiping did not care about the accusation of national nihilism. He continued to point out that when the time is right, the crossing group will have the reputation of righteousness when it sends its troops northward. "Expelling the Tartars and restoring China", as long as the Chuan Chuan Group raises this flag, the world's righteousness will be fully occupied. Anyone who dares to resist the Chuan Chuan Group is a traitor.
"Is the slogan 'Restore China' as good as 'Anti-Qing and Fu-Ming'? You must know that Ming Dynasty is still very influential in this time and space. Just look at how many people are using the banner of 'Anti-Qing and Fu-Ming' - Even the remnants of Li and Zhang took up the banner of the Ming Dynasty."
"This is not a problem. Regardless of whether the Ming Dynasty fell to the Manchus or Li Chuang, Lingao's official propaganda should be 'the Ming loses its virtues, and the virtuous can replace them'. Then use the theory of destiny and the theory of the cycle of five virtues. That's roughly it. It can be done. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, people from all walks of life came out in the name of the Song Dynasty."
"... By then we have used the hands of the Manchus to clear away all potential opposition forces. Our arrival means salvation to the suffering people. We have eliminated the resistance to social reform without dirtying our hands, and we have also charged If you win the hearts of the people, won’t you achieve multiple things with one stone?”
However, there are also differences among the smash-and-rebuild theorists. The main point of the disagreement is who should be the sledgehammer. Some support the Manchus, while others think that rather than letting barbarians do it, it is better to let Li Zicheng do it. Anyway, it depends on the degree of destruction. It seems that both sides are evenly matched. In the end, this issue often leads to the issue of "national justice." So Li Haiping, the brains of the Smashing Faction, got the label of "traitor".
Some of Li Haiping's remarks, such as "Let the Tatars help us kill all the scholars so that we don't have to kill them" and "The only way to destroy the old system and society is to rely on indiscriminate killing" made him a royal man and a The common enemy of everyone, if it were not for the timely rescue by his naval colleagues, and his experience as a commander in Changhua Fort made him strong, he would have been beaten severely at the gate of the Senate. From then on, Li Haiping would bring a stick with him every time he returned to Lingao.
The two factions debated at the meeting for several hours, as both factions had sufficient representation in the Senate's standing committee. In the end, no party was able to gain a decisive majority.
Since no one could convince anyone on the Standing Committee, the Senate finally passed an external guidance policy that was generally acceptable to all parties: "Maintaining glorious isolation under the balance of the continent."
The core of this policy is "equality of opportunity", "non-interference" and "isolation". The specific measures are: Chuan Chuan Group will use all means to protect its own interests from infringement; use all means to expand Chuan Chuan Group's control area when necessary; not give up the opportunity to obtain benefits from both parties: develop trade relations with both parties at the same time and develop Coastal trade routes stimulate the flow of bulk goods; large-scale export of Lingao commodities and import of raw materials and population. We will not interfere in the war process between the two sides for the time being, and we will not take actions that will seriously affect the balance of power between the two sides.
The only force to be eliminated in this guiding policy is the maritime heroes represented by Zheng Zhilong. There is no room for others to snore on the side of the bed - without establishing sea control over China's coast, the large-scale coastal trade planned by the Planning Institute, the Ministry of Commerce and the Navy will be impossible.
The seemingly inconsistent plan proposed by the Planning Institute actually embodies the thinking of the executive committee bureaucrats - "balance."
At this stage, Chuanzhong's strategy is to climb the technology tree as quickly as possible and accumulate strength. Under this overall goal, the Crossing Group must not only effectively govern the entire territory of Hainan, but also expand to coastal key points such as Vietnam and Taiwan, and establish sea control along China's coast. The power of the traversing group cannot be deployed in multiple strategic directions, and the continent's policy can only be based on balance. The most ideal situation is to let neither the Ming Dynasty nor the Manchu Qing Dynasty do anything to the other, and attack and contain each other.
If you help Daming excessively. Once the situation in Liaodong is stabilized, the Ming Dynasty will inevitably have to deal with the Chuanchu people who have separatized Qiongzhou; on the contrary, if the Manchu Qing Dynasty becomes too strong and causes them to enter the customs early, and Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong have not yet developed their strength, the Manchus will If the Qing Dynasty directly controls the continent and establishes political power in advance, the Crossing Group will cause great obstacles to the continent's strategy in the future.
Wen Desi made it clear at a working meeting of the Executive Committee that it was not advisable to support the Qing Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty. And helping Ming is especially undesirable.
"It's impossible for the Ming Dynasty not to be in chaos. It's not enough to be able to legitimately enter the mainland. To have national identity with the Ming Dynasty in another time and space, tsk tsk. I agree with the identification, but it has to be recognized by others, not the opposite of some comrades. My mind is all messed up. Don't let the time-traveling army become a barrier to the Ming Dynasty in the end - because of the 'national hatred', all the people around the Ming Dynasty were beaten up, and then a self-righteous Ming Dynasty was left, completely unable to enter - Do you plan to invade the Ming Dynasty yourself to modernize? Will the Confucian scholars, landlords and old bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty who were protected by our powerful force be grateful to us and obedient? The Manchus only shave half of their heads. But you want to uproot others, who will be hated more?"
Ma Qianzhi rarely supported Chairman Moon’s views on this issue: “Incomplete liquidation of the old system will leave us with endless troubles. In particular, the liquidation of the old ideology must be thorough.”
"But chaos must be orderly. People like Li Haiping who blatantly supported the Qing Dynasty to fight against the Ming Dynasty are tantamount to taking off their pants and doing it directly. Comrades, sometimes you still have to pay attention to your image. How can we educate you in the future if it is too ugly? The next generation?”
"It is dangerous to get involved in continental affairs now," Wu De said. "Before the first five-year plan is completed, I oppose any form of involvement in continental affairs - except trade. Our way out is in the south."
What Wu De advocated was the "Southern Progress Theory." It is suggested that the Traveling Group should not rush to join the competition on the mainland, but control the periphery and do business with various forces to obtain the maximum benefits. The focus of cross-border group development should turn to Southeast Asia. Build colonies to exploit the rich natural resources of the area.
"We have limited human resources. If we put them into the mainland, even if we only manage and control a Guangdong, it will involve a lot of our energy. It is beyond our capabilities to control the vast area and population. Rather than investing in the big game in the Central Plains right now, It is better to go to Southeast Asia, which is sparsely populated and rich in resources, than to go to the whirlpool." Wu De then said cryptically, "And we have enough discretion in our actions in Southeast Asia."
The theory of southward expansion and the "continental balance policy" are complementary to each other - maintaining a balanced mode of melee with each other on the continent, and taking advantage of this gap to put the main force on the trade lines in Southeast Asia as far away as India. This line provides access to most other industrialized resources except population. The two resources of silver and food obtained through trade are exchanged for the population of the continent. On the one hand, improve the level of human resources. On the one hand, a large amount of silver imports caused inflation, which was another straw for the Ming Dynasty.
"At the same time, our approach of absorbing a large number of refugees will greatly reduce the level of civil strife in the Ming Dynasty. The peasant army that was originally on fire will probably not expand to hundreds of thousands or hundreds of thousands at once." Wu De said, "In comparison, we have removed them again A few straws. Roughly equal profits and losses.”
The population obtained from the mainland can not only meet Lingao's demand for labor and soldiers, but also can be used to organize colonization in Southeast Asia and establish colonies. Colonies are not only the fortress of the Lingao regime in Southeast Asia, but also the blood vessels that absorb resources from Southeast Asia. With colonies, the Lingao regime can have strong control over major resource areas without relying on the influence of local kings.
Based on this guidance strategy and the judgment of its intention, the executive committee issued Liu's work guidance to demonstrate Lingao's strong military and industrial capabilities as much as possible. Dress yourself up as a hard fruit full of thorns to dispel the ambitions of the government or Zheng Zhilong. At the same time, try to win over Li Luoyou as much as possible and try to make him a business partner of the Crossing Group.
As for Quark, an Englishman, the Ministry of Commerce believes that he can establish trade relations with the British in India. Now, through Li Huamei, they have opened up the trade in Goa occupied by the Portuguese. With Quark, they can open up the trade route to Surat.
Surat currently cannot provide any products that are urgently needed by the public. The establishment of this trade route is first to prevent Li Huamei from monopolizing India. Secondly, both Surat and Goa are trade transit points from Asia to Europe. A certain window value.
"The British have other uses," said Hude. "To some extent, their desire for wealth far exceeds that of the Spaniards who love gold, and their unscrupulousness and shamelessness surpass all Europeans. This is We can make full use of it. They can do a lot of dirty work." e! ~!
