"Ruan Fulan is asking for the Ming Dynasty?" Zhu Cixiang's eyes lit up. "Does he want me to make him the King of Annan or the King of Guangnan?"
Of course it would be ideal to give each of the four lords of Annan a king's title. Can't the Annan Kingdom be divided into four? But this is just a thought...
"No," Zheng Sen shook his head and said, "Annan is a small country in China, and it also understands the importance of kings and ministers, superiors and subordinates, and righteousness. And although their King Li has no real power for a long time, he still maintains his popularity. He is looked up to by the soldiers and civilians of Annan. In his early years when the Mo clan usurped the country, he was regarded by the people of Annan as a rebellious official and a traitor, so he fell into despair and attached himself to our dynasty.
Today's two masters, Zheng and Ruan, have learned from Mo's lesson. Although they have been the de facto kings for a long time, they are still subordinate to King Li on the surface. And King Annanli was controlled by Lord Zheng. Therefore, the Ruan Lord of Guangnan has always been at a disadvantage in Annan. "
"Ruan Fulan wants to establish another King of Li?"
Zheng Sen smiled and said: "If anyone could stand it, he would have done it long ago."
Wrong guess again! Zhu Cixiang didn't want to continue playing charades with Zheng Sen, so he asked, "Senior Brother, what do you think?"
"Your Majesty, I want the four chiefs of Annan to learn the methods of the bandits." Zheng Sen said, "Let the four chiefs rule together and support King Li together."
This is truly "four fathers co-ruling". After all, Li Guo has a strong army and a strong horse. If he really puts it into a fight, he can compete with the eight kings below. What does King Annan have? It's pitiful to say that even Zheng's father can't serve him, so Zheng Sen has to find three more fathers for him.
Zhu Cixiang asked: "How to do it?"
Zheng Sen said: "Zheng Zheng of Annan has always wanted King Li to restore the title of king... Their King Li is proclaimed emperor, but in our Ming Dynasty, he only has the title of Commander-in-Chief."
This is the pit left by Mo Dengyong - this Annan version of Cao Cao was intimidated by Emperor Jiajing, so he surrendered to the Ming Dynasty and became the commander-in-chief of Annan. Let Annan change from an external vassal to an internal vassal! Although Hou Li always wanted to fill this hole after the restoration of the dynasty, the Ming Dynasty ignored it, and Hou Li was helpless.
It wouldn't matter if Annan was a "true barbarian" outside the Chinese civilization circle. However, Annan was deeply influenced by Confucian culture, and many people in the country regarded the Ming Dynasty as the sovereign state. Now that the suzerain country does not recognize Houli's status as the king of a country, this matter always seems to be unfair and inconsistent.
Of course Zheng Sen, who was on an envoy to Annan, discovered this problem. After he returned home, he heard about the co-governance of the four kings in the Western Dynasty, so he had an idea and planned to use this "co-governance" to dig a big hole for the Annan people. , we should also establish a "four masters co-governance" in Annan - the "Four Fathers of Annan" all have territory, retainers, and armies, and they have been separatist for who knows how many years.
If "four fathers co-govern" is implemented, then it will actually deprive Zheng Zheng of the power to hold the emperor hostage, and also make Annan lose the nominal center.
"Now Annan is a strong master and a weak king," Zheng Sen said. "The king of Li is virtual, and the four masters are real. Among the four masters, only Master Zheng controls the king of Li. So once the king of Li becomes more real, Zheng The Lord must be the one who suffers the most, and Lord Ruan must be happy to see it, so he will naturally give in on the Shui Zhenla issue.
Therefore, His Majesty can not only establish the co-governance of the four principalities in Annam by canonizing King Le and mediating the dispute between Ruan and Zheng, but he can also try to improve the status of King Le and ensure that King Le will not be deposed for no reason, thereby weakening Lord Zheng. . "
Zhu Cixiang thought for a while, "Then I will be worthy of the uncle and nephew of King Annan Li!"
Emperor Zhu's abacus was good. From now on, he will be Uncle Zhu next door to King Li of Annan, and he will be good brothers with King Li's fathers Zheng, Ruan, Mo and Wu. If we all work together to cure King Li, King Li will be so happy!
Ah, by the way, although China and Vietnam had some feuds in later generations, Zhu Cixiang did not intend to teach King Li and his four "white-eyed fathers" a lesson.
Because he found that this Confucian civilization was alone in Southeast Asia... Southeast Asia either believed in Buddhism or Allah, and some believed in Brahmins, and even Christians crowded in. Like the Ming Dynasty, it is considered to be of the same lineage of Confucianism, that is, Annan Little China, and both sides have a common language.
Moreover, Zhu Cihong could not win over the four "godfathers" of King Li now, and it was impossible for him to send an army of 100,000 to 80,000 to expedition to Annan Kingdom. It’s too much effort and not worth it.
The matter with Annan had been settled, and Zhu Cixiang turned his attention to Zheng Jiangong. The prince-in-law had become much fairer, gained some weight, and looked radiant.
"Jiangong, how are the preparations for the construction of the Naval Academy? When can it start?"
The Shanghai Naval Academy is nominally under the jurisdiction of the Naval Department of the Generalissimo's Mansion, but in fact Zheng Jiangong has the final say.
"Your Majesty," Zheng Jiangong had been prepared for a long time. He took out a memorial and handed it over respectfully, "These are the teaching subjects and admissions regulations that I drafted together with the Dutch and Portuguese teachers from the Naval Academy. "
"Oh." Zhu Cixiang responded, took Zheng Jiangong's memorial on the wine table, opened it and started reading.
For the Naval Academy, Zheng Jiangong obviously put a lot of thought into it, and also got the support of Zheng Zhilong, so he invited four or five Dutch and Portuguese merchant ship captains with relatively good skills to serve as instructors. In addition to navigation and gunnery courses, courses such as arithmetic, Spanish (French), astronomy, shipbuilding, Gezhixue, gunsmithing, and swordsmanship are also offered.
It also recruited a group of scholar-officials who were proficient in Eastern and Western culture as teachers at a high price, and entrusted the Macao Council and the Dutch East India Company to invite Western scholars to teach at the Naval Academy.
"Why is there still swordsmanship?" Zhu Cixiang found out that there was a swordsmanship class in the Naval Academy. He was a little confused, so he asked, "Does naval warfare rely on swords instead of cannons?"
"Your Majesty," Zheng Jiangong explained, "of course you must use swords in naval battles! Really solid wooden warships are difficult to sink with artillery, and deck battles are difficult to avoid. Moreover, warships are expensive to build, and sometimes they are loaded with valuables. Of course, Liancheng’s goods must be taken first. Therefore, it is best for the bowman and sailors to be proficient in swordsmanship.”
It turns out that in naval battles of this era, boarding battles and artillery battles were almost equally important!
"That's it!" Zhu Cixiang nodded, continued to look down, and soon discovered another place that was beyond his expectation.
"There are two courses, the accelerated course and the development course... The accelerated course lasts for one year and recruits young sailors. The development course lasts for eight years and recruits boys aged 12 or 13? It's too young. Right? The school system is too long, right?"
Zheng Jiangong had long known that Zhu Cihong would raise this question, and immediately explained: "Your Majesty, this art of navigation and water warfare is not easy to learn, and it is even harder to master it. Many captains in the West have studied the art of navigation and water warfare since childhood. , it took ten or twenty years to become a great weapon. If our dynasty wants to build a large navy and compete with the Western barbarians on the sea, we cannot blindly pursue speed, but must lay a solid foundation. 35 This year is just a matter of coping with the situation. If you want to achieve success, it will take twenty years!"
The navy these days has to start from its infancy. Otherwise, how can it be called a "century-old navy"? Not only does it require a long period of accumulation of personnel, but it is also not easy to improve shipbuilding skills. Zheng Jiangong said that it would take twenty years, but in fact it is better to say it is shorter.
It is purely a dream to think that it will be completed in three to five years... Colonial expansion and other things, Ming Dynasty still has to make up for it!
...
The night was already very dark, and the entire Forbidden City was quiet. Only Zhu Cihong and Wu Sanmei were still leaning on their carved dragon bed made of huanghuali, discussing matters with their eyes open.
"Third sister, don't worry, I won't let a rich man become the prince!" Zhu Cixiang comforted Wu Sanmei, "You are still young and can still have children. You will definitely give birth to a prince!"
That's what he said, but the stone that Zhu Cihong had been hanging on his heart has been put down - no matter what, he has a successor...
Wu Sanmei turned her head, looked at her husband, and said with a smile: "Why does your majesty call brother Hao a rich man? It doesn't sound serious...and how old is your majesty? How can I care about brother Hao?" This is the eldest son of the emperor."
Zhu Cixiang asked: "Then why can't you sleep so late at night?"
Wu Sanmei just sighed: "I am worried about my second brother...the situation in the northwest, and the debt..."
