Zhu Jingyuan left the Wenhua Palace, got in the car and returned to the palace where he lived, and then summoned the Persian representatives.
The Three Kingdoms of Anxi also arranged for representatives to participate in the peace talks between the Ming Dynasty and Taixi.
It's just that they are not participants in the war and do not directly participate in the negotiations. They are just waiting for the results and possible instructions on the sidelines.
In today's Persia, the ruling family is still the Safavid dynasty that has been discontinued in history.
Seventy years ago, the last emperor of the Safavid dynasty of Persia, the puppet monarch Abbas III, was rescued by the Ming Dynasty and became a monarch with partial actual ruling power, and the dynasty continued.
Abbas III dedicated the title of the Persian Emperor, the King of Kings, to the Ming Emperor as his title.
From the perspective of European and Western countries, the Emperor of Ming Dynasty actually held the titles of Emperor of China, Tianzhu, and Persia.
Of the four emperor titles in the classical era of the Old World, only the Roman Emperor is now not in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.
Every country in Europe and the West has a group of people competing for the title of emperor, which makes the countries in Europe and the West feel that the Ming Emperor is more and more noble.
In fact, the operation of presenting the title of Abbas III was also learned from Chinese history books.
More than a thousand years ago, the last princes of the Persian Sassanid Dynasty, father and son Balus and Ninis, fled to the Tang Dynasty after the destruction of the country.
They dedicated the title of King of Kings of Persia to Li Zhi, the emperor of Tang Dynasty at that time.
Li Zhi conveniently built a Persian governor's palace, and in theory the Tang Dynasty had a claim to Persia.
The actions of the two Persian princes started the habit of giving emperors titles, and Li Zhi and Wu Zetian became the emperor and queen.
The Ming Emperor of this world followed the will of Emperor Shizu and no longer randomly awarded titles to foreigners, so he did not give any titles to Abbas.
But Abbas was sensible and after offering the title of Emperor of Persia (King of Kings), he changed his name to King of Persia.
The current king of Persia is the great-grandson of Abbas III and is called Abbas VI.
The representative sent by Persia to the Western Cape is the 28-year-old Prince Suleiman, the son of Abbas VI.
Su Laiman came to Zhu Jingyuan's palace and saw Zhu Jingyuan in the middle of the living room. He knelt down and kowtowed:
"The prince of Persia, Suleiman, pays homage to His Highness Prince Dashi of the Ming Dynasty."
Zhu Jingyuan waved his hand nonchalantly:
"Okay, get up and don't kneel down again."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Su Laiman got up after thanking him, savoring Zhu Jingyuan's words "Don't kneel again" and found that there seemed to be a different meaning in it.
Within the Ming Dynasty, there was no etiquette for kneeling and worshiping between monarchs and ministers, but it did not matter to those outside the Ming Dynasty.
That's why a prince like himself who does not belong to the Ming Dynasty would take the initiative to kneel down and salute.
Tell yourself not to salute in the future. Is it time to accept Persia as a vassal state?
Su Laiman didn't dare to believe this guess, so he could only ask cautiously:
"May I ask what your Highness's orders are?"
Zhu Jingyuan seemed to ask very casually:
"Does Persia want to become a foreign vassal of the Ming Dynasty?"
Su Laiman was shocked. His guess came true, and he threw himself to the ground again:
"We in Persia all dream of becoming a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. If Your Highness can facilitate the establishment of a vassal state in Persia, it will be a blessing to Persia."
Suleiman was really excited.
Nominally independent countries like Persia, Khiva, and Kazakhstan were very embarrassed in the Ming camp.
In fact, everything was indirectly controlled by the Ming Dynasty, and the main industries were in the hands of the Ming Dynasty's royal consortium.
But in theory, if their country is beaten, Ming Dynasty does not have to worry about it.
They dream of getting out of this situation.
It is impossible to truly be completely independent, and it is impossible to join the Taixi camp. The only way out is to become a formal Ming vassal state.
Zhu Jingyuan imitated the old emperor's attitude and did not pick up the opponent's issue directly, but said noncommittally:
"You get up first and come over and look at this map. I want to get a piece of land in Persia."
Su Laiman carefully got up and walked to Zhu Jingyuan, looking at the map of the food area on the table next to Zhu Jingyuan.
Zhu Jingyuan drew a circle around the Caspian Sea coast, the later capital of Azerbaijan, and the Baku region:
"I heard that there are oil seedlings here, so I want to buy a piece of land here and try to dig oil wells and build factories."
Natural oil and gas spills have occurred in the Baku region since ancient times.
There are fires burning all year round in many areas. The name "Azerbaijan" means "fire".
Such obvious oil and gas characteristics make the Baku Oilfield the earliest large-scale oilfield exploited in history.
Oil can be produced in the shallowest place at 50 meters, and in most areas an oil well of 500 meters is enough.
Exploitation began in the 1870s, and by the beginning of the 20th century, oil production once reached half of the world's oil production.
By the 1940s during World War II, oil production once accounted for 70% of the Soviet Union's.
In this world, many people also know that there is likely to be oil here, because the oil seeps on the surface are too obvious.
But this land belongs to the Kingdom of Persia and is the edge of the buffer zone between Ming Dynasty and Lucia.
Lucia and Western countries dare not come here to invest, and Ming Dynasty does not need to come here to extract oil. Ming Dynasty's oil fields are mainly in Nanyang.
After the war begins, this place may become a battlefield at any time, and no one wants to come here to dig for oil.
When Prince Suleiman heard that Zhu Jingyuan wanted this land, he agreed directly without hesitation:
"Why did you buy it? You are so polite. The entire plain downstream of the Kura River is a gift from Persia."
Zhu Jingyuan was stunned when he heard this, and then he couldn't help but chuckled and said:
"You are really too smart. Let me support Lucia for you from now on, right?"
Zhu Jingyuan was smart. It was not that this prince was trying to please him. He just wanted a small piece of land in Baku, so he gave himself the entire Azerbaijan region in future generations.
But because Azerbaijan is the junction of Persia, Lucia, and Ottoman countries.
If the entire land was given to Zhu Jingyuan, then Persia and Lucia would not be in direct contact.
If Lucia invades Persia in the future, the first thing she will occupy is the land of the Ming Prince, so the Ming court cannot ignore it.
As for oil, its importance in the world and this era is far from enough, and it is completely inferior to that of the Cold War era.
At this time, most ships were still burning coal, and only the still rare cars and oil lamps with limited consumption needed to burn oil.
World fuel consumption is relatively limited, and as a result, oil fields are not particularly valued.
Moreover, outsiders dare not mine the oil here in Baku. Giving it to Prince Ming to ensure his own safety is the best choice.
What's more, this prince was the one who proposed to establish a vassal state for Persia.
When Su Laiman heard that Zhu Jingyuan revealed his thoughts, he immediately became a little nervous and quickly made a promise:
"Please bear with me, Your Highness. When the matter is accomplished, the whole of Persia will be grateful."
Suleiman thought that Zhu Jingyuan was "corrupt" and asked for benefits from Persia in exchange for helping them establish a vassal state.
In fact, establishing a vassal state was Zhu Jingyuan's goal. He wanted Baku just to order something on the way, and he was really prepared to spend money to buy it.
So when facing Su Laiman who had misunderstood, Zhu Jingyuan reprimanded him expressionlessly:
"If you don't know your position, then don't bother with anything west of Tehran. The Ming Dynasty will set up another vassal state to deal with Lucia and Ottoman.
"Don't even want the east of the Sahad Plateau. Let the Afghans establish their own country. The southern part will be handed over to the vassal state of Tianzhu..."
What Zhu Jingyuan said is that on the basis of modern Persia, he made another big cut to the west of Persia, cutting the capital Tehran into the border.
Prince Suleiman was startled, and at the same time he immediately understood his position.
When the Ming Dynasty accepted Persia, it was to let Persia serve as a hunting dog and keep an eye on the two beasts Lucia and Osman.
If you, Persia, hide behind Ming Dynasty and let Ming Dynasty block Lucia and Osman for you, then what does Ming Dynasty want you to do?
Isn’t it necessary to kill and eat meat?
Su Laiman once again decisively knelt down to Zhu Jingyuan:
"Your Highness, calm down, everyone in Persia will do their best to prevent Lucia and the Ottomans from crossing the border!
"But Persia's power is limited, and it is no match for the Lucian barbarians. Please ask the Heavenly Soldiers to help!"
Zhu Jingyuan nodded slightly:
“Don’t worry, you just need to send your troops to the northwest border and keep an eye on Lucia and the Ottomans for the time being.
“The main force of the Ming Dynasty will once again enter your northwest region through the railway line while establishing the vassal state.
"The Ming Dynasty's army will not leave in the future, and any subsequent war will be in Lucia."
Su Laiman was pleasantly surprised, and he knelt down hurriedly again and agreed:
"I understand, Xiao Wang understands, and we in Persia will fully cooperate!"
Zhu Jingyuan sent away the Prince of Persia and called Wang Lai from the Ship Department of the Ministry of Industry.
Wang Lai bowed his hands and sat down at the guest seat on the side of the lobby.
Zhu Jingyuan sat directly opposite Wang Lai and asked about matters related to the Ministry of Industry:
"Mr. Wang, has the situation of the plane been mentioned in the news from the capital in the past few days?"
Wang Lai reported in a very relaxed tone:
"According to the information from Director Li Rui of the Arms Department, when we set out, we started building a small-scale production line according to your instructions, and then directly started small-scale mass production.
"The result was just as His Highness expected. The first batch of fifty aircraft was completed a few days ago, and they were sold out as soon as they were manufactured.
“This is just an order from the Fifth Army Governor’s Office, the shipyard, the Royal Flying Machine Company, and the Ming Dynasty Aviation Company, and it has not yet been sold to the public.
"More than ten days ago, the design of a combat aircraft equipped with machine guns and bomb clasps was officially completed.
"Using an eighty-horsepower rotary engine, the maximum speed exceeded one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour, and the Fifth Army Governor's Office directly ordered another hundred.
"Half of this order has been allocated to the Royal Flying Machinery Company, and both parties are now working hard to manufacture these one hundred 'fighters'.
"Your Daming Airlines also built a rudimentary production line a few days ago.
"The subsequent test aircraft required by various government agencies, as well as all civilian unarmed aircraft, will be produced by Daming Airlines.
"The transport aircraft and passenger aircraft you designed have also been designed, and the Ministry of Finance and the Fifth Army Governor's Office have ordered them to explore their use.
"The incendiary bomb test was also successful. It works very well when used with ordinary bullets to hit airships."
Aircraft of this era were very simple, even simpler than their contemporary automobiles.
At least there is no need to apply power to the wheels, and there is no need to consider the design of steering wheels, differentials and the like.
For the simplest airplanes, even if they were made by craftsmen by hand, it would not take much time.
Under the direct promotion of the Ministry of Industry and the consortium of Ming Dynasty, it is not a problem to accumulate dozens of such aircraft in a month.
The production line must have been transferred from a factory such as a car, and it was not completely new, so it could be so fast.
Zhu Jingyuan nodded lightly:
"Okay, aircraft that can be used in combat have been mass-produced. This progress is already very good.
"Then use my name to notify the Ministry of Industry and the Royal Flying Machine Company to continue expanding the production line immediately.
"I will notify the Fifth Army Commander's Office and ask them to order another two hundred aircraft to be sent directly to Dashi and the Xianbei front line in the north."
Wang Lai was surprised:
"Your Highness, of course we can increase production, but pilot training cannot keep up.
“People who used to be involved in hang gliding are now basically recruited to be pilots.
"The Fifth Army Governor's Office directly opened military training courses and began to select smart soldiers for training.
“But there are too few teachers, and it will be difficult to see results in the short term, let alone go to the battlefield.
Zhu Jingyuan explained his thoughts with a smile:
“Pilot training requires enough aircraft to train faster.
“Now is the start-up period, don’t think about getting it right in one step.
“It would be too slow to let teachers take the lead and directly train pilots into elites.
“Now we only need to teach the first step clearly so that students can take off and land on their own, and the rest can be explored by themselves.
“The teacher immediately went on to teach more newcomers.
“Airplanes have just been invented, what experience do those masters have?
"Those experiences are also summarized by the master himself, and they may not be absolutely correct.
“Now if we want to rapidly expand the number of pilots, we must give talented students the opportunity to explore the use of aircraft on their own.
"And this requires a large number of aircraft, so we need to increase production first."
Wang Lai reacted quickly.
When a new thing is born, there is no mature teaching and training plan at all.
Directly allowing more talented and interested smart students to explore and learn on their own may not be less efficient than the teacher leading them to learn.
Although the risk is definitely higher, it may not be unacceptable to Daming.
But Wang Lai has another worry:
"Logically, it is indeed possible to do this, but what His Highness means is that the existing pilots should be allowed to go directly to the battlefield? Is this possible? And isn't there a ceasefire now?"
Zhu Jingyuan laughed directly after hearing this:
"We have the final say on whether the war will cease or not. I did not intend to cease the war directly from the beginning, at least not just so happily.
“We also need to put pressure on Xiyi and create a greater real threat to them to make them give up their illusions.
“New weapons like aircraft are a great tool.
"The existing anti-aircraft guns in various countries are used to attack airships and even balloons. It should be difficult to hit small and flexible machines like airplanes.
"The enemy has no aircraft that can fight us in an air battle, and airships and balloons are living targets in front of aircraft.
“In the early stage, bombs can be dropped as high as possible without going to the ground to straf targets. The probability of damage to the aircraft is very small.
"Furthermore, war cannot be without casualties. Pilots must have actually been on the battlefield to know how to fight."
Zhu Jingyuan said this, and Wang Lai stopped interfering. He was not a military personnel and would not interfere with these plans.
Wang Lai and Zhu Jingyuan continued to confirm some details, then left and went back to contact the Ministry of Industry of the Capital.
Zhu Jingyuan ordered his two staff to write out his plan according to his oral instructions and send it to his father Zhu Jianyan in the capital.
