In the Imperial City of the Dahua Empire, Zhao Kai lost his temper in his room. He had never felt so uncomfortable or been so depressed.
For such a long time in the past, every progress of the Dahua Empire could not give him a sense of accomplishment, but instead made him fall into more and more fear.
Fengjiang City's tax revenue is gradually increasing, and the income brought by one city or half a city has far exceeded the combined income of more than a dozen cities in the Great China Empire.
Originally, everyone was very happy because these real money would become the cornerstone of the development and growth of the Dahua Empire.
But whenever he thought that the Tang Empire had more and more cities like this, Zhao Kai felt like he had a light on his back and had trouble sleeping and eating.
The Dahua Empire has built two new large-scale textile factories today, while the Tang Empire has moved similar large-scale textile factories to Chu State today - the gap is not narrowing, but constantly widening.
Now even Chu State is competing with the Dahua Empire for its light industrial economy. The troubled Dahua Empire has to frequently reduce the prices of its products in order to compete for a small share of exports with countries like Chu State and Laiens.
Because of freight costs, Dahua Empire's light industry exports are actually not very competitive: Countries on the Western Continent have some industrial foundations of their own, and Dahua Empire's technology seems to be developing relatively slowly there.
Moreover, coupled with the cross-sea freight, the products of the Dahua Empire have little competitiveness in the Western Continent: the products it can sell to the Western Continent are nothing more than some specialties.
For example, Pan Yiping manages a dried fruit specialty from the Dahua Empire, selling some tea and the like.
Therefore, in most cases, the light industrial products of the Great China Empire can only be sold to Shu and Qin. However, with the economic development of these two countries, the ability of the Dahua Empire to export its products has become worse and worse.
Being crowded out by a circle of former vassal states, the Great China Empire has lost all its face. How could Zhao Kai, who always valued face the most, not get angry?
Slapping his hand on the table, he even felt that the two naked women around him were no longer so sexy. So he waved his hands irritably, and the two women left Zhao Kai's bedroom holding their clothes.
They are not Zhao Kai's concubines, but palace maids... After all, it is an empire, and there are still some etiquette that must be considered. It is impossible for two concubines in the harem to serve the emperor at the same time. That is the rule.
Recently, Zhao Kai always has inexplicable evil fire, so he started to find some weak palace ladies to vent his anger... It became more and more difficult for him to suppress his impulse, like a manic beast.
This time, the reason why Zhao Kai was irritable was because he heard that the Qin State had purchased another batch of arms from the Tang State, and even bought an entire production line for artillery shells.
The Qin State, which has always relied on the Great China Empire for arms and weapons, has now become a small Tang State. Both the soldiers' weapons and equipment and the command system are crazily copying the Tang Army.
The Dahua Empire's binding force on Qin is getting weaker and weaker, and it has even reached a worrying point: if the Dahua Empire did not have the geographical advantage of transportation, then Qin might really go directly to do Tang's work What a bastard.
A few hours ago in the court, Prime Minister Chu Muzhou and Minister of War Shen Chuan both expressed their concerns about the situation.
They worried that when both Qin and Tang began to be unwilling to pay the border fees for supplies, a new war was likely to break out.
This time the Dahua Empire will be attacked from both sides by the Tang Army and the Qin Army, and the Dahua Army will be unable to face such a situation.
Therefore, the Great China Empire must be prepared for the unfavorable situation of war on two sides, and at the same time make a series of diplomatic efforts to avoid such a situation from happening.
On the one hand, the army hopes to build a more complex and expensive border defense line, at least to resist the Tang State's attack and buy time for the subsequent mobilization of more troops.
On the other hand, the Great China Empire should work hard to win over some neighboring countries to avoid a war on two fronts: after weighing the situation, Chu Muzhou believed that making good friends with the Tang Empire was the lowest-cost solution.
Because Qin and Shu have the shadow of the Tang Empire behind them, it is obviously not easy to make good friends with Qin and Shu - because if the relationship with Tang is tense, these countries will easily collapse. To the stronger side.
With the support of this theory, the three provinces and six ministries of the Great China Empire believed that by maintaining a close cooperative relationship with the Tang State as much as possible and meeting most of the Tang State's requirements, they could avoid a complete break with the Tang State in a short period of time.
In addition, the Great China Empire will also try its best to encourage the confrontation between the Tang Empire and the Western Continent: only by advocating the "recapture of Bunas" in public opinion can the Datang Empire focus its attention on the west.
This is the simplest way to divert misfortune to the east, that is, the legendary dead Taoist friend is not dead but the poor Taoist. Anyway, as long as the Tang Empire is not an enemy of the Great China Empire, it doesn't matter who he fights.
But this plan has one biggest problem—the Emperor of the Great China Empire, Zhao Kai! His Majesty the Emperor's temper is really not suitable for being humble and petty...
If it wants to fully cooperate with the Tang State, the Dahua Empire must lower its profile and even put itself in the position of a de facto slave state.
Change source app]
They must give up whatever benefits they can get, develop in a low-key manner, make money honestly and run their own country, so that the Tang Empire thinks that the Great China Empire does not pose any threat.
Even if this trick is played clearly, the Great China Empire can consider annexing Qin and Shu with the support of the Tang Empire in the future to reduce the trade costs of the Tang Empire.
It is a pity that this plan was strongly opposed by Emperor Zhao Kai before it was implemented: he could not tolerate the Great China Empire changing from the overlord of the Eastern Continent to a follower of the Tang Empire in his hands.
So the fierce court debate began again, and the final result was that Zhao Kai made a little concession, lowered some transit tariffs, and at the same time expressed his attitude that the Dahua Empire was willing to take over some industries that the Tang Empire had disdained. .
But these are not enough for the courtiers. What they hope is that Zhao Kai will make greater concessions, and even express the friendly attitude of the Great China Empire towards the Tang Empire in the name of the Royal Family of the Great China Empire.
This is a bit overwhelming. How could Zhao Kai be willing to get close to Tang Mo? He had scolded Tang Mo in the court more than once before, and now he used his face to stick to Tang Mo's ass. Wouldn't he become the laughing stock of the world?
Recalling every detail of what had just happened in the court, the anger that Zhao Kai had just vented on the palace maid surged up again.
He casually grabbed a tea cup, looked at it and found that it was a set of expensive top-grade porcelain imported from the Tang Dynasty that he liked very much. He gritted his teeth and put it down again.
But this made him feel aggrieved, so he simply grabbed a cheaper gadget and threw it directly to the ground. He was so shocked that the guards outside the door rushed in.
"Get out!" Zhao Kai scolded and asked the guards to retreat. But before these people closed the door again, he said again: "Come here, clean up the things on the floor!"
"Find the prince!" When he saw the waiter crouching at his feet and cleaning the room, Zhao Kai seemed to feel like an emperor again.
He likes the feeling of watching others crawl under his feet, and the feeling of stepping on other people's heads as long as he stretches out his feet.
In fact, Zhao Kai still has some brains to be able to become the emperor of an empire. It's just that after holding a high position for many years, he was still not used to the situation of "some people he couldn't afford to offend".
After venting for a while, he finally returned to his senses and felt that if it was really attacked from both sides by Qin and Tang, the Great China Empire would really be in danger as the courtiers said.
Therefore, he also felt that the current situation should be changed, and at least the trouble on one side should be solved.
Those courtiers who only know how to cheat and cheat are unreliable. Generals Feng Kezhi, Qian Jinhang and others have verified this view.
Therefore, he could only summon some people he thought were reliable to discuss with him to see if there was any better way to solve the crisis faced by the Dahua Empire this time.
And obviously, his biological son, the future heir to the empire, his biological son Zhao Ji, is a very good candidate.
Zhao Kai abandoned Feng Kezhi for imperial power, so he naturally relied on the royal family to maintain his centralized power. The newly appointed Zhao Jie and Zhao Chen were all his trusted royal family members.
"Yes!" A waiter immediately went to convey His Majesty the Emperor's will, while the remaining people were still picking up the scattered fragments on the ground.
…
"Your Highness! Your Majesty has just invited the prince to the palace to discuss matters." Soon, a palace maid spread the news out of the palace, and someone sent the news directly to the prince Zhao Yu.
"My father, the emperor, should trust that bastard Zhao Ji more after all." Zhao Yu waved the messenger to leave, turned around and sneered at a young confidant: "Isn't he even willing to listen to his advice? Do you want my opinion?"
"Your Highness doesn't need to worry... because in the end, he will find that you are the future of the Great China Empire." The young man fiddled with the dandelion ring on his finger and comforted Zhao Yudao without raising his head.
"Besides, your opinion is important! Your father just hasn't realized it yet." After blowing on the ring and being satisfied with the effect of his wiping, the young man continued.
"You have gained the favor of Lord Nangong, and you are also a prince who advocates good relations with the Tang Empire. Soon the ministers will discover that you are the hope of this empire." He raised his head: "If I don't choose you, how can I Are you going to choose another emperor as strong as your father to continue to fight against them?"
"What you said makes sense!" Zhao Yu felt that this statement was indeed to his liking, and he also felt that he was more suitable to inherit the throne than that Zhao Ji.
After all, he is still the real one! He thought proudly in his heart, then suppressed the smile on his face and looked at his mastermind: "Then what do you think...how can we express our feelings to the ministers?"
"Don't worry! Your Highness... we have done everything for you..." The young man stood up and walked to Zhao Yu: "Just wait for the good news."
Fool, no need to think. He looked at Zhao Yu and thought so.
-------
There are two more updates today, coming a little later. Let’s watch it tomorrow morning.
