Everyone who attended the meeting noticed that the National Unity and Peace Conference, in which almost all the top leaders of the northwest government were absent, was missing a heavyweight, and that was Su Qin, director of the Northwest Foreign Affairs Agency. During the few days of attending the meeting, it was his assistant Wang Liao who took Su Qin's place to meet and discuss diplomatic liaison matters with representatives of various ethnic groups. This gave many people a lot of ideas, and some even thought that Su Qin had lost power.
In fact, Su Qin had left Qingyang a few days before the meeting and embarked on the journey to Lensk, the capital of the Heathrow Empire. His trip was decided after careful discussion with Wu Feng. It even involved major changes in the direction of diplomacy, so the matter was very confidential. Even in the northwest, only Wu Feng, Xiao Tang, Ling Tianfang and Wang Liao and only a few people knew about it.
After receiving the message from Angel from the imperial capital, Wufeng lost no time in expressing to the Heathrow Empire that he could negotiate with the Heathrow Empire on relevant matters. This made the Heathrow Empire, which had been suffering from being unable to contact the top leaders of the northwest, The diplomatic attaché in the northwest was overjoyed and quickly conveyed this major diplomatic progress to his own country. Soon the Heathrow Empire authorized their diplomatic attaché in the northwest to invite Su Qin, director of the Northwest Foreign Affairs Department, to visit the Heathrow Empire in the name of the Heathrow Empire's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Of course, this was a secret visit.
Faced with the olive branch offered by this powerful neighbor in the north, Wu Feng and Su Qin combined the intelligence obtained by their own side and confirmed that the foreign policy of the Sislo Empire would undergo considerable adjustments.
Not only is the Heathrow Empire facing major famine pressure this year, but the prime minister who performed poorly in the last throne crisis has stepped down, and was replaced by Emperor Philip V's confidant, the former finance minister, Duke Bokaninsky. Prince Mercado and his confidant Nuremberg military commander General Kidman, who were involved in the crisis of the throne, have been severely reprimanded. Kidman was transferred to a remote fortress in the north to serve as commander, while Bokanin Ski's old friend, Viscount Hall, served as the military commander of the important southern town of Nuremberg.
The newly appointed Prime Minister, Duke Bokaninsky, comes from a noble family of the Heathrow Empire. He is good at finance and financial management. He is a close friend of Emperor Philip V who grew up with him since childhood. His political leanings are reflected in the strategies of governing the country. He advocates shrinking military power, focusing on developing his country's economy, gradually strengthening his country's strength, and opposes the easy use of troops abroad. This is significantly different from the policy of the previous prime minister of the empire. Moreover, he also opposes over-reliance on external forces and advocates maintaining the Heathrow Empire. The relative independence of policy, which is particularly prominent in the tendency to form an alliance with the Kaman Empire's requirements.
During the period when Philip V of the Heathrow Empire was ill and unable to govern, Bokaninsky gradually replaced the former prime minister who had fallen out of favor with Philip V. When Prince Mercado tried to persuade his brother Philip V After the crisis on the throne caused by Philip V's monopolization of power during his illness was successfully subsided, the recovered Philip V immediately appointed a close friend who performed well in this crisis as prime minister, while Prince Mercado and Kidman went south to attack without authorization. The Ganlan Fortress in the northwest also made Philip V very dissatisfied and determined to punish him severely.
This news made Wu Feng, who originally planned to take military measures to teach the Heath Luo Empire a certain lesson, reconsider the relationship with the Heath Luo Empire. Especially when Wu Feng was preparing to enter the Central Plains, if the relationship with the Heath Luo Empire could be Make an accurate positioning, which will be beneficial to your strategy on the eastern front.
So after some urgent negotiations, Su Qin accepted the invitation from the Foreign Affairs Office of the Heathrow Empire and secretly set off from Qingyang to the Heathrow Empire via Nuremberg.
In the dead of night, the lights in His Majesty the Emperor's study in the Toulon Palace in Lensk City are still bright, and two figures are reflected on the window lattice. The guards are still standing on guard posts in high spirits, holding swords and halberds. It has been two hours, Mr. Prime Minister. He still hadn't come out of His Majesty the Emperor's study, which surprised the guards. His Majesty the Emperor rarely discussed government affairs with others until late at night, and he never did so after recovering from illness. Today seemed to be an exception.
"Boll, Li Wufeng's diplomatic chief will arrive in Lensk tomorrow. Are we ready?" Philip V's rosy face was full of energy, showing that his body had fully recovered. He used his childhood sweetheart affectionately. The title greeted Duke Bokaninsky, who was now the king of the country.
"Well, don't worry, Your Majesty. I don't think Li Wufeng wants to make the relationship with us too tense at this time. As long as we give an explanation to Kidman's unauthorized attack on Ganlan Fortress so that they can go down the steps. His current gaze is They are focused on the Tanghe Empire and don't have much thought about our side." A confident smile appeared on Duke Bokaninski's round face.
"I am a little worried that Li Wufeng is acting against the will and instigating the Namote and Tubu people to plunder our western region. You have also seen that those guys in the west are very dissatisfied with the empire's defense now and think that the empire's military focus is on We have neglected the external defense of the south and the resistance of the Bein people in the north, while neglecting their interests. At the last court meeting, someone already proposed to amend the current strategic policy and change our current strategic situation. I am also under great pressure." Philip V sighed softly.
"Your Majesty, you don't need to be too anxious. In fact, even if Your Majesty doesn't say anything, I am still thinking that it may be time to revise the empire's early foreign policy." Bokaninsky thought about it before saying.
"Oh? Tell me." Philip V suddenly became interested.
"I feel that we have placed too much emphasis on territorial expansion, especially to the south. Over the years, we have wasted people and money, and spent countless money and food from the empire, but what did we get in exchange? Not even an inch of land was gained! And the empire's national strength is not enough to maintain this frequency. In the war, if the harvest is not good or there is a natural disaster, not only will the finances be stretched, but it will also immediately arouse the dissatisfaction of the domestic people. Some people in our country are jealous that the Kamans have occupied the northern part of Jerok and captured Jiayuguan, so they blindly follow the Kamans People are expanding their armies and preparing for war, but they have ignored one of the most important factors, which is that the Kaman people’s economy has developed steadily in the past twenty years, and their agriculture has hardly suffered any huge natural disasters. Even if the weather has been bad a few times, the Kaman people have The irrigation and flood control facilities that the Man people spent huge sums of money to build also played a big role in preventing widespread agricultural harvest failures. But what about us? When faced with natural disasters, we are at a loss. We either tighten our belts ourselves or ask the Kaman to People borrow money, and the Kaman people have to pay it back with the blood and lives of our soldiers! This situation has become a vicious circle!" Pokaninsky's voice gradually became louder.
"Go on, Bol." Philip V said expressionlessly.
"Look at ourselves. Every time we have a good harvest, we try to pay off debts or expand the army to fight. Every time we have a disaster, we borrow money again or cut other expenditures. In this way, after long-term accumulation, how can our national strength be improved? How can we cope with it? A big war on a huge scale?!" Bokaninsky knew the temper of his old friend. Now that he has taken this position, he needs to make something clear, "In my opinion, some people use the excuse to expand the army to fight. In fact, it is full of personal selfishness, and the purpose is nothing more than to expand one's power and prestige, but it is counterproductive. Every war always loses troops. In addition to worsening the relationship with surrounding neighbors, I have not seen any improvement at all. The benefits of empire!”
Bokaninski's words hit a sore spot in Philip V, who had been listening silently. He knew that his only son had a somewhat cowardly character and was not very suitable for the role of emperor. He was also working hard to change this, and his He also knew what his brother was thinking. He hoped that he could pass the throne to him in a hundred years. However, the crown prince was his son after all. He did not want to pass the throne to anyone except his own son. Any other attempt and He couldn't tolerate any idea.
The choice of Duke Bokaninsky as the new prime minister was to implement this intention. Of course, at this time, Philip V could not make any expression, he could only remain silent and gloomy.
"Your Majesty has also seen that the Mote people are our old enemies and have been harassing us in the western region. But why did this Mote people surrender to Li Wufeng, who had only been in the northwest for a few years? And we have repeatedly The expedition has achieved nothing, Your Majesty, what do you think is the reason for this?" A look of jealousy flashed across Bokaninsky's face.
"What do you think about Bol?" Philip V did not answer, but a hint of unwillingness fell in the other person's eyes.
"Some people say that it was because of Li Wufeng's good luck that he defeated the Luobi and Mote coalition forces in just one battle. How can there be so much good luck in the world? Why does good luck never happen to us Hexi Luo people? What about it?" Bokaninsky's words already contained disdain, "Without any other reason, Li Wufeng focused on rebuilding the northwest economy, and in just a few years he achieved great achievements that attracted the world's attention. According to statistics obtained by the minister Statistics show that the population of Qingyang Prefecture alone has increased from less than 200,000 to more than 1 million in two years. What kind of miracle is this? If Li Wufeng did not devote himself wholeheartedly to developing the economy, no matter how much Tanghe Empire gave him With no financial support, it is impossible for him to afford such a huge army now. The salaries of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and officers alone are enough to bankrupt Li Wufeng more than ten times!"
There was a brief silence in the study. Philip V was thinking carefully about the opinions of his close friend, while Bokaninsky was thinking about what to say in order to make the Emperor accept his proposition.