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In the past two days, Nanjing has successively welcomed tribute envoys from Ryukyu, Champa and Siam.
In addition, the Zheng and Nguyen families of Jiaozhi also sent envoys to pay tribute.
The purpose of the Zheng and Ruan families of Jiaozhi was self-evident. The Qin Dynasty pacified Guangdong and Guangxi and destroyed the last two regimes of the Zhu family. During the process of destroying Zhu Youlang, the Mo family of Gaoping provided a lot of logistical supplies to the Qin army.
This fact made Zheng and Nguyen very uneasy, so it was understandable that they hurriedly sent envoys to Nanjing.
In addition to paying tribute, Siam, further south, also took the opportunity to file a complaint against the Kingdom of Toungoo, hoping that the Qin Empire would do justice to Siam.
Over the past hundred years, Siam was constantly invaded by the Kingdom of Dongwu in the north, and lost most of its territory. Only the capital Ayutthaya remained, and Siam was forced to submit to Dongwu.
A large part of Siam's ancestors originally lived in Yunnan and migrated south to Siam to escape the Mongol invasion. The culture was greatly influenced by Chinese and Indian cultures, and they always had feelings for China. In the 16th year of Chongzhen, one year before the fall of the Ming Dynasty, they paid tribute.
The Ming Dynasty historical records described Siam as follows: The country is a thousand miles in circumference, with strong and tough people, and is accustomed to water battles. The generals wrapped their bodies with holy iron, which could not be penetrated by swords and arrows. Holy iron is human skull bone.
The king was from Suoli. Officials were divided into ten ranks. From the king to the common people, all matters were decided by their wives. The ambition and character of their wives were actually better than that of men. When a woman had an affair with a Chinese man, her husband would prepare wine for them to drink with, and he would not be surprised, saying, "My wife is beautiful, and the Chinese man likes her."
It is not difficult to see from these records that the Siamese people admired the Chinese nation very much. Even if their wives slept with Chinese people, the husbands would still prepare wine for them to drink with them, and they considered it an honor for their wives to be favored by Chinese people.
As the Celestial Empire, His Majesty the Emperor of Qin naturally has to express his opinion upon receiving the complaint from my younger brother.
For this matter, Qin Mu specially summoned three ministers of the cabinet, as well as Huang Zhenlin and Gan Nan to the Huagai Palace to discuss countermeasures.
The Dongwu Kingdom is Myanmar in later generations. It is now the most powerful country in the Indochina Peninsula. It is currently in its heyday. Its territory includes most of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand in later generations. Most of the entire Indochina Peninsula has been occupied by the Dongwu Kingdom.
It even drove the Portuguese invaders out of its territory. Among the countless small countries in Southeast Asia, the only country capable of driving away the Western colonists with their powerful ships and cannons was Dongwu.
Sima An and the others were experienced people. Seeing that Qin Mu was so eager to "seek justice" for Siam, they could of course guess that he had other intentions.
In the Huagai Palace, with a wisp of sandalwood and a few cups of tea, the mid-spring weather was extremely pleasant. The palace maids and eunuchs stood quietly by the palace. Qin Mu gently brushed his black dragon robe and asked slowly, "What do you think of the affairs of our country?"
Huang Zhenlin said first: "Your Majesty, let's put aside the matter of Siam. King Talong of Dongwu sent nearly 20,000 troops into Yunnan. He tried to fish in troubled waters. If he hadn't intervened, the Yunnan matter would not have been dragged on until today. Although Talong has withdrawn his troops now, those who offend the Great Qin will be punished no matter how far away they are. Otherwise, how can the prestige of the Great Qin be preserved?"
Sima An couldn't help but cough twice. In fact, everyone knew that the problem west of Chuxiong in Yunnan had not been solved. It was not for any other reason, but Qin Mu's intention;
He instructed the general Cui Feng to let the chieftains of Yunnan take the lead and fight each other to weaken them, paving the way for the reform of the chieftains and long-term peace in Yunnan in the future.
Li Yuan and Lu Zhenfei remained silent. As cabinet ministers, they were always cautious in their words and actions. They didn't care much about Huang Zhenlin's opinion. What they cared about was what Qin Mu thought about it.
Qin Mu waved to the attendant Jin Lei and asked him to bring a map over.
The Jiujiu Sheren was one of the emperor's close ministers. He would stand by the emperor in the palace and follow him when he went out. His main responsibility was to record the emperor's words and deeds. At the end of each quarter, the records would be compiled and sent to the History Museum as material for the future compilation of the emperor's veritable records.
Jin Gongnan brought a world map. Qin Mu pointed at the map and said, "Since ancient times, the main threat to China has come from the nomadic peoples in the north. But I can tell you that with the continuous improvement of firearms, the cavalry of the nomadic peoples will gradually lose their advantage, and the threat from the north will gradually diminish.
However, as the saying goes, when one thing decreases, the other rises. While the threat from the north has decreased, the threat from the sea has been increasing. From the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese pirates in the southeast, to the Western red barbarians constantly approaching our coast, the ocean is no longer a natural barrier for China, but a source of threat. We must have a clear understanding of this and treat it as a national policy of our Great Qin. "
Qin Mu said this to naturally set a tone and make the ministers focus more on the south.
In other words, the focus is not just on the Dongwu Kingdom, but the entire Nanyang is being arranged as a chessboard.
All the ministers present here have a clear understanding of the current emperor's ambitions. His enthusiasm for expanding territory is no less than that of the First Emperor.
And they also know that the current emperor is not like the Hongwu emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who valued reputation more than profit.
He not only values reputation, but also practical benefits, and never does anything that loses money but only gains publicity.
Si Anma said calmly: "As your majesty said, the threat from the sea is increasing. I agree with this. Our Great Qin follows the national policy of the former Song Dynasty of not suppressing merchants. A large part of the source of fiscal revenue comes from the sea."
Sima An stopped at the point, and his underlying meaning was that the threat from the Qin Dynasty not only came from the sea, but also the financial benefits came from the sea.
If we look at it from a practical perspective, the benefits that the northern grasslands can bring are far less than those of the southern islands.
The southern islands not only have fertile land suitable for farming and three crops a year, but also have extremely rich other economic products, which is far from comparable to the northern grasslands where only grazing is allowed.
Moreover, whether or not the southern islands can be controlled is related to the security of the Maritime Silk Road, which is also related to the security of the economic lifeline of the Qin Dynasty.
As the Prime Minister of the Great Qin Empire, Sima An knew Qin Mu very well. He often pondered his thoughts in private and had already come to a conclusion: His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Qin intended to wipe out the many small vassal states in the south and accomplish a greater cause than that of the First Emperor.
Lu Zhenfei said quietly, "Your Majesty, the First Emperor sent out an army of 500,000 and it took several years to pacify Lingnan. Your Majesty must know the reason."
Qin Mu said: "What Lu Gelao is worried about is also what I am worried about. However, the world has changed. Today's world is not the world of the First Emperor. I will not send 500,000 land forces to the south. If so, I would rather not go south to avoid wasting money and manpower."
Gan Nan said: "When the First Emperor of Qin went south, the land route was inconvenient, so even though he sent out 500,000 troops, he still encountered many difficulties. Now look at the Western Barbarians. With a few ships and a few hundred people, they can conquer the islands in the South Seas and take them for themselves.
How can the Great Qin navy be weaker than the Western Barbarians? The Western Barbarians came all the way here and could do it easily, so why can't the Great Qin do it?"
Gan Nan's words really spoke to Qin Mu's mind. The Dutch controlled almost the entire Java Island. How many troops did they have? How many troops did the Spanish use to colonize Luzon Island
As long as the right method is used, occupying the South Pacific islands will not be as difficult as imagined, and there is no need to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops like the First Emperor did when he conquered Lingnan.
Li Yuan said: "Your Majesty, the Great Qin State has just been established, and the people's livelihood has yet to be restored. The Nanyang Islands should be taken slowly and not rushed."
"Everything must be done within one's capabilities. I know this clearly. As for land wars, unless foreign invaders take the initiative, there will be no large-scale military operations in the next few years, so that the people can rest and recuperate.
But the navy is different. I can tell you that I invested a huge amount of money to build the navy, not to support them with the power of the whole country, but to let them support the people of the whole country. "
Li Yuan and Lu Zhenfei couldn't help but exchange glances. They knew very well that what Qin Mu said was definitely not impossible.
Some people said that Zheng He's voyages to the West in the early Ming Dynasty were a waste of money and manpower. However, Xia Yuanji, the then Minister of Finance, said: "The country is not short of money now, all thanks to Zheng He's voyages to the West."
The Yongle Dynasty had just finished a four-year civil war, which turned a large area of land from Beijing to Nanjing into a scorched earth. Then, the city of Beijing was vigorously built. An army of 500,000 was sent to invade Mongolia five times, and an army of 800,000 was sent to invade Jiaozhi in the south. Money was spent like water everywhere, but the Yongle Dynasty was not impoverished because of this. Instead, it was the most prosperous period of the Ming Dynasty.
The annual revenue in the early Ming Dynasty was only a few million taels. Could it be that Emperor Yongle could conjure money out of thin air
From the words of Xia Yuanji, the then Minister of Revenue, it is not difficult to see the internal cause. So it is not too exaggerated to say that Qin Mu wanted to support the people of the country with the navy.
In other words, if the navy is used to capture the South Pacific islands, it will not only not be a waste of money and manpower, but it may also bring huge wealth to the Qin Dynasty if handled properly.
Therefore, it is untenable to use the reason of waste of money and manpower to oppose the development of the southeastern islands. It is just that countries like Jiaozhi, Dongwu, and Siam are mostly deep mountains and old forests. Lu Zhenfei and his men feel that it is difficult to conquer and rule them. This understanding is deeply rooted in their bones, so they appear very hesitant.
Huang Zhenlin said: "I have been to Southeast Asia. Most of the islands in Southeast Asia are small countries. Some have less than a thousand soldiers and less than ten thousand people. For such small countries, if our Great Qin sends troops to conquer them, two hundred soldiers are enough. Facts have proved that the Western Barbarians only need a few hundred soldiers to conquer an island..."
Lu Zhenfei interrupted him and said, "Since ancient times, those who have raised an unknown army have always ended in failure. Your Majesty should be careful."
Qin Mu closed his eyes slightly and said slowly: "Whether it is famous or not depends on how the whole country views that piece of land. If the whole country regards that piece of land as the core interest of the country, then the expedition must have a name. If it is considered dispensable, then it will become unknown because the whole country is unwilling to do it.
I have made it very clear before that the future enemies of the Qin Dynasty will come from the southeast sea; the economic lifeline of the Qin Dynasty is also in the southeast sea. The people have not yet fully understood this, but as ministers in the court, you must have a forward-looking vision, otherwise..."
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ps: The most difficult part of conquering the southeast is unifying the thoughts. This chapter is to pave the way for unifying the thoughts of the ministers in the court. If you also think that unifying the thoughts is the root of the problem, please vote for me for a monthly ticket. Please vote for me! (To be continued..)
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