1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2230
Fei Cexian's words had a double meaning. On the one hand, he showed that he was a man of integrity, and on the other hand, he insinuated that the son of Joseon bowed his knees to Hai Han in exchange for special treatment.

On a normal diplomatic occasion, Fei Cexian would definitely not say such yin and yang words, but at this time there is no third person present. Then he vented the grievances that had been pent up in his heart for a long time.

Li Yan is usually pampered and respected. He has never been ridiculed face-to-face with such sharp words, and he can't help but be irritated at the moment, and he choked back sharply: "Since Mr. Fei is so upright, why don't you just argue and let Haihan take this Qiongzhou?" Island, and other places that were taken from Daming, will they all be returned to Daming?"

If Fei Cexian's move was considered a mockery, then Li Yi's counterattack would directly tear the scar.

For Daming, the rise of Haihan was actually stepping on his own head, taking away Daming's resources for his own development, and due to various reasons, Daming had already missed the best time to wipe it out in the bud. He could only knock out his teeth and swallow them in his stomach, acquiescing to Haihan's actual control over these occupied areas.

This is indeed a great shame and humiliation to Ming Dynasty who has always advertised that he does not discuss or cede land, not to mention that the person who mentioned this is the heir of the vassal state.In the past 200 years, North Korea has always followed the lead of Ming Dynasty. Any envoy sent by Ming Dynasty to North Korea will be regarded as a guest of honor. But now the situation has obviously undergone some subtle changes. Those in power no longer maintain due respect for Daming.

When the usual polite mask was torn off, the so-called diplomatic etiquette had long been forgotten by the two of them, and both of them threw cruel words mercilessly.

The grievances between Daming and Haihan, it is not up to the North Koreans to judge the merits and demerits. Of course, it is impossible for Fei Cexian to let the son of Joseon humiliate Daming's majesty.However, Li Xun believed that Ming was already a strong foreign power but could no longer exert pressure on North Korea. North Korea should rely on and follow the example of Haihan in its future development.

Both of them looked at the current international situation from the standpoint of their own countries, and they both believed that they had no reason to be afraid of each other, and there was no need to take the initiative to make concessions, so there was no room for words.

But after all, they are all dignified people, after a few words of dispute, a passer-by passed by, and they knew that these words should not flow into the ears of outsiders, so they stopped in unison.

But this passer-by also recognized them, Dang even stopped: "Your Majesty, Lord Fei, it's really a coincidence that we can meet you two here!"

Both of them had unnatural expressions on their faces, and bowed their hands to the person who came, and said: "Master Tian!"

The person who came was Tian Zheng from the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Last year, when Li Xun went to Sanya for an inspection tour around the island, Tian Zheng was one of the accompanying officials at that time.And Fei Cexian usually deals with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and often meets Tian Zheng.Both of them are familiar with Tian Zheng, so naturally it is impossible to continue arguing in front of him.

In fact, Tian Zheng also felt a little strange about the scene he saw. Of course, he knew that the relationship between the son of Joseon and the envoy of Daming was very delicate. These two people usually avoid each other intentionally and avoid meeting as much as possible. There is also very little communication.

As a diplomat of Haihan Kingdom, Tian Zheng will not try to bridge the relationship between the two. After all, from Haihan's standpoint, the relationship between North Korea and Ming Dynasty is not so harmonious, which is not bad for Haihan. Not a good thing.At the beginning, Haihan was able to win North Korea into his camp, and it was precisely because of the growing suspicion and disagreement between the two countries.

But just now Tian Zheng saw from a distance that these two people were obviously standing together and talking about something, this special sight also made him very curious.But when the two of them saw him coming, there was obviously something wrong with the expression on their faces, and they stopped talking immediately, which made him want to figure out what was going on.

"I seem to have seen the two of you chatting happily just now. I don't know what topic is so easy to talk about?" Seeing that the two of them had no intention of continuing the conversation, Tian Zheng asked.

Have a good time talking?Gritting teeth is more or less the same.Both Li Xuan and Fei Cexian laughed in their hearts. If Tian Zheng had heard the content of the conversation just now, he would definitely not have used such unrealistic adjectives.

But in front of Tian Zheng, the two of them couldn't talk about the dispute just now.Fei Cexian was the first to speak and said, "I met Shizi by chance, just to say hello, and didn't talk about anything. Mr. Tian must have misunderstood."

Li Yan also responded blankly: "Master Fei has a noble status, I dare not chat casually. If Lord Tian has nothing else to do and I still have homework to finish, I will take my leave first and go back."

Fei Cexian snorted, and said, "Lord Ruotian has nothing else to do, I have to check some information, so I'm leaving!"

There was obviously still a clear anger between the two people's words, Tian Zheng felt relieved when he saw this, and said goodbye to the two people.

Li Yan had just left the library gate when he heard someone calling out to him from behind, but when he looked back, it was Tian Zheng who was chasing him.At this time without Fei Cexian by his side, Li Yan's expression relaxed a lot, and he cupped his hands to Tian Zheng and said, "Master Tian, ​​what advice do you have?"

Tian Zheng waved his hand and said, "I don't have any advice. I'm here to hand over a document to the library. I'm fine right now. I want to ask the prince if he has time to sit with him."

Li Xuan hesitated for a moment, but nodded in agreement.Seeing this, Tian Zheng smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't drag you to drink at this time, maybe I can help you with the homework you have to complete."

It was still early for dinner, so Tian Zheng took Li Yan to a teahouse in the city, asked Xiao Er to find a quiet place to sit down, and ordered a pot of green tea and some pastries.

"I was in the library just now, did my son have a dispute with Mr. Fei?" Tian Zheng had come to his senses at this time. The scene he saw before was probably not the normal communication between the two, but the exchange between words. There was a conflict, so the attitude of the two of them was so blunt when they came forward to say hello.

"That Lord Fei is just an envoy sent by Daming to your country, but he ridiculed his subordinates...Mr Tian, ​​if it wasn't for your sake, I would have to argue with him about right and wrong. !" Talking about what happened just now, Li Yan was still angry, and Dang even admitted Tian Zheng's guess.

Tian Zheng also secretly laughed in his heart, these two people usually do not show their faces, and seem to completely ignore each other's existence, but it seems that this is just an appearance, there is a grudge in their hearts, and they will still quarrel when they get the chance.

Tian Zheng pretended to persuade: "Master Fei must also be responsible. To win face for Daming, he didn't intend to cause trouble for the prince."

Li Yan snorted coldly and said: "I have heard a very reasonable sentence from General Qian Tiandun of your country before, face is given by others, face is lost by oneself! Given the current situation of Ming Dynasty, he has What qualifications do you have to ridicule our country? Last year when the whole country of North Korea was desperately fighting against the Qing army, what did Ming Dynasty do? He also said that he would help our country to fight the Qing army. , then Daming may still be number one in the world!"

As soon as Tian Zheng heard it, he roughly understood Li Xi's resentment.Obviously, Fei Cexian was dissatisfied with North Korea's attitude towards Haihan, and took the opportunity to sneer a few words, while Li Yan, as a North Korean, definitely had the opposite view, thinking that Daming did not help North Korea last year, but now he still does. If he jumps out and accuses North Korea, he will naturally not be convinced.

However, Li Yi's unkind comments on Fei Cexian and Daming also made Tian Zheng refresh his opinion of him.Tian Zheng originally thought that Li Yi still had great awe of Ming Dynasty, so he avoided meeting Fei Cexian, the envoy of Ming Dynasty, as much as possible in Sanya. Not out of reverence, but because of his reluctance to save him before, he developed hatred for Daming.

Of course, this kind of sentiment is a good thing for the diplomatic relations between Haihan and North Korea. As the future king of North Korea, Li Yi feels alienated from Daming, and it is more likely that North Korea’s position will be inclined to Haihan in the future. , this is exactly what Haihan diplomats expected to see.

Tian Zheng nodded and said: "Today's Daming, there are constant internal and external troubles. If it is not handled properly, the situation will only become more and more difficult in the future. That Mr. Fei does not know the changes in the world, and he will inevitably have some thoughts of sitting in a well. Your son Today's vision is far wider than his, so of course I won't agree with his one-sided views."

At present, the study courses arranged by Haihan officials for Li Yi are extremely diverse, involving various fields, and diplomacy is naturally indispensable.Although Tian Zheng was not the instructor who taught Li Yan, as an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs, he also participated in the formulation of the course content, so he also had a general idea of ​​what Li Yan would learn.

If Haihan wants Li Yi to include North Korea into his camp in the future, he must go through training during the study abroad period so that Li Yi's worldview and values ​​can be consistent with Haihan.To achieve such an effect, it is natural for Li Yan to broaden his horizons, no longer stick to the three-acre land in front of his house, but to look at the world and understand the changing direction of the international situation.

The various courses that Li Yan studied, although they are in different fields of expertise, complement each other and have the same teaching objectives.For example, Li Yi came to the library today to inquire about map information for completing his navigation homework, and through this process, he could more vividly understand Haihan's actual control range in Northeast Asia, especially the control of the mainland coastline.

These cognitions cannot be described in simple language to make Li Yan understand their meaning, but when he measures and calculates the voyage on the map by himself, he can establish a clearer understanding of the "dominance of the sea" described by the instructor. Han's ability to establish trade networks and military bases by sea by sea outside the local area has a better understanding.

When these pieces of information gradually pieced together a powerful image of Haihan Kingdom in his mind, Daming, who had a mediocre performance in this area, would naturally be placed in a second-class position by him.

Tian Zheng's words benefited Li Yan a lot, and finally a smile appeared on his face: "Master Tian is over the top! The improvement of your vision in the future also depends on your country's ability to arrange this opportunity to study abroad. If you don't go abroad With a vast knowledge of the world, my thinking may be similar to that of Mr. Fei, who only sticks to the old cognition of the past and does not know the changes of the current situation."

Tian Zheng nodded and said: "That's right. In this era, there are many heroes. The strong may not always be strong, and the weak may not have no chance to stand out. The world is not only big in these eastern countries we are familiar with, but in the far west There are also many powerful countries. Among the coalition forces that fought in your country last year, Portugal was one of them. They have visited more places in the world than our country, and their land is only half the size of your country It’s nothing more than that, but it can conquer the lands of the world. Although Haihan Kingdom has been established for less than ten years, it has already become a powerful country on the sea, and it will definitely expand its territory to a larger scope in the future. What we can do, your country will It’s also possible.”

Li Xuan was very excited when he heard it, some of the information Tian Zheng said he had already come into contact with in the course, and some of it was the first time he heard it today.Of course, he always dreamed that his country could become a powerful country like Haihan one day, but he was still very excited when he heard the possibility from the officials of Haihan himself.

As for how to realize this possibility, Haihan has actually given a solution, that is, let North Korea follow Haihan's development path, and the mission of Li Yi and the officers, craftsmen, etc. who came to Sanya to study with him is to Bring the advanced aspects of Haihan back to North Korea for implementation.Maybe after a few years, it's hard to say that the national power can really surpass Daming - at least Li Yan has such a strong expectation.

Li Yan said: "A few years ago, I never believed that there was a country stronger than Ming Dynasty in this world, but now it seems that there are at least two emerging countries in the south and north of Ming Dynasty that are stronger than it. Our country faces three challenges. Sea, it is naturally impossible to follow the development route of the Qing Dynasty, and only your country's method of going from sea to land is the most suitable for our country's situation. From now on, we will take care of your country's north and south, so we don't need to worry about strong neighbors around us anymore!"

Tian Zheng nodded and said: "My son can recognize the changes in the international situation. In the future, ruling North Korea will definitely make your country's national power grow rapidly. When the Ming Dynasty sends envoys to your country, then the son will no longer have to treat each other like a courtier. gone."

Li Yan surongly said: "When I ascend the throne, I will notify Daming to end the vassal relationship between the two countries. From now on, we will treat it as normal diplomatic relations."

If Fei Cexian was present to hear this statement, he would probably blow his beard and stare with anger again.However, this is also the general trend of history, and it will not stop because of the dissatisfaction of individual people.

(End of this chapter)