I'm really not doing business

Chapter 749: Disputes arise when one is poor, and disputes arise when one is rich

Zhu Yijun could understand Felipe's motives, as Felipe was too envious of the power of the Ming Emperor.

As a monarch, the power of the Ming Dynasty was more concentrated than that of the West. It was easy to understand Felipe's motivation to learn the Ming Dynasty's political tactics, but it was actually very difficult to realize it because there was no one available.

The Ming Dynasty's imperial tactics were a transplant of many systems. Regardless of the cabinet system, the Imperial Household Department, the East Factory, the West Factory, the Inner Factory, and so on, what was needed first was people. The new organizational structure required loyalty to the superiors, and ultimately between checks and balances, everyone had to be more loyal in order to be allocated more power.

This is a pear grown on a pear tree. Taixi's peach tree cannot grow this kind of pear.

However, Western politics was relatively immature, and the only thing that the Ming Dynasty paid more attention to was the emerging bourgeois movement in the Netherlands.

Therefore, Felipe planned to use the exiles from the Ming Dynasty to achieve this centralization.

"Your Majesty, Philip II has already practiced it in the West, and it is feasible." Gao Qiyu frowned and said, "He recruited a group of nobles from France to balance the power in the court, but there is a disadvantage, that is, Spain is too close to France, and those who have gained power have other ideas."

It was difficult for the people of the Ming Dynasty to understand the thoughts of Westerners. For example, many royal guards in Western countries liked to recruit foreigners to ensure their own safety. The most typical example was the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman guards were not Muslims, but Christians.

Felipe followed Legazpi's advice and hired Frenchmen as secretaries. The progress was very smooth, but Felipe eventually gave up because of the distance. These Frenchmen were not loyal enough to Felipe. After becoming secretaries who influenced decision-making, the Frenchmen always tended to transfer the interests of their own country.

Felipe set his sights on the Ming Dynasty.

Some difficult criminals who are inconvenient to execute and who may pose hidden dangers if exiled nearby can be sent to Taixi, where he can shelter them.

"Moreover, the morals of these French people are really too low." Gao Qiyu mentioned another reason for Felipe's exploration failure. It would be fine if it was just a transfer of benefits, but since they were going to use it, they must have anticipated it.

What finally made Felipe decide to drive these French people away was their bad taste.

There is a common law in the West that when commoners and nobles are talking, they are absolutely not allowed to turn their backs to the nobles. This is regarded as a provocation of the commoners against the nobles. If it happens, the nobles can punish the commoners, usually by stabbing them with a sword.

The French nobility had a very common entertainment activity, which was that four or five young nobles would run into the street and surround a commoner. At this time, the nobles would talk together. The commoner would violate the law that one should not talk with his back to the nobles and would be punished.

They would tease the common people over and over again, stabbing them with swords until they were stabbed to death while wailing. Only then would the noble young men leave satisfied. These French people took pleasure in the wailing of the common people.

It was this bad taste that the Spaniards could not accept that forced Felipe to drive away these French nobles.

At first, Felipe favored dwarfs, but later, because there were too many people who opposed him, Felipe had to expel all the dwarfs. This time was the same. These French people went too far, so Felipe had to drive them away.

"Your Majesty, this sounds a bit outrageous, but the direct cause is indeed that these nobles stabbed several Spanish civilians to death in the street, causing Felipe to be extremely anxious." Gao Qiyu looked at his majesty's stunned expression and had to explain.

If these French people dare to do this in the Ming Dynasty, Your Majesty will definitely cut them into pieces. At least the rulers and ministers of the Ming Dynasty still say that the people are the foundation of the country and a solid foundation will bring peace to the country.

"Indeed, the Ming Dynasty viewed them as barbarians, but it was not because of the Ming Dynasty's arrogance. The Ming Dynasty's culture already emphasized humility," Zhu Yijun said sincerely.

This is no longer an ordinary violation of etiquette and morality, and we must take strong measures!

Zhu Yijun understood why Felipe was so persistent. The reason was actually very simple. The exiles of the Ming Dynasty were still morally superior to those Western nobles. The members of the new organizational structure could not be widely opposed because of moral issues.

"Please allow me to think about it slowly." Zhu Yijun did not agree immediately, but asked Gao Qiyu to write a memorial and send it to the cabinet, and then make a decision after court discussion.

After Gao Qiyu left, Zhu Yijun continued to deal with various memorials.

The 120 coastal defense inspectors led by Chen Tiande had already evacuated when the Ming Dynasty entered Yizhou. These coastal defense inspectors did not leave the battlefield and were still active on the coastline. Moreover, Duntai Yuanhou began to go deep into the battlefield to collect various kinds of intelligence for the Ming Dynasty.

The information was very complex and would first be handed over to Qi Jiguang, the general who was in charge of suppressing the Japanese invaders on the front line, for sorting out. Finally, it would be compiled into a book of intelligence on the Japanese invaders. What Zhu Yijun saw was the sorted book.

"Are they still human beings?" Zhu Yijun looked at the newspaper in his hand and said after a long while. The French nobles were already rubbish enough, and these Japanese pirates also had no bottom line as human beings.

Feng Bao was not surprised at all and said, "Your Majesty, the Japanese pirates have never behaved like humans."

Something that shouldn't have appeared on the Korean battlefield appeared: the fearless Hwarang Army.

Being brave and fearless and the auxiliary army are incompatible. After all, the auxiliary army, which is good at escaping, has nothing to do with being brave and fearless in any way.

But these two completely different words came together.

The Japanese pirates used a very bloody method. At any time, the Hwarang Association would be divided into two combat teams. The team that fought to the death would be rewarded and promoted to samurai, while the other team, even if they performed extremely bravely, would still be organized into a suicide squad to carry out more dangerous tasks.

Under such screening, in the constant conflicts with the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese pirates obtained a large number of Hwarang who were willing to dye their official hats red with the blood of their compatriots, and they quickly filled the battle line, causing some troubles to the Ming army.

"General Qi seems to have underestimated the fearless Hwarang Hyuk." Zhu Yijun always felt that Qi Jiguang was a little careless. Qi Jiguang did not intend to make any response, but Zhu Yijun always felt that this kind of variable on the battlefield was somewhat dangerous.

"Your Majesty, General Qi must have his reasons for thinking so." Feng Bao didn't understand, just like His Majesty, why Qi Jiguang didn't particularly care about these anomalies among the Hwarang.

Qi Jiguang's reason was very simple. He had a clear idea of ​​the positioning of the auxiliary army. They did not need to have very strong combat capabilities. As long as they could be organized to transport food and grass, that would be a great success. If they really could not transport it, he would let them farm.

Even if they are just farming, they should not be allowed to cause trouble on the battlefield, and the auxiliary troops must not have combat effectiveness.

Once the number of fearless Hwarang Hyuks increases, the first to suffer will definitely be the Japanese pirates.

When fighting based on fear rather than belief, these fearless guys become the biggest destabilizing factor for the army. They are likely to turn against the Japanese pirates at a critical moment and use the heads of the Japanese pirates as bargaining chips for surrender.

The reason is simple. Fighting with the Ming army is fighting with all your might, and fighting with the Japanese pirates is also fighting with all your might. Why not pick on the weak ones?

In the army, military orders are as heavy as mountains, which emphasizes that the army must be obedient at all times and execute orders when they receive them.

The fearless Hwarang Hyuk, whose fighting power is capable of being stabbed in the back at any time, is just sharpening a knife that is destined to stab itself.

Soon, Zhu Yijun received some battle reports from the front line, proving the correctness of Qi Jiguang's statement.

These fearless Hwarang Association brought some minor troubles to the Ming army and huge troubles to the Japanese pirates!

The Ming army is now fighting with all firearms. Bullets will not talk to your will to resist, and the will to resist cannot be bulletproof. The Ming army's current combat method is to fire a round of line formation volleys when they meet. No matter how brave and fearless you are, you will be afraid when you see the people around you falling down like leeks being cut.

Because of their bravery in fighting, these Hwarang Association members began to demand treatment. If their treatment was not met, they would really revolt or even turn against their own side in the battle.

The betrayal really happened.

During the battle for Masan Pavilion, Yang Yuan, a lieutenant general of the Ming Dynasty, led a thousand soldiers and defeated the surging Hwarang Association, which pointed their weapons at Kato Kiyomasa's Monomi-tai.

The Monomi-tai was a combat unit consisting of forty Japanese samurai and one hundred and ten Japanese foot soldiers, and a Monomi-tai would usually lead one thousand and one hundred Hwarang support troops to cooperate in combat.

During the battle for Masangwan, after the Hwarang auxiliary troops were repelled by the firearms of the Ming army, they rushed towards the Monomi unit without any hesitation.

After the three Mumi-Teams guarding Masangwan were all killed by the Hwarang Co-cong Army, these Hwarang Co-cong Army quickly ran towards the other Mumi-Teams.

The Ming army fought desperately. They had countless firearms to reap lives, but the Japanese pirates did not. Soon the three Hwarang auxiliary armies turned against them, and the situation developed into a large-scale mutiny among the Hwarang.

Hwarang Hyuk launched a counterattack before his death, but was strongly suppressed by the Japanese pirates. However, it still inflicted heavy damage on the Japanese pirates in Masan Gwan, and the Ming Dynasty occupied Masan Gwan at a very small cost.

After the battle, Lieutenant General Yang Yuan repeatedly confirmed that at least twelve units of the Monomi Corps were wiped out and killed by the Hwarang Associates. In the Battle of Masangwan, the Hwarang Associates killed far more Japanese pirates than the Ming Army!

Of course, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would not commend the Hwarang Army for their contributions; all these merits would be credited to the Ming Army.

It was definitely not a wise decision for the Japanese pirates to allow slaves to actually hold knives.

Ivan Pettersson, the envoy from Russia, is writing a travelogue, recording his experiences and will present it to the king when he returns to his country.

Ivan was a Cossack and one of the commanders of the Cossack regiment.

The Cossacks were tragic fugitives. They were some Slavs who could not endure the cruel oppression and were forced to flee and live in other places. They escaped from the brutal rule of the Golden Horde and became free people.

The harsh living environment made the Cossacks capable of fighting. Starting from Ivan IV, the Cossack Corps became a sharp weapon in the hands of the Tsar.

These Cossacks were generally considered to be Tatars, the descendants of the Mongol invasion of the West. The Russian Empire did not regard the Cossacks as its own people. Due to various factors, Ivan Peterson grew up in poverty and continued to grow in the army to become a commander.

This was his second time acting as an envoy and traveling by boat to the distant Ming Dynasty. This time, he finally figured out the Ming Emperor's preferences, brought Artemisia selengensis from the West, successfully obtained the honor of a private audience with the Emperor, and secured friendly treatment for Russia.

The day before the audience, Ivan was writing quickly under the lamp:

"The city where the Ming emperor lived, the Great China City, was very large. Not counting the residential quarters outside the city walls, it would take four days to walk around the four stone walls alone. There were tall towers at each corner and each city gate. They called them Five Phoenix Towers. There were carved eaves on the towers. They used extremely precious lacquer to paint the eaves in various colors."

"As the commander of a Cossack corps, I cannot understand the decision of the Ming people. They are demolishing those seemingly impenetrable city walls. Large sections of the city walls have been demolished, and the city and the rural houses outside have become one piece. The scale of the city has expanded unprecedentedly."

"In this huge Chinatown, there are more than three million civilians living."

Ivan stopped writing, thought for a moment and continued writing: "Perhaps, they are right, because the Ming Dynasty has a very magical building material, which is called lime. It is very strong. Every street and house outside the city is a city wall."

"The secretaries of the Ming Emperor convinced him that no matter how strong the castle was, it could not stop three million civilians from attacking it. Therefore, the emperor needed higher virtues to make the civilians believe in his rule." "This sounds even more difficult to understand than demolishing the city walls. If the rule can be maintained by virtue alone, what is the point of the castle? But this kind of thing is actually happening in the Ming Dynasty."

During the time Ivan was in Ming Dynasty, there were many things he could not understand.

For example, demolishing city walls and ruling such a large and populous empire with virtue rather than violence. The Templars who followed the emperor were extremely powerful, but their morals were completely different from those of the Cossack Legion.

The Cossack Corps was feared by people because they burned, killed, looted, and committed all kinds of atrocities. They used the bloodiest violence to demonstrate their powerful military force, which made people afraid. This was also Ivan's creed.

When he heard that every member of the Ming Dynasty's Capital Camp, or the Templar Warriors as Legashi called them, possessed lofty morals, Ivan sneered!
The army has high morals, but it is either extremely ineffective or hypocritical.

The military is the study of violence itself, how to kill people as quickly and efficiently as possible. This kind of violent machine does not need morality and cannot have morality.

When Ivan saw it with his own eyes, he began to sincerely doubt his past life.

Due to some historical issues, two infantry battalions of soldiers from the Ming Dynasty’s Beijing camp would be dispatched every month to transport coal in order to ensure the distribution of coal.

One infantry battalion went to the Xishan Coal Bureau and transported the coal from the bureau to the coal market; another infantry battalion transported the coal from the coal market to the fire shops in various towns and sold it to the people at the price of six cents per catty.

What made Ivan doubt his life was that he saw with his own eyes that some children of the common people in the market, more than one, but some children who were only about four years old, sat on the shoulders of the Templar Warriors and kept shouting. When the common people heard the shouting, they would come out of their homes to buy coal, and the faces of the Templar Warriors, the children and the common people were all full of smiles.

In Ivan's opinion, this is something that is totally impossible!

He had fought for the Russian Empire for half his life. In the eyes of civilians and children, he had only seen fear, no other emotions. Civilians did not dare to approach any army because the butcher's knife would fall at the next moment.

"Perhaps the Ming people's use of the word "barbarians" to describe people outside the Ming Dynasty is not out of arrogance, but the truth." Ivan finished writing the last sentence of the travelogue, closed the travel notebook, and put away the pen. This was one of the gifts bestowed by the emperor. It was very easy to use and had an extremely delicate structure.

What he saw and heard in the Ming Dynasty shocked him. He could even accept the word "barbarians" which was obviously discriminatory. In the Ming Dynasty, one did not even need to believe in any religion. At least the Confucian scholars who openly managed such a large population would always say "A gentleman does not speak of strange things, supernatural powers, or gods."

Ivan quickly prepared for the audience. The place for the private audience was in Tonghe Palace, which was the highest place of power in the Ming Dynasty. The audience was held in the Guanlong Pavilion next to the Dragon Pond.

Ivan greeted him very solemnly. The officials of the Honglu Temple were very strict and even the time of kowtow had to be calculated accurately. However, the very gentle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty did not seem to care about these. Ivan was sure that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty's eyes never left the book in front of him until he finished the greeting.

[The Ming Emperor would not spend even a little bit of energy to pay attention to whether the envoys' etiquette was perfect, because the emperor did not care, but the bureaucrats who served the Ming Emperor had to do their duty and be perfect.]
This is what Ivan was thinking when he kowtowed, and he would write this passage in his travel notes.

"Sit down and talk." Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "Don't be nervous, I can speak Latin."

"I have to tell you some very bad news. Although you have repeatedly emphasized that you are the Third Rome, after discussion among the ministers, the Ming Dynasty does not recognize your succession relationship with the Eastern Roman Empire."

"Dear Eastern Emperor, does the Ming Dynasty recognize the succession relationship between the Holy Roman Empire and the Roman Empire?" Ivan asked nervously.

Zhu Yijun answered very clearly: "We don't recognize it either. From the perspective of the Ming Dynasty, the Ottoman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Russian Empire are not Rome."

"For us, this is an acceptable result." Ivan breathed a sigh of relief. If they didn't admit that this was acceptable, it would be very uncomfortable once the Ming Dynasty recognized someone as the legitimate heir of Rome.

This issue is very, very important.

When Ivan IV was still alive, the first letter he sent to the Ming Dynasty hoped that the Ming Dynasty would recognize the clear succession relationship, that is, the identity of the Third Rome of the Russian State. In this way, the Russian State could obtain the throne.

These are the only two legitimate imperial thrones in the entire Western world. One is the current Holy Roman Empire, which was inherited from the Western Roman Empire; the other is the Eastern Roman Empire, and it is this imperial throne that the Russian Empire wants to obtain.

The Ming Dynasty did not recognize Russia as the Third Rome, nor did it recognize the Ottoman Empire. This was enough. After all, Russia and the Ottoman Empire fought bloody battles over who was the orthodox one.

But what is strange is that the Ming Dynasty did not recognize the Holy Roman Empire.

"I heard that fourteen years ago, Ivan IV defeated the Khan of the Crimean Khanate, Devret Giray, and successfully broke the Ottoman whip, only then did he gain universal recognition from the Western countries." Zhu Yijun talked about another thing in the letter.

The Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire engaged in a protracted military exchange over who was the Roman orthodox, and both sides fought each other.

The Crimean Khanate was a khanate established by the descendants of Genghis Khan's eldest son Jochi. It was located on the Crimean Peninsula. As the Golden Horde established by Jochi gradually declined, the Khan of the Crimean Khanate became a vassal of the Ottomans.

In the war for the legitimate successor to Rome, this Ottoman whip has been lashing the Russian Empire.

It was not until the Battle of Molodi in the sixth year of the Longqing reign that Ivan IV finally drove the Ottomans out of Eastern Europe.

Ivan replied very solemnly: "That battle was extremely brutal. Jevlet Khan led 60,000 men to occupy Moscow and looted more than 100,000 people. When he left, he burned Moscow to the ground. It was at that time that I began to follow His Highness Ivan for revenge."

In the bloody battle fourteen years ago, the Russian Empire even lost its capital. The coalition forces of Tatars and Ottomans occupied Moscow and launched a bloody massacre. When Ivan IV returned to Moscow, all he saw were ruins.

It was also in this battle that the Cossack Corps officially became an extremely important armed force in the Russian Empire.

"As for the issue of the ownership of the Crimean Peninsula, the distance is too far, and the Ming Dynasty will not make a statement on this." Zhu Yijun gave the Russian envoy an ambiguous answer, refusing to clearly express the Ming Dynasty's position on the grounds that the distance was too far.

In his letter to the Ming Dynasty, Ivan IV hoped that the Ming Dynasty would recognize that Crimea belonged to them.

The Crimean Khanate was subordinate to the Golden Horde, which was one of the vassal states of the Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, no matter from which perspective, the Ming Dynasty had the power and qualifications to express its position on the ownership of Crimea.

The Ming Dynasty recognized the Yuan Dynasty's legitimate status, orthodoxy and uniqueness. The Ming Dynasty replaced the Yuan Dynasty and acquired all the legal principles of the Yuan Dynasty. In theory, the Ming Dynasty had claims to the four khanates, namely the Golden Horde, Chagatai Khanate, Ogedei Khanate, and Ilkhanate.

The Khans of the four Khanates were appointed by the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty and were directly subordinate to each other.

During the Wanli period, the suzerain of the Golden Bloodline, Tumen Khan, was now retiring in the capital of the Ming Dynasty. He became the King of Huaiyi appointed by the Ming Emperor and changed his name to Baotu.

The arrival of Tuman Khan, the overlord Khan, in Beijing represented the final outcome of the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty and the Northern Yuan Khanate. In the ninth year of Wanli, the Ming Dynasty also completely completed the last link in the construction of the dynasty, the Two Kings and Three Kes.

The Two Kings and Three Ke are one of the guest rituals, which means that all dynasties have conferred titles on the descendants of the previous royal family. In this way, it represents that the new dynasty inherits the lineage and has an orthodox status.

It is unrealistic to claim territory by saying that one's ancestors were once wealthy. The Ming Dynasty could not reach that far, but it was also impossible to ask the Ming Dynasty to give up its claims. When one is poor, one has to dispute; when one is rich, one has to keep his claims. This is necessary flexibility.

Envoy Ivan was a little discouraged. Recognizing the status of the Third Rome and recognizing the ownership of Crimea were the two most important things in this diplomatic relationship, but it seemed that neither could be achieved.

"The Ming Dynasty's statement does not help Russia's situation in the West at all, does it?" Zhu Yijun put down the memorial in his hand, sat up straight and said.

Ivan quickly replied: "Indeed."

"I think we should talk about something more specific. You offered Artemisia selengensis and gained my friendship. But the biggest dilemma facing your country of Russia now does not come from the Ottoman Empire or the Holy Roman Empire, but from within the kingdom."

"To be more specific, your monarch is now in extreme danger." After Zhu Yijun clearly responded to the two legal questions in the letter, he talked about specific issues.

Special envoy Ivan talked a lot about his confusion and doubts with the officials of the Ming Dynasty's Honglu Temple.

Ivan Pettersson was one of the four great Cossack legion commanders. He was loyal to Tsar Ivan IV and also to Ivan IV's son Feodor I.

But now the newly enthroned Fyodor I encountered a huge crisis, that is, a Sima Yi named Boris Godunov appeared in the Russian Empire.

Li Sun envied the good fortune of the Ming emperor very much. He had Zhang Juzheng as the civil official and Qi Jiguang as the military official. They did not plot to usurp the throne. Instead, they united around the emperor for their childish ideal of making the Ming great again and supported all his decisions.

Not only Li Sun envied this kind of luck, Zhu Yijun was actually quite envious of himself as well.

The newly enthroned Tsar was obviously not so lucky. He met a powerful official who looked very much like Sima Yi.

"I learned from the court pharmacist that Boris added mercury to my king's diet!"

"Before I ascended the throne, I had a daughter, but after I ascended the throne, I never had any children. Boris also refused to allow any minister to see me. I contradicted Boris, so I was sent to the Ming Dynasty as an envoy." Ivan said angrily, "I must kill him with my own hands!"

Zhu Yijun said solemnly: "If it is destined to end, dying standing may not be a perfect ending."

"There is an old Chinese saying that goes 'strike first, gain the upper hand'. You old ministers who are loyal to Ivan the Terrible have been reluctant to act. Are you waiting for Boris to complete his plan and kill your king? And then turn your king into a useless person?"

"When Boris kills your king, you, the former king's subordinates, will definitely be liquidated."

"Will he really do that? I mean, does he really want to kill Your Highness?" Ivan looked at the Ming Emperor in astonishment. The Great Light Cult had repeatedly exaggerated the Ming Emperor as the embodiment of wisdom, and now His Majesty's words made Ivan think that it was some kind of prophecy.

Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "I am tens of thousands of miles away from your country. I don't know what will happen. I can only make reasonable guesses based on your description."

"I only know that you never stopped me from meeting court officials, and you restored the ancestral system, allowing me to meet with foreign officials. This custom continues to this day."

"This Boris prevented the ministers from meeting your king, poisoned the king, and exiled the boyars (nobles) who supported the king. His goal is not as simple as just seizing power."

In fact, Ivan Pettersson already had a clear answer in his mind, but he was just a little unsure.

Ivan stood up from the stool, knelt on the ground, and said sincerely: "I beg your Majesty for help. My strength is not enough to kill him."

"What can you give me in return?" Zhu Yijun asked calmly.

(End of this chapter)