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Chapter 1250 National Security Strategy
Since the emperor is teaching in person, the academy must be crowded. Even if they can't squeeze into the lecture hall, they should stand solemnly along the way in the northwest wind, waiting to see the emperor's face.

This was indeed the case during the first two years after the academy was established. Every time the emperor went to give lectures, the Cuju team and the Imperial Stables would become nervous for several days, checking each of the thousands of professors and students one by one, for fear that someone would have ulterior motives.

But as time went by, the reputation of the emperor's personal teaching became worse and worse, and now there is a trend of avoiding it. As soon as they heard that the emperor was coming, the academy would immediately become quiet.

The students who wanted to leave hurried back to their dormitories and closed the doors, while those who had already left had to wait until the emperor had almost finished speaking before returning to the academy. Their purpose was the same: to avoid the emperor's personal lecture and have two hours of quiet time.

It's not that the emperor's lectures were bad, but that they were too dangerous. He liked to ask questions while he was speaking, and most of his questions were traps that would trap you if you weren't careful. Then he would be ridiculed and taught a lesson, and he would immediately become the laughing stock of his classmates.

What if you just listen without answering? Of course not. If no one raises their hand to answer, the emperor will call on them. He will call on several people to answer the same question, and then ridicule them together. The chances of winning are still very high.

But there are also those who are not afraid of winning the prize, such as some students who are curious, like to be serious and have thick skin. The topics that the emperor talks about are all very biased and unique, which just meets the needs of these students.

In sharp contrast to the students' avoidance attitude was the professors' eagerness to attend. Whenever the emperor gave a lecture in person, the lecture hall would be filled with professors from various departments. Even if they were not in the capital because they were doing experiments in factories across the country, they would rush back as long as there was time.

This time was no exception. The emperor's personal notice was posted at the entrance of the cafeteria ten days in advance. By the evening of the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, the largest lecture hall on the first floor of the new teaching building was already crowded with people.

Looking around, 60% of them were elderly men with thinning hair and thick beards, with a few young faces hiding in corners and not daring to make any moves. The rest were strong and muscular, with straight backs and chests, and their eyes were on all directions, and they thought everyone looked like a traitor to the Imperial Horse Guards.

"His Majesty has arrived..." At exactly six o'clock, with a shrill voice, the emperor in the uniform of the Grand Marshal walked into the classroom on time. All the people stood in silence.

“Ka-ka-ka… You should have seen today’s topic in advance. It’s just these few words.”

As usual, Hong Tao put the teacup on the left, the cigar box on the right, the ashtray in the middle, and a piece of manuscript paper with outlines written on it. Then he pressed his hands to signal everyone to sit down, turned around, picked up the chalk and wrote down the topic to be discussed today on the blackboard.

It is said that practice makes perfect, and the same is true for writing. If you want to become a calligrapher, practicing alone may not be very effective, but it is not difficult to make your handwriting neat after years of writing.

"As the saying goes, I won't offend others unless they offend me, so what is an offense? It should be an infringement, which means that if you touch my interests and may cause damage, I will fight back.

But Emperor Taizu of Song once said, "How can I allow others to snore beside my bed?" The others here did not harm Emperor Taizu's interests, and did not even touch them, but it was still not allowed.

Was the former too lenient, or was Emperor Taizu of Song too strict? To understand this concept, we need to use a new concept, which is called personal bubble.

There is a sense of distance between people, and the distance is different for different relationships. For example, the distance between husband and wife is very short, even zero. But strangers cannot be too close, otherwise it will cause discomfort. It is like everyone's body is wrapped in an invisible and intangible bubble, and this bubble is not fixed and will adjust at any time according to the closeness of the interpersonal relationship.

Emperor Taizu of Song said, "I will not allow others to snore beside my bed." This means that his bubbles are relatively large. Because he is an emperor, the life and death of millions of people are related to the well-being, so his bubbles must be large.

Similarly, a country actually has an invisible bubble. When the relationship with its neighbors is close, the bubble is small and not easily violated; on the contrary, the bubble will become larger, and even the deployment of troops near the border will arouse vigilance without waiting for the other side to go to war.

When should the bubble be big and when should it be small? This is the topic of today, the national security strategy. Strategy, the overall strategy. It’s just that the relationship between countries is different from that between people, and is more like that between animals.

When people get along with each other, one party is often stronger and more dominant. But no matter how strong one is, one party must abide by the law and moral constraints and not act recklessly.

However, there are no laws to constrain the interactions between countries. The so-called justice, morality, and faith are worthless in the face of guns and can be destroyed and established anytime and anywhere.

The dead have no right to speak, and history books never speak up for the losers. In view of this situation, the country's bubble must expand until it is large enough to ensure its own safety.

However, as it expands, it will also arouse resentment from other countries, because their bubbles must also be big enough. At this time, how to adjust the size of the bubble is called national security strategy.

Why do I want to talk about this topic? Because the professors present here have asked me three questions: the purpose of the Ming Empire's expedition to the American continent, how to balance relations with European countries, and whether war can completely solve the problem.

Why did they suddenly raise these three questions? Because this summer, I led the Ming Navy to the other side of the Pacific Ocean and annihilated the Spanish fleet entrenched on the west coast of America.

This move has aroused concerns among European countries. They held a meeting in Paris. The specific decision is still unknown, but the representative of European countries, the Prince of Orange, the governor of the Netherlands, is already on the way and will arrive in the capital soon.

If the prince and I can communicate effectively, we will negotiate to determine the size of our respective bubbles. But there is another possibility: both sides are dissatisfied with the current bubble size and cannot reach a compromise, and then there will be a war.

There are more than 40 professors from various European countries in the college. They are very worried about the current situation. I understand and agree with this. If a person does not care about his hometown and does not care about it at all, it is too inhumane. "

Usually, before starting a lecture, Hong Tao would find a relatively light-hearted and irrelevant topic to chat with the audience. On the one hand, it was to adjust the atmosphere, and on the other hand, it was to get himself into the mood, and then naturally transition to the topic.

But today was unusual, as if in a hurry, he went straight to the point. This caught the audience off guard, and many of them had neither opened their notebooks nor prepared their pens, and they were immediately in a panic.

(End of this chapter)