My life skills in Daming Liver

Su Ze looked at Shen Yiguan and listened to him describing his plan.

However, Shen Yiguan did not directly say how to conquer Annan, but changed the subject and said:

"Grand Governor, after studying your map of the sea country and communicating with Western businessmen when my subordinates were at the Shanghai port these days, I have some ideas about the concept of country."

Su Ze became interested: "Tell me about it."

"It's just my humble opinion. I hope the Governor can correct me."

Shen Guanyi began to say: "My subordinates also realized that there are so many countries in the world after reading the "Sea Country Map" written by the Grand Governor."

"My subordinates divided the country into these categories."

"The first type is a country established by enfeoffing kings and ministers. This is how the pre-Qin Dynasty established a kingdom."

"Establishing the relationship between monarch and minister through land is a very common source of national legal principles. What is wonderful is that countries as close as Japan and as far away as the European countries are all such countries. It can be seen that this legal principle is natural and almost inevitable for the development of all countries. It will show up.”

Su Ze nodded and said: "Feudal country."

Shen Yiguan murmured: "The Governor is really humble in his words. The word 'feudal' exemplifies the characteristics of this type of country, and it is a feudal country."

"But since the Qin and Han Dynasties, we in China have rarely enfeoffed the clans. Even the countries that enfeoffed clans only had a few dynasties such as the Jin and early Tang Dynasties. I call the Chinese empire after the Qin and Han Dynasties an 'imperial state', that is, A country ruled by a king through an administrative bureaucracy.”

"Whether it is a clan, aristocratic family, relatives, eunuchs, vassal towns, or civil servants, even if they can control the imperial power, there will no longer be an independent kingdom in this land. This is a unified state achieved through imperial power."

"Overseas, the defunct Roman Empire also had such a system. There was a governor who raised troops to Luo, but there were no princes who split the land and divided it into feudal states."

Su Ze nodded in agreement. There is also controversy over the definition of feudal society in history. In fact, China has not had a feudal system in the narrow sense since the Qin and Han Dynasties. In other words, it should be the imperial era that Shen has always said.

A top-down bureaucratic official system was established, and imperial power was continuously strengthened, reaching its peak in the Qing Dynasty.

Shen Yiguan continued: "This is a country established by the so-called 'natural right of kings'. The crown of the empire always has the mandate of heaven as its legitimacy. For example, the emperor of the Han Dynasty killed the white snake. Rulers from all over the world tried to create the mandate of heaven to prove their rule. The legitimacy of the world.”

"For feudal imperial countries, expanding territory is not a necessity, but maintaining rule is a must."

"If the cost of expanding territory exceeds the cost of maintaining stability, then the territory that has been opened up will be abandoned, just like what Chengzu did in the Ming Dynasty."

Shen Guanyi said: "But what I am going to talk about next is not the 'nation-state theory' proposed by the governor, but another kind of country."

Su Ze looked at Shen Yiguan and asked, "Another kind of country?"

Shen Guanyi nodded and said: "A country between a feudal imperial state and a nation-state."

"The Merchant Republic."

Su Ze looked at Shen Yiguan in surprise. Since the establishment of Southeast, Su Ze had spared no effort in translating various foreign books. He also personally wrote "Illustrated Records of the Sea Country" and introduced the customs and customs of many places in the world in newspapers.

In fact, the current technological and cultural level of Southeast Asia has surpassed all countries in the world.

But civilization begins with communication.

All ancient civilizations originated in places with developed transportation. It was the collision of various ideas that gave rise to the first city-states in the world, and then the earliest ancient civilizations were established.

The Chinese civilization in the Yellow River Basin, the ancient Babylonian civilization in the two river basins, the ancient Egyptian civilization in the Nile River Basin, and the Asia Minor civilization at the junction of the Eurasian continent.

The development of science, technology and sociology is inseparable from exchanges and collisions between civilizations.

This is also the reason why Chinese civilization quickly fell behind the world after the Qing Dynasty closed the country.

"Looking at the World" is the headline written by Su Ze himself for the world news section of "Jingshi News".

Su Ze originally thought that this would require the accumulation of one generation or even several generations, but he did not expect that Shen Yiguan had already begun to study with a world perspective.

I still underestimated the smart people of this era!

Think about the historical timeline before Su Ze traveled through time. From the Opium War to the founding of the People's Republic of China, that is, in a hundred years, Chinese civilization advanced rapidly, and then it took several decades to return to the top countries. ranks.

The tide of the times is rushing forward, and it is really like the roar of the mountains and the tsunami pushing people forward.

Shen Yiguan waited for Su Ze to come to his senses and then said:

"There is a type of country in this world that was established just for lower tariffs and easier circulation of goods, such as Greece."

"The unification and strengthening of some imperial countries are also for the sake of a more convenient market for circulation, such as France, where the royal power is becoming more and more powerful, and the Prussian countries are uniting, or many countries on the Apennine Peninsula are trying to build a unified alliance. Merchant Republic.”

Su Ze was even more surprised now.

Shen's consistent observations predicted the changes that would affect the world in the next three hundred years on the continent of Europa.

They are the rise of France under the strengthening of imperial power, Prussia established after the Prussian Customs Union, and Italy, which has been trying to unify the Apennine Peninsula.

As Shen has always said, the driving force for the gradual rise of these countries was not national consciousness at the beginning, but simply for better circulation of goods and a larger and more convenient unified market.

The real rise of national consciousness only gradually awakened on the eve of the world war hundreds of years later.

Shen Guanyi said: "If Annan can be integrated into the southeastern market, it can offset the tendency of separation within Annan."

"Just like the grassland businessmen in the north now, they will take the initiative to learn Chinese and Chinese characters in order to do business."

"When the elites in Annan realize that they can gain more by staying within the Southeastern system than leaving the Southeastern system, they will support our initiative to localize it into Chinese."

Su Ze suddenly stood up and looked at Shen Yiguan, supported him and said:

"With a talented person like you in the southeast of our country, we have a successor to our career!"

Shen Guanyuan also didn't expect Su Ze to speak so highly of him, so he quickly expressed his humility.

Su Ze interrupted his self-effacement and said, "As the chief of the pedestrian department of Honglu Temple, do you know your responsibilities?"

Shen Guanyi didn't know much about the yamen of Honglu Temple, except that its main responsibility was to welcome envoys from all over the world.

After he returned to Nanjing, he found that the work of Honglu Temple was quite busy.

The main reason is that there are too many visiting envoys!

Most of these envoys are foreign businessmen under the guise of foreign envoys.

The main job of the Sifang Division of Honglu Temple is to receive these envoys. It also needs to identify businessmen pretending to be foreign envoys and sign trade agreements with real foreign envoys.

Those fake foreign envoys will also be retained by the officials of Honglu Temple. The officials of Tongwen Division will interrogate the origins of these fake envoys, record their experiences and store them in the Tongwen Hall.

The Tongwen Library is also responsible for the translation and publication of foreign books. After Southeast Asia showed its intention to purchase foreign books at a high price, foreign ships traveling to Southeast Asia now carry one or two books. In addition to being responsible for the interpretation of daily exchanges, the Tongwen Department also has to do daily communication. Translating these books day and night can be said to be extremely busy.

Because there was too much work, the head of the Tongwen Department went to the cabinet and doubled the number of staff in their department. At the same time, the cabinet also agreed to set up foreign language courses in the Imperial College to train officials who could enter the Tongwen Department. Only then did Si return satisfied.

However, the Pingren Division, where Shen has always been in charge, is very idle.

There are only five officials in the Xingren Division, including Shen Yiguan, and one of them is a Guanzheng Jinshi assigned to the Xingren Division.

In addition to the formal officials, there are also ten officials, making it a small yamen with a small number of people.

However, the level of the Pingren Division is very high. The chief division chief, Shen Yiguan, is a fourth-grade official. Among the divisions under the second supervisor of the Seven Departments and Five Temples, he is considered to be the second-grade division, and is the same as the huge Railway Division. level.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was also the Xingren Bureau. The Xingren Bureau in the Ming Dynasty mainly served as envoys and was responsible for announcing imperial edicts.

However, according to the documents of Honglu Temple in the southeast, the Xingrensi in the southeast returned to the functions of the Xingrensi in the Han Dynasty, serving as envoys to visit various countries.

Shen Yiguan only guessed that Su Ze's first target was Annan, but he didn't know what role he, the head of the pedestrian division, would play in the attack on Annan.

Su Ze said:

"A fleet from the Li Dynasty came to Guangzhou Port. They are visiting our southeast on behalf of the Li Dynasty. They hope to get the canonization of our southeast."

"The line you mentioned is very good. We cannot recognize any existing regime in Annan. We must foster forces that can integrate into our southeast and completely assimilate Annan."

"But we still need an entry point to intervene in Annan affairs, and this mission is the best entry point."

"You immediately take people to Guangzhou, make contact with this Annan Li Dynasty envoy, and represent us as an envoy to Annan in the southeast."

"After arriving in Annan, on the one hand, you must collect intelligence on Annan, and on the other hand, you must contact all forces in Annan to find targets that are in line with our interests."

"In addition, the Li Dynasty is not monolithic. The powerful official who supported the Li Dynasty, Ruan Gan, was Zheng Kan's father-in-law. Zheng Kan inherited his father-in-law's subordinates and power and became the powerful official who controlled the Li Dynasty. However, the Ruan family in Guangnan is still the leader of the Annan Li Dynasty. The important internal forces, Ruan Gan's son, are still there, and these people can also be contacted."

Shen Yiguan immediately understood his mission and said to Su Ze: "Don't worry, Commander-in-Chief, my subordinates will definitely complete the mission."

Su Ze said: "When you get to Annan, you still have to protect yourself first. Remember that your backing is our entire southeast."

"Anything that can be obtained militarily does not require risking through intrigues. Your task is to listen more and see more, and it is enough to collect enough intelligence."

"Just Annan, you can't ruin my future important minister in the southeast!"

Shen Guanyi only felt warm in his heart, and quickly assured Su Ze that he would take good care of himself.

After Shen Guanyi left, Xiong Wu walked in again with a grin on his face.

"Grand Governor, where do you want me to go this time? It's so boring to stay in Nanjing!"

Since the last time Longhushan came back, Xiong Wu got a new position after the Constitutional Convention and was under the command of the Intelligence Department of the Army.

Xiong Wu was naturally very happy to return to his old job in the bank.

But he soon discovered that the head of the Intelligence Department was busy with official duties every day. His job was not to build an intelligence network through life and death as before, but to sit in the yamen and deal with department budgets, internal assessments, rewards, punishments, and promotions. Desk work.

Every once in a while, I would be called over by the Ministry of Household Affairs to ask, why did the budget for this month go over again?

This kind of administrative work made Xiong Wu complain. He complained to Su Ze many times that he wanted to switch positions with Lu Er from the Capital Intelligence Station and go to the front line to preside over the intelligence work against the Ming court.

Today, Su Ze finally called Xiong Wu. As soon as he entered the door, he raised his voice and asked Su Ze for a task.

Su Ze was helpless and funny at the same time, but as his status became higher and higher, his prestige became more and more important, and fewer and fewer people like Xiong Wu treated him.

Even Yu Zongyuan, an old friend, became more and more cautious when facing Su Ze.

Su Ze also understood that Xiong Wu was probably pretending to be like this on purpose. He was thick on the outside but subtle on the inside. If he was deceived by his straightforward appearance, he would probably suffer a big loss.

Su Ze said: "How about sending you to Guangxi this time to collect information about Annan?"

Xiong Wu couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard that he was going to Guangxi.

He was in charge of the intelligence of the Army Ministry and naturally knew about Qi Jiguang's military training in Guangxi.

According to Su Ze's practice of using troops, intelligence always comes first. This is a precursor to using troops against Annan.

Xiong Wu immediately said: "Grand Governor, when will we set off?"

"immediately."

"Okay! What about the Intelligence Department?"

"I have transferred Xiong Kuang back, and he will take over your job."

"The Governor is wise! We can't let this kid wander outside anymore! Oh no, we have to put more burdens on the young man!"

"Grand Governor, I'm leaving right away!"

Su Ze looked at the excited Xiong Wu and said: "Wait a minute, do you know that young man just now? Shen Yiguan from the Pingren Department. He is going to Annan as an envoy. You send a team of capable people to protect him and make sure he is in Annan." safety."

"Don't worry, Commander-in-Chief!"