"The kingdom of God ordered us to pay tribute, but now we are ......," the king of the Ryukyus looked embarrassed.

The commander of Liu Sha's fleet smiled a little impatiently: "Just bring some gifts, you don't have to pay tribute to Japan every year in the future, just bring a bag of sugar." ”

Such a bold attitude scared the Ryukyu King enough. Paying tribute to the kingdom is a big deal in itself, and bringing a bag of sugar is an insult. The fact that the soldiers of the Liberation Army dared to arrange the tribute in this way had to make the king of the Ryukyus wonder if these soldiers in front of him were trying to make a fool.

Of course, this is what the king of the Ryukyus thinks too much. In the style of the supremacy of the order of the Liberation Army, after receiving the order to let the Ryukyu King go to Nanjing, in the face of the Ryukyu King's pushing, Liu Sha did not directly tie up the Ryukyu King and put him on the ship, which is enough to show that he is a very patient person. Everyone in the army knew that Wei Ze was not particular about it, and he was even less interested in gifts. As long as the Ryukyu King is willing to leave immediately, it is no problem for Liu Sha to pay for the gifts himself.

"Please let us discuss it again." The King of the Ryukyus said tremblingly.

The king of the Ryukyus and his small court discussed countermeasures, and the fleet was also in session. Liu Sha snorted angrily and said, "Is this guy shameless, do we have to beg him?" ”

"I guess he's scared, right?" Political commissar Huo Zhichong put forward his own opinion, "I'm afraid that after he leaves, we won't be able to hold the Ryukyus." ”

If the king of the Ryukyus knew about the worries of the Liberation Army, he was afraid that he would be able to spurt out a mouthful of old blood. In fact, just by seeing a large number of 1,000-ton, 3,000-ton, and 6,000-ton ships, how could the King of the Ryukyus not know that the Chinese Navy had the ability to crush the Japanese Satsuma Domain.

It was precisely because he had enough knowledge of the strength of the Chinese navy that the Ryukyu king, who had been bullied by the Satsuma clan for so many years, had to consider the possibility of his country being taken away by the Chinese army in a wave.

Although the vast majority of the Liberation Army were straight-hearted soldiers, they still had diplomatic talents after training. Foreign Minister Zuo Zhidan invited the British ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for dinner, and the British ambassador arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at 9 a.m. Just when he guessed that maybe the Liberation Army was preparing to go north to solve the Manchu Qing in one fell swoop, he got completely different news.

"We may have a conflict with Japan in the near future over the Ryukyu issue." Zuo Zhidan said.

Regardless of whether the British ambassador knew about the situation in the Ryukyus or not, Zuo Zhidan first gave the British minister a text introducing the situation in the Ryukyus, and then began to introduce it.

Ryukyu has always been a vassal state of China, but it is far away, and there are no decent large products. So China has never cared much about the Ryukyus. More than 200 years after the Ming Dynasty canonized the Ryukyus, Japan fell in love with the Ryukyu Kingdom. In 1609, the Japanese warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi led an army to invade Chaoxian, and sent the Shimazu clan, a prince of the Satsuma Domain, to extort money from the Ryukyus, but the Ryukyu king refused. The Shimazu clan then led an army to attack the Ryukyus, captured the Ryukyu king Shōning, and forced him to write an oath to send 8,000 koku of grain to the Satsuma clan every year.

Japan regarded its historical aggression as a "tribute" and proved that the Ryukyus had always been a "vassal" of Japan. Since then, the Ryukyus have entered the period of "one country, two genera". In the early days, Japan had been asking the Ryukyus to conceal from China that they had paid tribute to Japan. Later, due to the weakening of the national power, the Qing Dynasty was too busy to take care of itself, and although it was known but "did not ask about it", it never officially recognized the Ryukyus as a subject state of Japan.

The attitude of the Liberation Army was very clear: Ryukyu and the islands in the "nearby waters" were naturally China's traditional territory since ancient times, and on the issue of "clarifying" China's territory, China hoped that Britain would not "mistakenly enter the war zone" and cause unnecessary conflicts.

Britain really didn't expect that the Liberation Army would stretch out its hand far away when there was no reunification, and the minister pretended to look at the document, thinking about the interests of Britain in his heart.

"Then once the Ryukyus are charged by the Chinese government......" said the British minister.

Zuo Zhidan immediately corrected: "It's not that it's the control zhì, but that Ryukyu was originally a vassal state of the Hua Dynasty and a part of China since ancient times. ”

The current title of the Republic of China is temporarily Hua Dynasty, and now it is not completely unified, and Wei Ze is too lazy to carefully study the country name. Besides, expecting this group of beams and eight pillars under his command to come up with a crepe thing is really beyond the ability of his comrades. Wei Ze suppressed the old literati so badly, it was impossible to involve them in such an important event.

Of course, the British side knew that China had been the hegemon of the Far East for thousands of years, and since Zuo Zhidan said it categorically, the ambassador no longer insisted on his own statement, "If the Chinese government restores complete control over the Ryukyus in the Ryukyus, then will the laws of the Chinese Dynasty apply to the Ryukyus?" ”

Zuo Zhidan replied: "In foreign trade, the Chinese government adheres to the laws we have signed with Britain. Whether it is berthing or trade, it will be completely consistent with the current policy. ”

At this time, the British ambassador was relieved that as long as the Liberation Army continued to carry out its foreign policy, Britain had nothing to fear. Of course, the old foxes who engage in diplomacy will not be so stupid as to really just listen to this and be done. The British consensus continued: "If China and Japan go to war, I don't know what your country is prepared to achieve. ”

Zuo Zhidan said loudly: "As far as we know, a feudal prefecture in Japan called Satsuma Domain ordered this action by itself. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that the entire Japanese government is pursuing a policy of attempting to annex the Ryukyus. Therefore, we will discuss it with the Satsuma clan first. Of course, if the Satsuma clan insists on invading China's vassals, we will go to war against the Satsuma domain. If the entire Japanese government must join the Satsuma Domain, then we will go to war against the entire Japanese government. The sovereignty of States is not open to discussion. ”

"If your country wins the war......" the British ambassador asked.

"If we overcome, we don't mind sharing with your country the privileges we gain." Zuo Zhidan said with a smile, "Of course, we believe that your government will definitely stand on the side of justice." ”

Britain will, of course, be on the side of justice, and the victorious side will be justice, and the British have no doubt about this. With the strong determination to fight and the rise of the Navy that Britain saw with their own eyes, the British ambassador could probably guess which side of justice was between China and Japan.

"Of course, our government wants peace, and since you are also preparing for advanced diplomatic representations, I hope that you will be able to inform us in time when there are new developments." The British minister expressed his attitude.

Zuo Zhidan smiled and said, "This is natural." ”

Sending off the British ambassador, Zuo Zhidan scolded in his heart, what the hell! It has only been ten years since the conflict between the Liberation Army and the British ended, and now the two countries have begun to discuss the situation in the Far East. Zuo Zhidan never felt that the British had any qualifications to be involved in the situation in the Far East. It's just that the Liberation Army is not able to drive the British out of the Far East for the time being.

After this discussion, it was just noon, and everyone had lunch together. The British minister praised the delicious Chinese food and rum, and invited Zuo Zhidan to eat at the British Embassy if he had time. Zuo Zhidan also politely agreed. But thinking of the authentic British food at the British Embassy, Zuo Zhidan lost his appetite.

The afternoon was naturally spent on discussions with the French minister. At this time, the American Civil War was still at the end of its most brutal period, so Zuo Zhidan did not sue the United States. Although the southern government of the United States procured a large number of liberation shoes and medicines from China, they faced failure. The good days of selling war supplies to both sides at the same time may be coming to an end, which cannot but make Zuo Zhidan feel a little regretful.

The Russian minister was the object that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not want to provoke, and as one of the members of the Political Bureau, Zuo Zhidan knew very well what Wei Ze meant. A territorial war will inevitably break out between China and Russia in the future, and Russia will definitely know about it, but let them play with their own tricks. In a future war, there is a high probability that Japan and Russia will collude with each other.

After the diplomatic mission was completed, Zuo Zhidan went to report to Wei Ze. Wei Ze was very satisfied with Zuo Zhidan's expression, and Zuo Zhidan asked, "Then who do we send to Japan to negotiate?" ”

"Of course, it is to send the navy to negotiate with Japan." Weese replied.

"Navy?" Zuo Zhidan was a little surprised.

Weeser replied unsurprisingly: "It's the navy." For Japan, artillery is the language they can best understand. If the cannon is not appropriate, the diplomat will not be able to talk. After the cannon is negotiated, the rest will fall into place. ”

The Navy was very excited about the order to set off, half delighted, half uneasy. It would be a good thing to send heavy ships and huge guns into battle. But when the navy was built, the weakness of the fleet was all too clear. To put it bluntly, the Navy Department is very worried about whether these warships, which are full of shortcomings, will be able to persist in the journey of 10,000 miles at sea.

Judging by the numbers, 40 to 60 mm of iron armor, a displacement of 5100 tons, the power of sails and steam, and the newly equipped breech-mounted steel guns on board. This kind of weapon with both power and amplifier is a monster equipment that the Navy could not have imagined 10 years ago. However, this kind of ship has had too many problems during offshore operations, and some small offshore ironclad ships have had accidents that capsize when they encounter typhoons.

Now the fleet is not fighting in the near sea, and before engaging in war with Japan, the fleet will first have to conquer the waves and sail to the Ryukyus to anchor. In the fight from the Ryukyus all the way to southern Japan. There is no repair shop in the Ryukyus, and if something goes wrong with the warship, there is a great possibility that the sky should not be repaired, and the earth will not work. Since his family knows his own affairs, the navy is really not unconditionally optimistic about this expedition.

But Weeser ordered, and the Navy did not have any intention of refusing. Twelve large ships, including repair and supply ships, formed the First Fleet, which took the lead. It includes two 5,100-ton ironclad ships, three 3,000-ton ironclad ships, and three 1,900-ton thin ironclad fast warships.

In addition to the First Fleet's transport ships, the Second Fleet's 12 5,000-ton cargo ships were responsible for transporting coal from the Hongji Coal Mine to Taiwan, and from Taiwan to the Ryukyus.

If it weren't for the recent discovery of the Iwo Islands, hundreds of tons of sulfur ore would have been brought back. The navy itself would have questioned why it had to pay such a huge price for the sake of a place like Ryukyu, which had little to offer. R1058