"That's right~"

"I should change the Ming Dynasty, as Liu Jin said, externally, when the interests of the Ming Dynasty are the core and fundamental, everything must be done around this point."

Emperor Hongji exclaimed happily.

Man does not perish for his own sake.

The same is true for a country, where everything should be based and centered on the interests of its own country.

The former Daming was really a good man, a model of self-sacrifice.

Of course, it is actually a model of a swollen face and a fat person.

As long as someone comes to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute, the Ming Dynasty feels that his face is very bright, so the other party's tribute is worth 10,000 taels of silver, and the Ming side will have to return it several times, and it is typical to cut his own flesh to feed people.

After the news spread, sometimes some merchants in the Nanyang region would pretend to be an envoy from an unknown local small country to come to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

You can easily deceive Daming into a generous return, and you can make a lot of money when you return to Nanyang.

The result of this is that in the back, with the change of Tumubao, the rapid decline of Daming's national strength, and the emptiness of the treasury, it is difficult for Daming to slap a swollen face and become fat.

There were too many missions that came to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty every year, which caused great pressure on the finances of the Ming Dynasty.

What to do?

There was no choice but to order the missions of the Nanyang countries not to come to the Ming Dynasty frequently to pay tribute.

You used to come once or twice a year, but once every three or four years.

At the same time, this is one of the reasons for the implementation of the sea ban in the Ming Dynasty, of course, it is only a small reason.

Because at that time, some ministers played and thought that this tribute was too heavy, and the key sea ban was counted, so few people came to pay tribute in the future.

This is Da Ming, a typical example of a fat man with a swollen face.

In the final analysis, the foreign strategy of the Ming Dynasty was not a strategy of sustainable development at all, which is why Zheng He could only go to the West seven times, and there was no way to say eight or nine times, and he went to the West every year, month after month.

Because for the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He's next Western Ocean will be a heavy burden.

Shipbuilding, materials, personnel, carrying, etc., these are all heavy burdens for the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, after there were contacts with the Nanyang region, the countries of the Nanyang rushed to pay tribute, which further increased the burden of the Ming Dynasty, and naturally there was no way to last.

On the other hand, Du Mingen, the Marquis of Taiping, went to Nanyang differently.

From the very beginning, it was to make money, seek profits, and open up the purpose of the Nanyang wealth route.

Because it is profitable to go to Nanyang, the major commercial houses in Tianjin are vying to go.

Now there is no need for official power at all, just the private trading houses of the Ming Dynasty here in Tianjin, and a large number of merchant ships go to and from the South Seas every day.

Sell the goods of the Ming Dynasty to Nanyang, and then transport the goods of the Nanyang back to the Ming Dynasty, one time and one time, it is easy to make a profit of less than 100,000 silvers and more than 1 million taels of silver.

Driven by huge profits, the merchants ran much faster and more diligently than the imperial court's ships.

At the same time, Daming also quickly became rich in this process, unlike before, which was a loss-making business.

This is the only way to be long-term and to be able to continue to develop.

Profit is the root of everything.

However, these ministers above the Ming Dynasty often shout benevolence, righteousness and morality, seemingly for the reputation of the Ming Dynasty and the image of the Ming Dynasty, but they are often premised on sacrificing the interests of the Ming Dynasty, and it is impossible to last at all.

"Liu Jin, then what do you think my Ming should do with these vassal states?"

Emperor Hongzhi thought for a moment and asked.

"Your Majesty, Princess~"

"First of all, we have to figure out what kind of relationship these countries have with our Daming."

"The minister thinks that this kind of relationship between vassal states cannot be easily given to these countries."

Liu Jin thought about it and replied.

"There are hundreds of large and small countries in the Nanyang region, the big ones are Siam, Annam, and Burma, and the small ones are Sulu, Java, and Champang."

"In the past, because our Ming Dynasty would return to the countries that came to pay tribute several times, so all the countries in Nanyang came to pay tribute, but how many of them really admired my Ming style?"

"I'm afraid, most of them actually came to my Ming Dynasty to pay tribute because of my Ming Dynasty's rich gifts, and some of them were simply faked by some merchants."

"Secondly, even if a country comes to pay tribute to our Ming Dynasty, to be honest, any little tribute can only be regarded as a friendly exchange between two countries."

"In essence, this is just a friendly exchange, and it cannot be regarded as a real vassal state of my Ming Dynasty."

"For our Ming Dynasty, if you want to talk about the real vassal state, there was only North Korea before, because North Korea not only attacks our Ming every year, but more importantly, North Korea will never go against our Ming Dynasty and damage the interests of our Ming Dynasty."

"There is also a very important point, North Korea really admires our Chinese civilization, learns Chinese characters, emphasizes Sinology, respects Confucianism, changes Han surnames, and shares the same cultural values with our Ming Dynasty."

"Such a country can be regarded as the real vassal state of my Ming Dynasty."

Liu Jin is actually a vassal state that some ministers of the Ming Dynasty have opened their mouths and closed their mouths, and these countries in Nanyang can be regarded as vassal states?

That's just the Ming people themselves putting gold on their faces, and these people in Nanyang won't admit it.

If you really want to talk about a vassal country, it is still North Korea, this is the real vassal country, everything is learned from the Ming Dynasty, and even the bones are almost the same as the Ming Dynasty.

"Have the same cultural values as our Daming?"

Hearing the new words that popped out of Liu Jin's mouth again, Emperor Hongzhi and the ministers couldn't help but savor this sentence carefully.

Then they nodded their heads, which was very good.

If you think about it carefully, it seems that this is really the case, that is, North Korea and the Ming Dynasty have always had the most iron relationship, and they have the same culture and language as each other, which can be regarded as a real vassal state.

This is not something that Liu Jin put forward, but it is a very important thing in later generations, and the most important point to measure the relationship between two countries is this.

Many countries in the Western world have a very strong relationship with each other, why, because they share common values, in the final analysis, they used to be the same ancestor, they were all English-speaking countries.

Da Ming wants to accept the younger brother, so naturally it should be the same.

It's not that if you pay tribute to me, I will accept you as a junior brother.

You must also be like me, learn my Chinese civilization and system, and share the same values with me, so that you can be regarded as my real little brother.

"North Korea can be regarded as the real vassal state of my Ming Dynasty~"

"Annan and the Wa Kingdom, although these two countries are also learning from my Chinese civilization, but they are not thorough, and they are also ambitious, Annan has always coveted my Ming Dynasty and the land of Guangzhou, and it has also gone north many times in history to invade my Chinese land."

"The ambitions of the Wa Kingdom are also very great, and the Wa Kou are rampant on the southeast coast of my Ming Dynasty, but the Wa King and the Shogunate are not restrained and controlled, which is enough to show that they are not sincere to my Ming Dynasty."

"As for the countries of Nanyang, they are far away from my Ming Dynasty, and they have always been inconvenient, although they admire my Chinese civilization, but it is only because my Ming porcelain is beautiful, silk is silky, and the tea is mellow."

"Essentially, they don't have an in-depth understanding of our Chinese civilization, and naturally they can't learn from my Chinese civilization."

"So these countries in the Nanyang region, they are not my Ming vassal states at all, we are just putting gold on our faces."

"When the other party comes to pay tribute, we are happy to say that they are our vassal states."

"I really don't know, in their eyes, our Daming is just a stupid and easy target."

Unceremoniously, Liu Jin also directly pointed out that Da Ming was very happy in terms of foreign affairs, and he wanted to save face and suffer crimes.

Hearing Liu Jin's words, Fu Han, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, had a hot face, and felt like he had been slapped in the face.

As for the other ministers, they fell into deep thought, and when they thought about it carefully, it was really the same as what Liu Jin said.

The so-called vassal countries are just self-deception, and many times these countries in Nanyang come to you to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty for benefits, not that they really admire your Chinese civilization and want to learn from your Chinese civilization.

"One word breaks the essence~"

Liu Jian, the first assistant of the cabinet, couldn't help but nod and said.

"That's right, now, the only real vassal state of my Ming Dynasty is North Korea, and the Wa Kingdom and Annam are not counted."

Li Dongyang also sighed and said.

"That's a good point, but we used to deceive ourselves and immerse ourselves in the world we fantasize."

Emperor Hongzhi also nodded slightly.

Vassal states, vassal states, they really surrendered to the Ming Dynasty?

If you surrender to the Ming Dynasty, there will be no Annan people who have repeatedly gone north to detain Guangxi, and there will be no Japanese pirates rampant on the southeast coast, let alone the killing of my Ming people here in the Crescent City of Luzon.

If you really admire my Chinese civilization, then you should be like North Korea, learn Chinese characters, respect Confucianism and Taoism, change your Han surname, and learn everything from my Ming Dynasty, not just for the fine porcelain, silky silk and mellow tea of the Ming Dynasty.

If it is really a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, it should be the same as North Korea, and the generations will not dare to offend my Ming Dynasty, and the change of the king will ask for the canonization of the son of the Ming Dynasty.

If it is really a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, it should be like North Korea, willing to fight for its big brother anytime and anywhere.

The countries in these regions of the South Seas, the so-called vassal states, if you really let them harm their own interests to fulfill the Ming Dynasty, do you think they will agree?

If you let them learn the Chinese characters of the Ming Dynasty, speak Chinese, respect Confucianism and Taoism, and change their Chinese surnames, do you think they will be willing?

I'm afraid that when the time comes, they will show their true faces.

Afraid of power but not virtue, they are just afraid of the strength of the Ming Dynasty, so they sent people to curry favor with the Ming Dynasty.