"Since the beginning of the army, I have made every effort to take the lead, with the people who are worried about the country and the people in the world, and the people who are worried about the country and the people in the world, and the soldiers who have forgotten their lives and deaths, and invited the luck of the heavens to protect the country and the country, but this world is not the world of one family and one surname, nor the world of scholars and martial artists, but it is actually the world of the people, and the people of all countries, the people of the north and the south, and the old and the young, all have the responsibility of protecting the country and protecting the frontier......"

Zhang Tao's edict did not cause much turmoil, mainly because there were too many kings in Chinese history who said similar things, but in the end, the king is still a king, a minister is still a minister, and a grass people is still a grass people, even if there are one or two Ming monarchs and virtuous ministers who have done the people-oriented, but it is only a very small exception, so no one in the world has long taken this kind of slogan seriously.

In the chat with Jiang Tian, Zhang Tao learned that he had fought for the cause of national liberation all his life, and the people who had been the masters of the country had gradually become a slogan to be ridiculed, his heart was bleeding but helpless, so in this life he was not in a hurry to shout out those things that were ahead, the greed of human nature is not something that can be changed by ideological education, the benevolence of Confucianism, the love of Mohism, and the inaction of Taoism are all powerless against the most instinctive things of human nature, so China has never given up ruling the country according to law in history, and the feudal dynasty is like this, and the same is true of New China.

So Zhang Tao decided to start with the army he is best at and the most controllable, even if the world is turbulent and the enemy invades, as long as the army is stable and China can stand still, if Jiang Tian is here, he will definitely laugh at him as an idealist, but he will not stop him from doing so, they all know one truth - power comes out of the barrel of a gun!

Zhang Huan, who is thousands of miles away, also has such feelings, when they temporarily docked in North Korea in order to avoid the wind, officials at all levels of this country launched a general mobilization, sending money and sending food and banquets constantly, and let the beauty get close to Jiang Tian three times and twice, Zhang Huan, the "little scholar", did not let go, a large group of housekeepers, scribes and other characters found him to inquire about Lord Jiang's likes and dislikes, or whether he heard anything about North Korea, and the yellow and white things were not stuffed, if it wasn't for Wu Yuan to resist for him, he didn't know how to deal with it.

"Even if he is a vassal country, but his father has recognized his sovereignty on his birthday, why is he still so flattering and welcoming now, like ......" Zhang Huan didn't know how to describe it for a while.

"That's the big thing!" Jiang Tian was also overwhelmed: "In terms of identity, although I am a minister of another country, but in terms of status, I, a first-class official, is second only to the existence of the king of Joseon, and in terms of national strength, my China can level this peninsula at any time, how can you let him dare to treat it as an equal?" ”

"Then why does the Emperor want to return his sovereignty?"

"It's very simple, since it's not our subject country, then we don't have the responsibility to protect it, if someone invades its land in the future, or makes enemies with others, we can let the two sides take the lesser of the two, and there will not be a situation where we have to fight like Wanli Nian!"

Zhang Huan pondered for a while, and then said with a light in his eyes: "I understand, we don't recognize it as a subject country, and we are preparing to send an envoy to Japan, the Korean monarchs and ministers are afraid, afraid that we will carve up their country with the Japanese invaders!" ”

Jiang Tian and Wu Yuan looked at each other and smiled, the prince's political understanding is getting higher and higher, and now he can see the essence through the phenomenon, and he is no longer a little nerd. But this time, there is still a discrepancy between his analysis and the facts.

"Your Majesty has said that power comes out of the barrel of a gun. Military strength is the embodiment of national strength, North Korea is not our opponent from any point of view, we can look down on this barren land, but they have to guard against our covetousness, and all diplomatic matters are to befriend China, otherwise there is a danger of destroying the country, it has nothing to do with whether they have sovereignty or not! Even in the 21st century, in another time and space, their international status and foreign policy have not changed, except that South Korea has replaced its suzerainty with the United States.

Jiang Tian has always declared in class that national sovereignty is inviolable, and if there is friction between countries on the issue of sovereignty, it is only a matter of time before war breaks out, but today he told Zhang Huan that sovereignty is useless, or that strength determines sovereignty, which shows that there is an essential difference between educating the prince and educating other students. Wu Yuan and Zhang Huan both understand that in the end, countries still have to rely on strength to speak, which is what Jiang Tian said: "Speak kindly, but there must be a big stick in your hand". It is also the main form of Chinese dynasties for thousands of years. But did His Majesty the Emperor really intend to carve up Korea? They didn't dare to guess, but at least in Zhang Tao's mind, he had removed North Korea from the list of countries that would not be conquered.

No matter how much the Koreans tried to talk to this errand who happened to pass by, they did not hear the news they wanted, and although Jiang Tian assured them that the status of the Korean Kingdom was irreplaceable by other countries, and the traditional friendship between the two sides was also timeless, the Korean monarchs and ministers did not dare to believe it easily. However, there was one thing that impressed them deeply, since the ship was docked, although there was still a large amount of canned food in the hold, but they could not let go of this opportunity to buy fresh food, Jiang Tian made this request after the North Koreans did not dare to slack off, and immediately made full preparations, when they transported the materials to the port, they thought that it would be a blessing not to be troubled by the errands, but they did not want the reception staff of the fleet to be very polite to them, and they also paid for the goods according to the market price.

In short, in the past few days of docking, this group of Chinese sailors not only did not have any conflict with the locals, but was praised by the North Korean people, combined with Jiang Tian's obviously different attitude from other Chinese officials, which made the North Korean officials have to guess that China's policy towards North Korea has really changed, as the saying goes, the abnormal must be a demon, can it be said that China is ready to buy the hearts of the North Korean people? I have to say that a slut is hypocrisy, and you are accustomed to him by being arrogant to him, once he is really an equal person, he can't adapt to it and thinks you are planning some conspiracy.

No matter how worried they were, the fleet that escaped the typhoon was still back on the road, but the Koreans still did not give up, and those families with descendants studying in China immediately sent people to China, asking them to collect and pay attention to the movements of the imperial court, so as not to incur the disaster of destroying the country. However, when they saw Zhang Tao's new edict carefully studying the compulsory military service system, a group of North Korean officials suddenly felt enlightened, and since then, compulsory military service has become a basic national policy of North Korea and has been unswervingly implemented for hundreds of years.

When the envoy fleet finally saw the Japanese coastline, Zhang Huan no longer had the excitement when he set off, Jiang Tian told him with practical actions what a diplomatic visit is, which is completely different from the kind of expected scene of the upper and lower missions, the front and back hugs, the edict was preached, and the barbarians worshipped the scene, the two sides intrigued for their own interests, and there was no scholarly demeanor, this was only Korea close to China, and the Japan that was about to face was inseparable from China in history, except for the Tang Dynasty, The Japanese have never really surrendered to us, Jiang Tian made a long-term plan to weaken Japan, but also was disturbed by various problems, Zhang Huan felt that he had a heavy and depressed feeling, then he understood why his father agreed to travel by himself, they all said that governing a big country is like cooking small fresh, but to really do this, what wisdom and courage are needed!

The Jinghai did not stop at the nearest port, but led the fleet through the Seto Inland Sea to Sakai Port in a familiar way, this time not only no one dared to stop, the fishing boats along the way and the daimyo sentry spouts took the initiative to avoid, the last time the Jinghai retreated in the encirclement of more than 100 warships, they witnessed it with their own eyes, those invincible ships in their eyes not only failed to stop the giant ship, but were sunk several ships, such a record made the Japanese who were born to worship the strong to maintain enough sanity. At this time, Sakai Port was still a cornucopia of Japanese money under the rule of the Tokugawa family, and Tokyo Bay was the political, economic, and cultural center of Japan in the future, but in fact, Osaka was the economic center of Japan until a long time after World War II, and it was not surpassed by the Tokyo area until the 80s of the 20th century.

Jiang Tian chose to land here, there is no way, first, only here are enough berths for the fleet to dock, and there are also developed land transportation to Kyoto, especially after the typhoon raged, many places in Japan are in a state of disaster reconstruction, which makes Jiang Tian have no choice. Unlike the usual noisy welcome ceremonies in China, the dock was quiet, and if it weren't for a group of dwarfs standing there with swords and guns in hand, I'm afraid no one would know that this was a welcome diplomatic envoy.

"Is this little devil going to give us a dismount?" Wu Yuan looked at the soldiers on the dock and muttered to himself.

"Don't be afraid." Jiang Tian didn't care about this: "We have brought so many marines, this little devil is not enough to see, even if the Tokugawa family turns their faces, as long as the Jinghai is not lost, they can get out of the way!" ”

He had the ability to comfort Zhang Huan with this, because after all, this prince is still young, and his understanding of the world is limited to his own side, so it is necessary to give him a certain sense of security, but also for safety reasons, he is not ready to let Zhang Huan go deep into the interior of Japan.

"Sir, this journey, although the time is not long, but I have understood my father's good intentions, now that the port is in front of me, how can I sit in the ship and ignore the world's affairs?"

Zhang Hua, your words made Jiang Tian stunned for a moment, and then glanced at Wu Yuan, the other party also smiled bitterly, Jiang Tian understood that the young man who was always pestering himself to ask questions was gradually drifting away, and became a young man with his own ambition in his heart, so it seemed that it was indeed time for him to get in touch with more things. Thinking of this, Jiang Tian bowed deeply to this student of his own for the first time: "In this way, the minister will not be dishonored!" ”

This is the first time that Jiang Tian treats Zhang Huan with the courtesy of a monarch and a minister, which can be regarded as a recognition of him as a prince, Zhang Huan, who was not mentally prepared, was taken aback, he didn't expect that the recognition that seemed to be the most difficult to obtain would come so easily.

Of course, the Japanese did not know what was happening in the cabin, they could only see the castle-like Jinghai slowly approaching the dock, the majestic sailors in snow-white sailor suits, standing on the side of the ship like sculptures, and then lowering a cleverly designed metal folding gangway, a Chinese official in a big red bullfighting suit cautiously walked down the ladder, but when he stood on the solid ground on the pier, he immediately regained a remarkable demeanor in his gestures. Although I have long heard that this powerful minister is very young, it is still a little surprising after seeing the real person, but looking at the few people who followed behind him, these little Japan are even more strange, it is even more strange to send a young official for such an important matter, why is his entourage younger than the other, even the age of the eunuch is definitely not more than twenty-five years old!

Fujiwara looked at his colleagues with disdain, originally his official rank was not particularly high, and the family ranks such as Konoe, Ichijo, and Nijo, who were related to him, were higher than him, but he was an official of the emperor who contributed to the founding of Japan, and he visited China many times to know the Chinese envoy, so he presided over the greeting, in this case, the Tokugawa family naturally could not watch the emperor and China conspire, so he also sent Tokugawa Ietsuna's uncle Hoshina to greet him, However, at this time, the shogunate also knew that it wanted to retain its strength and not blame China, so it did not compete with Fujiwara for the position of welcoming the minister.

Seeing Jiang Tian walking slowly, Fujiwara, as a representative of the Japanese side, hurriedly took a few steps forward, and then bowed a standard ninety degrees: "Lord Jiang has come from afar, and the contemptible people have been waiting here for a long time on the orders of our emperor." ”

Jiang Tian saw that it was an old acquaintance Fujiwara again, and thought to himself, this Japanese emperor has no one to use except you? However, he didn't say that: "Lord Lao Fujiwara has been waiting for a long time, and this time I have come to meet the emperor of your country on the order of the Chinese emperor, and I have come here for the friendship between China and Japan!" ”

The beautiful words are high-sounding, but everyone except the two of them is unimpressed by this statement, Wu Yuan and Zhang Huan both know how Jiang Tian calculates the Japanese, and the shogunate also knows that the emperor is just a decoration, and the bulk of this trade profit still falls into the hands of the Tokugawa family. Seeing that the shogunate's finances are stretched, if it weren't for the support of some mines, I'm afraid it would not be able to maintain the current situation for a long time, Tokugawa Ietsuna is still young, and the power is in the hands of Masayuki Hoshina and Sakai Tadakatsu, so for the sake of money, no one thinks about the consequences of the emperor making so much money for the time being.

After going through the motions, it stands to reason that Jiang Tian and others should rest in the post house, and then take the vehicle sent by Japan to Kyoto to meet the emperor, but since Jiang Tian wants to show the strength of China in an all-round way, he will naturally not honestly listen to the Japanese arrangement, so the ships in the fleet specially used to carry vehicles will open the hatch and unload the four-wheeled carriages with elegant decoration but full of great country charm on the dock, there are two special diplomatic vehicles, and the remaining three are modified side vans, Each vehicle can carry ten heavily armed Marines, and these three vehicles are the vehicles used by the guard platoon that serves as personal bodyguards.

Because of Zhang Huan's existence, the real security personnel are actually hidden in the porters and entourage, but it is precisely because of the need to cover up the real bodyguards, and at the same time to put on a show in front of the Japanese, the escort of the Marine Corps is indispensable, at least the soldiers of these three reinforced squads also have the ability to protect themselves in the face of ten times the Japanese soldiers in the positional war, Jiang Tian is really worried not that a certain daimyo is crazy to attack him, but that he is afraid that the Japanese spies (ninjas) everywhere threaten Zhang Huan's safety.

In the post house, Jiang Tian was sitting on the tatami mat and watching Fujiwara perform the Japanese tea ceremony with a set of pottery, and from time to time he was gossiping with some Japanese who were proficient in Chinese culture, and the spies on the dock who wanted to explore the Chinese military power, as well as the samurai who watched the lively and dilapidated were really shocked, only to see that hundreds of marines did not take the gangway, but climbed down from the rope net on the side of the ship, and quickly reorganized the queue on the requisitioned dock, The soldiers who were originally chaotic formed a square formation in a row of 10 people under the unified order, and every command was issued, whether it was the whole team or the shoulders under the guns, all of them were neat and uniform movements, as if these hundreds of people were just one person.

No matter which daimyo's army, even if the queue composed of all samurai is not so strict, and the Japanese, who attach great importance to the quality of weapons, are even more shocked to find that these hundreds of people all use muskets, although they comfort themselves in their hearts, feeling that these people are only the elite selected by China, and do not necessarily represent the average level of the Chinese army, but what happened next made them no longer happy.

According to the plan prepared before the visit, in addition to the three reinforcement squads that followed Jiang Tian, the rest of the marines of this battalion were responsible for the security of the berths when they docked at the port, so they did not care whether the Japanese were happy or not, and immediately carried out their tasks in groups, and one company immediately entered a defensive posture in the designated berth area.

"Half-ring defensive formation, bayonet!" With a command, nearly 100 soldiers formed a semicircular formation in half-squatting at the entrance and exit passage of the berth, only the sound of brushing could be heard, and the bayonet nearly two feet long was skillfully loaded on the muzzle, and the butt of the rifle touched the ground and pointed outward and pointed forward.

This posture saw a lot of Japanese shining, the standard rifle that was already one meter three long was equipped with such a long bayonet, and the musket turned into a spear in an instant, although these bayonets were not as beautiful as the katana looked like, but those who knew it did not dare to underestimate it, the triangular bayonet was definitely stronger than other cold weapons in terms of piercing ability, and it would not be stuck by the bones and the blade could not be pulled out. At this time, the other soldiers were not idle, untied the sapper shovels hanging on their backpacks, took soil from the land near the port and put it into the sacks they carried, and then built a circular bunker behind the defensive formation, and after the construction was completed, other companies took over the defense, and several improved Thunderbolts were moved into the bunker, forming a primitive machine-gun position, and the intersection was blocked with curled and barbed wire on the periphery of the position, so that the construction of a standard field camp took only half an hour.

Because the construction of the camp was agreed by the Japanese side, their actions were not disturbed, but the hearts of many Japanese people have been cold from head to toe, if in the state of field warfare, many samurai are still confident that they can fight with it, but when they see the completion of this defense system, even if they do not know how powerful the Chinese muskets are, they are also very aware that there are no more than twenty times the number of troops to shake such a defense, let alone when they build defensive positions, The ship's turnable turrets were constantly scanning the surroundings to provide fire cover for possible attacks. If you want to break through such a defensive circle, you can't do it without artillery, but the Japanese know in their hearts that how many artillery pieces can be concentrated in all of Japan?