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As for the determination of the order of the crown between the emperors and daughters, Yuming opposed the long-term succession law that had been customary in previous dynasties. This approach, while simple and straightforward and rarely controversial, is irresponsible to the state. If the chief is a bright monarch, it is easy to say, but if it is a faint monarch or a tyrant, it will be a disaster for the country and the people.

Moreover, those younger brothers, if there are more shrewd and capable people, will also be very dissatisfied with their brothers, thus burying the hidden danger of the battle for the throne, the more obvious example is the Xuanwumen change that has just occurred.

Li Shimin was dissatisfied with his brother Li Jiancheng as the Tang Dynasty, so he could not inherit the title. So he angrily launched the Xuanwumen Incident, killed his brother Li Jiancheng and younger brother Li Yuanji, forced his father Li Yuan to abdicate, and then became the emperor.

And if the Tang Dynasty had determined the succession system to the throne without virtue, perhaps it would have been able to avoid this crisis of fratricide.

Of course, how to understand this "virtuous" is also a very troublesome matter. The same emperor, some people may say that he is wise, and some people say that he is stupid. And if this choice is left to the emperor to determine, it will be difficult to decide. Because they are all their own women, the palms and backs of their hands are full of meat.

At the same time, the emperor will also do everything possible to curry favor with his father, form gangs, and build momentum for himself, instead of spending his energy on learning skills and how to govern the country, and the emperor is also easily deceived.

Therefore, Yu Ming proposed that the choice of this heir in line should be decided by the people. At the time of the parliamentary election every five years, which is also the time when the order of the heirs to the throne is determined, the people receive two kinds of ballots at the polling stations, one for the members of the parliament and the other for the heir to the throne, and the number of votes for the emperor who has the right to inherit is determined by the number of votes in the order, and the emperor who receives the most votes is the first-order heir, and the emperor who receives the second number of votes is the second-order heir, and so on.

Of course, this order is not set in stone, because it is possible that the heirs of the first order will have a lower number of votes in the next parliamentary election due to poor performance, and it is also very likely that they will become the second or even the first in order. Therefore, this allows the emperors to devote their minds to strengthening their own cultivation and shaping their image in front of the public. It also allows the emperor not to spend his mind on how to determine his successor, but to think about how to govern the country and open up territory.

After these major issues, which should have been decided long ago but were forced to be put on hold because the war to unify the world had not yet ended, were basically resolved, such as the reorganization and surrender of the Tang Army, the establishment of schools at all levels, and the determination of salaries and taxes for officials, it would have been easier to solve them. In these aspects, both the original ministers of the Zhou Dynasty and the newly joined Tang Dynasty ministers are all veterans in this regard.

This reform and straightening out the order within the imperial court lasted for more than two months, and it was not until the beginning of the imperial examination in this month that it finally came to an end, which was basically over.

At this time, Zhou Tao sent someone to send an urgent report, asking the imperial court to send an official who was good at diplomacy to Japan to negotiate with the Japanese emperor.

"Negotiations? Could it be that the war between Zhou Tao and Japan has ended? Yu Ming asked when he saw the messenger.

"Yes! After our army set out from Gangto, they quickly conquered the Ryukyu Island, and the commander of the Japanese garrison, Kosuke Yamamoto, committed suicide, and their fleet was completely destroyed. Subsequently, the governor of Zhou sent General Song to stay in the Ryukyus. According to the strategy previously given by His Majesty, General Song ordered King Nadezhao to return to Jiangdu to settle down, and then gradually move the local residents of Ryukyu to Jiangnan, and then move from Jiangnan to settle in China......"

"Good! In this way, the Ryukyus can become a solid territory of our country! Yu Ming was obviously very satisfied, and then asked, "What happened later?" ”

Later, Zhou Dudu and Lord Hu sailed the fleet to the sea of Kyoto and engaged the main fleet of the Japanese army. However, because our army used Zhou Qiang's men to make bombs, and defeated the Japanese fleet in the Seto Inland Sea, almost all the Japanese warships were sent to the bottom of the sea by our naval divisions, so the emperor had to come forward to sue for peace. ”

At this time, the messenger said with a respectful face: "Lord Hu would like to ask Your Majesty, how to start negotiations with Japan, and what conditions should we put forward?" He felt that he was originally a soldier of the Great Sui and was not good at diplomacy, so he wanted to ask His Majesty to send a diplomat who was good at negotiation to Japan. ”

"I see." Yu Ming nodded a little understandingly, and then said to the guards beside him: "Go and call Lord Eldest Sun, I have something important to discuss with him!" ”

The guard answered and went down. It didn't take long for the eldest grandson Wuji to come to Yuming's imperial study, and then bowed and saluted: "I don't know what Your Majesty is looking for Weichen?" ”

"Brother Eldest Sun, I want you to go on an envoy to Japan!" Yuming is colorful.

"Japan? But has the battle of General Zhou's expedition come to fruition? When the eldest grandson Wuji heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Yes! However, Hu Sizheng is only good at military strategy, not good at diplomatic negotiations, how to achieve greater benefits for our country in negotiations and establish a foothold in Japan depends on you! Yu Ming said lightly at this time.

"The minister will do his best, but can Your Majesty give me some guidance on what kind of requirements should be made in the negotiation?" Eldest Sun Wuji asked.

After hearing this, Yu Ming picked up the tea on the table, took a sip, and then said, "Then I will tell you a principle." ”

"The first principle: there are many factions in Japan now, and the emperor no longer has much real power. And a Japan that is divided and has fierce internal strife is in our interests, so that they will have to ask for us and be inferior to us. If they are really unified, the whole country will be twisted into a rope, not to mention whether it will expand externally and become the great enemy of our Great Zhou. At least it's much harder for us to deal with them!

"The second principle: the Japanese have always bullied the weak and afraid of the hard, if they follow the rules and abide by the rules, they will often be regarded as weak and bullied, after you arrive in Japan, if there is a verbal dispute or even conflict with it during the negotiation, you must not fall into the prestige of my Great Zhou!" Yu Ming said in a deep voice.

This is what he can see from the performance of Japan in later generations. When China repeatedly made overtures to Japan and even swallowed its anger, Japan had to move inch by inch and aim the spearhead of aggression at China first. However, when Japan was defeated by the United States, which is more powerful than it, and even dropped two atomic bombs, Japan worshiped the United States, and only obeyed the orders of the United States, and was like a little brother of the United States on the international stage.

The eldest grandson Wuji nodded, and then Yuming continued: "The first principle is to take a good look at these daimyo in Japan, which ones are friendly to us. Those who are friendly to me can be appropriately inclined to them when trading. If it is a daimyo who is hostile to us, we must teach them a hard lesson and let them know that my Great Zhou cannot be provoked! ”

As he said this, a cold light flashed in his eyes.

The eldest grandson Wuji felt a pang in his heart, but after thinking about it carefully, if he wanted to establish power in Japan, he really had to do so. He also learned about the situation in Japan. It is known that in this era, the combat force of the Japanese daimyo was mainly subordinate to the samurai.

However, Japan's population is small, with a population of only a few tens of thousands. Those samurai under the daimyo, even if there are thousands of them, even if they are strong. Even the strongest daimyo has just over 10,000 troops under his command. The kind of engagement in the Central Plains, where hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops were at every turn, was simply impossible in Japan. In Japan, a battle of thousands of people is definitely a big war.

"Your Majesty, do you want Japan to cede a piece of territory to us? As a port and garrison place for my Great Zhou? Eldest Sun Wuji asked again at this time.

"It would be great if we could get it done. It's just that Japan is a small place, so it's probably more difficult for them to cut the land. Yu Ming smiled and said: "But if this situation really happens, you don't have to cut the land, but it is best to put forward such conditions......"

With that, he whispered his thoughts.

After hearing this, the eldest grandson Wuji couldn't help but be a little confused, and the messenger was even more confused.

"Your Majesty, it seems that we have not taken advantage of this condition! On the contrary, you have to lose a lot of money, wouldn't it be cheaper for Japan? Eldest Sun Wuji couldn't help but ask.

"Hey, hey! You certainly can't think of it now, but in a few years you will know how useful these conditions are! Yu Ming smiled, he knew that it would be very laborious to explain to the eldest grandson Wuji now, and if he was a modern person, he might be able to make sense at all. But in the late Sui era, it was difficult for officials to understand these concepts.

"You should prepare early, and you can go to Japan in the future!" Yu Ming finally admonished.

The eldest grandson Wuji hurriedly bowed and saluted, promising to arrive in Kyoto on time, and then said goodbye and left.

……

The Japanese emperor and his ministers discussed for half a month and finally drew up a new plan. Through these several contacts with Zhou Tao and Hu Sizheng. They found that the generals and officials of the Zhou army seemed to have a special preference for land. However, Japan has not cut land since the founding of the country, and their land is not much, and it is still in the hands of local daimyos, not the emperor, so how can they cut it?

So, this time they pondered for a long time, and then decided to cede a large uninhabited island in the north of Honshu Island to the Zhou army, which was full of forests and wild beasts anyway. If the Zhou Dynasty really wanted land, it would be better to cut the cold island called Hokkaido.

However, when they went to Zhou Tao and Hu Sizheng with new conditions, they were told that now they did not care about the negotiations, and that Sun Wuji, the foreign minister of the Great Zhou, was in charge, and said that he was on his way to Japan.

The negotiation partner has changed? This made Japan's negotiators a little wide-eyed. However, since the foreign minister was sent, it shows that the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty attaches great importance to this. They decided to wait a little longer.

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