While the Ming Dynasty was preparing to establish diplomatic relations with European powers, Tsarist Russia was fully prepared to deal with Norway and Finland in the north, as well as its old rival Poland, hoping to gain more territory. Although the crown prince Alexei suffered a loss during the Eastern Expedition, fortunately, Zhu Youxiao gave him a large number of prisoners and goods, which made his prestige in the army very high. In fact, the essence of war is the reshuffling of interests, and in any case, the key is to obtain a large amount of wealth, and it does not matter whether it is won or lost.

The Ottoman Empire immediately sensed the restlessness of the Slavs in response to Russia's continued activities in eastern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula, and soon signed an armistice with Poland to jointly resist the expansion of Tsarist Russia. Just when Eastern Europe was in a state of chaos, England, France, the Netherlands and other maritime nouveau riche actively responded to the Ming Dynasty's overtures, not only warmly received the Ming Dynasty's caravanserais, but also sent a huge delegation to Beijing.

Zhu Youxiao looked at the world map and thought that the establishment of diplomatic relations was only for the peaceful division of colonies and spheres of influence, and the redetermination of maritime order and trade interests. At present, South America is still the backyard of Spain and Portugal, and the Ming Dynasty does not have enough ability to get involved, so it can only exchange for the gold and silver they loot through trade, and in addition, it can also instigate the Viking pirates to loot these loaded cargo ships in the Atlantic, intensifying the contradictions within Europe, so that they have no time to rob the South Asian market with the Ming Dynasty.

As for the African continent, it is still terra nullius, with only Portugal holding a few important ports as supply points. On the southern shores of the Mediterranean, the Ottoman Empire controlled North Africa, the Middle East, and Western Asia, and pursued a strict trade blockade that forbade merchants from the East and Europe. In the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Safavid dynasty of the Persian Empire, in order to compete with the Ottoman Empire for territory, also adopted a policy of banning trade, and did not allow foreign merchant ships to sail in. The situation in South Asia was ideal, with the Portuguese, Dutch, British, and French gradually infiltrating the interior of the Brahmins and Kshatriyas, controlling the Indian market by bribing the local aristocracy with heavy money, and grabbing huge profits from trade every year. Although Southeast Asia was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, with the decline of national power, these places have become a European colonial stronghold. For example, the island of Luzon in the Philippines was occupied by Spain, Vietnam was in collusion with Portugal, Malaya became a dependency of England, and Java was controlled by the Dutch.

When Zhu Youxiao calmly analyzed the current international situation, everyone in the Qinzheng Hall was gearing up, and the Ming elites at this time were no longer the turtles who built the Great Wall to protect themselves, and their eyes had already focused on the center of the world stage, that is, the Strait of Malacca.

As mentioned above, the governor of Liangguang in the Ming Dynasty at this time was Shang Zhouzuo, the Guangdong senator Jiang Dejing had been promoted to the commander of the South China Sea Fleet, and Yuan Chonghuan concurrently served as the governor and chief soldier of Guangxi. After Zhu Youxiao finished speaking, Yuan Chonghuan knew that the emperor was going to prepare to go south, and in order to get ahead of his old opponent Mao Wenlong, he was the first to step forward and said:

"The saint is wise, the countries of the South China Sea were originally vassals of the Celestial Empire, but since the Jiajing period, there has been an invasion of Hongmaoyi, and there was even a tragic Luzon tragedy during the Wanli period, and the Spaniards slaughtered tens of thousands of expatriates. At the beginning of this year, South Vietnam took advantage of the Holy Expedition to the West to collude with Portugal to invade Guangxi and slaughter more than 3,000 people from our border. The last general asked for the dispatch of an army of land and water to return blood for blood and teach South Vietnam a lesson. ”

For Yuan Chonghuan, Zhu Youxiao is quite conflicted in his heart, his loyalty and ability are first-class, but the problem of killing Mao Wenlong without authorization is still very serious. In order to avoid a tragedy, Zhu Youxiao transferred him to Guangxi, and ordered Mao Wenlong to go to Busan to take charge of the sailors.

Seeing that Yuan Chonghuan was in trouble, Zhu Youxiao was noncommittal, pointed his sword at Lake Baikal and said:

"Elemental don't be impatient, I know that you have personally been to the front line to command the battle, and you hate the South Vietnamese to the core, but when dealing with national relations, you must treat them differently, the big countries are strict, the small countries are lenient, and unite all those who can be united to the greatest extent, so as to concentrate on the main enemy.

Although I named this era the Age of Discovery, the strength of the Western Ocean was not enough to pose a threat to our dynasty, and the main energy of the imperial court at this stage was still focused on the northern grasslands. The Jungar and Jianzhou Jurchens had been plowed into the court, the Emperor Taiji had fled to the North Sea, and the Juros had been beheaded, and it was time to completely eliminate the nomads. I decided to build Ziqing City in the Beihai area, firstly, to commemorate Su Ziqing's integrity of shepherding sheep and not forgetting his roots, and secondly, to use this place as a military important place to manage the grassland. ”

This idea is similar to that of opening up anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines, except that Lake Baikal is remote and there is no danger to defend around, so it is easy to be attacked and harassed by nomadic cavalry. As the head of the Three Princes, Sun Chengzong seemed to see the beauty of this move, and said flatteringly:

"Your Majesty Shengming, Su Ziqing has been shepherding sheep in Beihai for 19 years, in the face of the coercion and temptation of the Huns, he finally returned to Chang'an in the sixth year of the first century, and the people in the city were empty, kneeling at the city gate to greet the big husband. If he could call on the people of the world to build castles in Beihai and expand the territory with his deeds, then the nomadic cavalry would not dare to drive south. According to the old system of Liaodong, the minister suggested that according to the old system of Liaodong, set up a capital division in Beihai, constantly gather nearby herdsmen to settle down, and use the way of sages and the customs of the Central Plains to educate them. ”

After listening to Sun Chengzong's strategy, Zhu Youxiao secretly said that this person is indeed a genius today, and he can have such a far-reaching vision, and said with a slight smile:

"Taishi Gao sees it, I am happy and convinced, but I want to directly set Beihai as a province of Zhili and send a vassal king to guard it. On the map, although the North Sea is remote, the lake is wide and surrounded by many rivers, which can be used for farming, fishing and hunting. For this reason, I decided to relocate 100,000 military households to stay here for a long time, and at the same time divide the pastures of each tribe in the periphery, so that they can gradually settle down and accept the management of the imperial court. ”

Everyone thought that they were just setting up a capital division here, which was managed by the nomad tribe itself, but when they heard that the little emperor was going to run the Eight Classics, they immediately exploded, and Yang Lian, the head of the household, was the first to object:

"Your Majesty thought twice, and the minister thought that this plan was inappropriate. Beihai is located in the north of the desert, surrounded by the Gobi steppe, rarely populated, and has never been valued by the Central Plains Dynasty. The minister thought that it was okay to set up a capital to allow the Mongols to govern themselves, but it was still necessary to consider the large-scale relocation of the inhabitants of the interior. ”

Yang Lian is a royalist faction in the palace transfer case, although he was born in the Donglin Party, he is upright, he has always been right about things and not people, and he is only loyal to the emperor and the court, so he is regarded by Zhu Youxiao as a Zheng minister like Wei Zheng. At this time, Zhu Youxiao saw that he was too conservative, and patiently explained:

What Aiqing said is that since Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall, the Central Plains Dynasty has taken this as a boundary, ostensibly resisting the invasion of nomads, but in fact it is drawing the ground as a prison. After the founding of the Taizu Dynasty, I divided the Nuer Gandu Division and the Wusi Zangdu Division into territories, but in the later period, I built the Great Wall in Liaodong to resist the Jurchens, and after all, I did not realize the wish of Emperor Chengzu to be a family in the world.

In the same way, during the Qin and Han dynasties, Eastern Europe and Fujian were barbaric lands and despised by the Han people, but now Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian are the economic centers of the country. Moreover, it is difficult for nomadic tribes to be dispersed, but it is very easy to gather together, and if there is no strong control, it is bound to threaten the border again, so it is safer to hold this knife in the hands of the imperial court. ”

When everyone saw that the emperor's words were categorical, they already understood seven or eight points in their hearts, and they didn't dare to raise any more objections. Seeing that there was silence in the Imperial Palace, Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of the three northwestern provinces, said:

"Your Majesty, the last general also agrees with the Taishi's opinion. This westward expedition opened up the Hetao Plain, Qinghai and Turpan for the Ming Dynasty, adding thousands of miles of territory and a population of nearly one million. The living habits of these young people are very different from those in the mainland, and they have almost fanatical religious beliefs, and their cultural customs must be changed if they want to ensure long-term peace and stability.

Qi Jin followed Qi Jiguang when he was a teenager, and was promoted to a general after repeated military exploits, and was later reused by Zhu Youxiao, leaving a prestige in Liaodong and Northern Xinjiang successively, and becoming a member of the Military Aircraft Department. At this time, he was responsible for the development of Beihai and had first-hand information, and after Lu Xiangsheng finished speaking, he said:

"Your Majesty, since the minister took over Beihai, he and his subordinates have traveled all over the nearby area, where there are many rivers and fertile land, which is very suitable for growing sweet potatoes, corn, winter wheat and other crops. If the castle was to be built, the minister suggested that it should be located at the confluence of the rivers to the west, so that the natural waters could be used, which would facilitate the development of the local fishing industry, and second, the establishment of a sailor to assist in the defense. ”

The location he was talking about was Irkutsk in present-day Russia, on the northern shore of the southernmost part of Lake Baikal, where the Angara and Irkutsk rivers meet.

With the support of these military officials and feudal officials, the plan to build Ziqing City was quickly implemented, but the location was too conspicuous, like inserting a steel nail into the Mongolian steppe, which inevitably aroused the vigilance of the surrounding tribes. In order to dispel their doubts, Zhu Youxiao specially summoned these leaders to Beijing to discuss border and trade issues.

This kind of thing was unthinkable in the past, the Ming generation was originally to drive out the Tartars and restore China, and the war with the Mongols never stopped after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the two sides had deep grievances. But since the rise of Nurhachi's Eight Banners, the Mongols have had a hard time and are forced to report to the Ming Dynasty to keep warm. Later, Huang Taiji lured wolves into the house, and 10,000 Rakshasa musketeers swept through most of the grassland, putting everyone in danger to the herdsmen. Coupled with successive years of drought, there are not as many pastures for livestock, which has led to a sharp decline in the population of the tribes.

In this context, Zhu Youxiao took the initiative to throw out an olive branch after the destruction of the Dzungar Khanate, exchanged grain and cloth for a large number of fine horses, and sent missions to establish long-term ties with several major tribes, and the two sides gradually entered a mode of cooperation of peaceful coexistence.