Peter Corps.

Perhaps for the officials and people of the Ming Dynasty in the 32nd year of Xingqian, they didn't know about this famous mission, but for Zhu Mingzhong, how could he ignore this mission?

In another time and space, three years later, in 1697, Tsar Peter I of Russia visited the diplomatic corps of Western Europe. This huge mission of several hundred people is only comparable to the Iwakura Mission in the history of the world, and these two missions changed the fate of two countries, but compared to the Iwakura Mission, the Peter Mission is famous because Peter I participated in the mission under the pseudonym of participating in the visit to Europe.

Although the main mission of the mission was to create an anti-Turkish alliance in favor of Russia seizing access to the Black Sea. However, the mission also inspected the economic, political, military, cultural, scientific, and technological aspects of the Netherlands, Britain, Austria, and other countries, and recruited more than 1,000 Western European military engineering experts, shipbuilders, and sailors to Russia. All of these had a great influence on the later reforms of Peter I.

It was from then on that Russia began to carry out vigorous reforms, just like the Meiji Restoration, which completely changed the fate of the country.

And now, the famous Peter Mission has come to Daming!

In addition to being surprised, Zhu Mingzhong also had a certain pride in his heart, after all, this mission is too famous in history, but unlike in another time and space, Western European countries do not attach importance to it, and Zhu Mingzhong, who knows its significance, attaches great importance to this matter.

"Be sure to do a good job of reception, and make them feel at home, after all, this is the largest mission to Daming in recent years......"

Compared with the importance of his father, because of the previous discussion, he had already focused on Russia, and Zhu Hejia said with some puzzlement.

"Father, since in the future, we will definitely pay attention to Russia, then why should we agree to their visit? After all, the purpose of their coming to the Celestial Empire is to learn the technology of the Celestial Empire, and then seek self-improvement, isn't this just teaching people to fish? ”

Facing his son's rhetorical question, Zhu Mingzhong said with a smile while fiddling with the tea set in front of him.

"Actually, this has to be looked at from several aspects, Hejia, why is the imperial court willing to relax the restrictions on foreign students in the past two years?"

The father's rhetorical question made Zhu Hejia ponder for a moment, and then replied.

"It is to cultivate pro-Ming factions in various countries, we are too far away from Europe, if we do not take the initiative to spread the celestial learning of the Celestial Empire, and do not take the initiative to educate Europeans with the knowledge of the Celestial Empire, then Europeans will be hostile to the Celestial Empire while doing everything possible to learn Tianxue through various channels, so we take the initiative to release certain restrictions, just to let them, especially the Western nobles, come to the Celestial Empire, and their study abroad in the Celestial Empire will make them become pro-Ming factions, at least some of them will become pro-Ming factions......"

Listening to his son's answer, Zhu Mingzhong smiled slightly, and then said.

"Why were Western missionaries willing to teach us Western studies, and they weren't afraid that we would learn how to cast artillery and learn Western science, and in the end we would turn against them? No, they believe that they are progressing much faster than we can learn, because of self-confidence, but what drives them? It is based on the need to spread religion, they can rely on medical treatment and preaching in the rainforest of the Amazon, but in the Celestial Empire, only Western science can attract us, and for the sake of missionary cause, it can only be so, and we ...... Don't even those missionaries have the self-confidence? ”

The corners of Zhu Mingzhong's lips were slightly raised, and there was sarcasm in his tone, he clearly remembered that for so many years, almost every year, someone declared in the newspaper that agreeing to Westerners to learn heavenly science is equivalent to giving people sharp weapons, which is tantamount to killing themselves.

"Of course, this kind of openness is not complete, but restrictive, it does not mean that everything should be open to teach them, teach the apprentice to starve to death the master, this principle is not wrong, but if you don't teach the apprentice, it is a big mistake, well, it's still that sentence, when it comes to military affairs, without the consent of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, it can't be easily taught, as for the conventional subjects, I don't think there is a big problem."

Looking at his son, to a certain extent, Zhu Mingzhong felt that he was even inferior to him in this regard, compared to his son's open-mindedness, he may be more conservative, after all, he single-handedly contributed to the "machine ban", even if this ban is almost fictitious. Compared with his own relaxation of Zhuxia, Zhu Hejia directly abolished the ban five years ago, and as long as the exporting country has the permission of the Ministry of Industry, the machines in the export list can be directly exported. Last year's relaxation of restrictions on international students was a sign of more self-confidence than myself.

"Father, the sons feel that there are some things, simply can't be forbidden, now, in the Ming Dynasty Europe doctors, professors more than 10,000, their correspondence with friends in European countries, will inevitably involve some knowledge, of course, more serious is that the crew entrainment books, in Tianzhu and other places in the British, Portuguese, French and other countries controlled by the stronghold, a Celestial Empire book is priced at more than ten yuan or even dozens of yuan, even if the customs strictly prohibit, these years often Ming books come out this year, next year in European countries can see the translation of new books, Europe is hungry for celestial learning, so that the ban is naturally useless, and it is better to partially liberalize it, cultivate pro-Ming factions in various countries, and pave the way for further interests in the future......"

Of course, Zhu Mingzhong would not object to Zhu Hejia's opinion, in fact, when he expressed his thoughts in this regard last year, Zhu Mingzhong was surprised, but also felt that he seemed to have fallen into some kind of misunderstanding, and Zhu Hejia's decision can undoubtedly make up for these misunderstandings.

"So, when it comes to Russia, it's the same thing, what is the biggest difference between Russia and Western Europe?"

Looking at his son, who seemed a little puzzled, Zhu Mingzhong asked rhetorically.

"They were even more backward, and they had heard that they had not even made qualified firecracker pipes until a few years ago, and that they had done so with the help of foreign craftsmen."

"Backwardness is one thing, the biggest difference is that Russia is a serfdom country, in that country, with the exception of a small number of freemen, the majority of the peasants are serfs dependent on the nobility, and the nobility has the vast majority of the power and wealth of the state, as for the tsar......"

The corners of his lips lifted slightly, and Zhu Mingzhong said sarcastically.

"It's just a big aristocratic leader. Those nobles can be loyal to the Tsar now, and they can be loyal to others in the future, just as they were loyal to the Khanates of those khanates, and they will be loyal to the Great Emperor in the future! ”

"Father, what do you mean ......"

Looking at his father, Zhu Hejia said.

"Is it to win over those nobles?"

"Not to fight, but to cultivate the leading party among the nobility, the aristocracy is the basis of Russian rule, if I am not bad, among their students, it should be mainly the aristocracy, we can cultivate our people among those nobles, so that they realize our strength, realize that the power cannot be resisted, so that in the future invasion, they will be willing to submit to our rule."

When his father's words fell, Zhu Hejia asked rhetorically.

"But this will also give rise to another situation, that is, they realize the backwardness of the country, and then rise up to catch up."

"Of course, it's inevitable!"

Pursing his lips, Zhu Mingzhong said again.

"At all times, as long as we can make it possible for a third of the people to surrender to us, and a third of the people are close to us, our policy will be successful, and as for the other third, they want to catch up, but there are some things that they can't catch up with if they want to, such as the railroad ......"

Looking into the distance, Zhu Mingzhong thought thoughtfully for a while before speaking.

"After Peter's visit this time, he will inevitably have a strong interest in railways and trains, and with the current Russian technology and financial resources, there is no way to build a railway, so we can negotiate with them to cooperate in building a railway."

Zhu Mingzhong naturally thought of the "Eastern Railway" in another time and space, which should have been shared by Qing and Russia, but in the end? If you build it, it will become Russia's own, and even in the end, Soviet Russia inherited all the rights and interests of the Eastern Railway.

"Cooperate on a railroad?"

Zhu Hejia obviously didn't expect his father to make such a suggestion. Now the wave of railway construction in Daming is wave after wave, almost every day there are new railway branch lines are mentioned on the construction schedule, but to build a railway abroad, this is the first time, of course, in the eyes of everyone, Zhuxia is not a foreign country, there is no difference between there and Daming.

"That's right, that is, we will contribute money and technology, and then Russia will give land, and then, we will build a road from the Western Regions to ...... Railways in the Baltic. ”

Does Russia have access to the sea in the Baltic Sea now?

This is not important, the important thing is that the Ming Dynasty can connect the Ming Dynasty with Europe by building a railway.

"Of course, in the future, we can also build the railway all the way to Western Europe, to Paris, and even to Madrid, Lisbon, ......"

As he spoke, Zhu Mingzhong stood up, walked to the side of the globe, and drew a line on the globe with his fingers.

"This railway, what do you say? In the new century, we will make the whole world feel the power of civilization, and of course our goods and privileges will be extended with the extension of the railways all the way to the hinterland of the other side to the capital......"

At this moment, Zhu Mingzhong's tone became a little excited, as if he had seen history again, but in that history, the right of way was humiliating and full of bitterness for the people, but now it is different.

"Well, we can ask them for the right of way on the grounds of road construction, such as the construction of the attached land of the stations along the line, and we can use the iron attached land as a ...... Concession, yes, the Ming Dynasty in the concessions of European countries, as well as the right to garrison troops along the line, of course, at the beginning, they were definitely unwilling to give, after all, unless there is a military defeat, otherwise they will definitely not give up the right to garrison, but there is no problem, we can save the country, such as the establishment of railway inspection, as well as the inspection of affiliated areas, and even in the future, you can also use some bandit incidents to ask for further power ......"

When talking about how to run the dependent territories, Zhu Mingzhong couldn't help but think of the country within a country built by Japan and Russia in the northeast with railways as the core. Now the Ming Dynasty is just taking the imperialist powers and applying them to their ancestors.

"There are also mining rights along the line, these have to be taken into account, in a word, talk to them, but don't expose our ambitions at the beginning, well......"

After pondering for a moment, recalling in his mind the experience of the Japanese in another time and space when they often had the South Manchurian Railway, Zhu Mingzhong said.

"Of course, what is our ultimate goal? It is to carry out large-scale infiltration, mainly by operating railways, and to expand our power in various parts of Europe through the establishment of subordinate forces, and to constitute potential armaments. It is different from the East India Company and other enterprises set up by the Europeans to achieve the purpose of increasing military power by developing economic power, but in fact it is similar, except that we use railways, through which we can go directly into the hinterland of European countries......"

Some things that had been ignored before slowly came to mind, and Zhu Mingzhong naturally thought of how foreigners could obtain huge benefits through non-colonial means in another time and space, in that semi-colonial society of China.

"Sometimes, colonization does not necessarily have to occupy a certain country, we can make the European countries into our markets, our suppliers of raw materials, and the dumping ground of industrial products through another way, such as economic colonization, and they don't yearn for our science, our technology? We will give them the railroads, of course, these railways are not a gift from us, but giant locusts that suck their economic resources! ”

Drawing on the experience of another time and space, after saying this, Zhu Mingzhong's whole person fell into silence, the experience of another time and space, made him realize that outside the colony, there can be another possibility, and even if all this is carefully planned, perhaps, it is impossible for Daming to occupy the entire world, but maybe, he can make the whole world his own semi-colony, in this world, Daming can suck the world's resources through steamships, railways and trains, so that the whole world can serve Daming.

That's right, that's right!

That's it!

Thinking of this, Zhu Mingzhong looked at his son and said.

"Occupy the whole world? It's almost impossible, all kinds of civilizations and languages, for an empire, it is possible to cause the empire to split, but the sun never sets on the empire, does not mean that the empire is completely through military occupation, the era of the empire, maybe it can be ...... another way"