As expected, as soon as Rama V returned to Siam, the British minister immediately asked to see him, and he cordially received the British minister, and the two discussed for a long time. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

How would the British feel when they saw Rama V go to Daming to sign a military alliance treaty? The Ming Dynasty has just defeated France in an alliance with Vietnam, and now it is allied with Siam, what is the intention?

The British knew very well who the Ming Dynasty was aiming for forming an alliance system, and Britain was one of the main goals, if not the only goal.

But after the Ming and French Wars, Britain has seen that the Ming Dynasty is no longer the Ming Dynasty of the past, and this oriental country has worked hard for three years and ten years, breaking through the cocoon and turning into a butterfly, and has been reborn, sweeping away the decadent atmosphere of the ancient country, and standing in front of the Westerners with a new look.

The French labor expedition was defeated, and the land war was actually lost. Britain never thought that it would lose a naval war, but Britain thought it could not win a land war that France could not win. Britain is a country that has absolute trust in its navy and absolutely distrust its own army.

In the past, Britain was able to tolerate the expansion of the Ming Dynasty in the Nanyang region, but now it suddenly found that allowing this powerful country to enter the Nanyang brought huge unknown risks to the British-led Nanyang order.

Although it was hoped that the Ming would be able to go north to confront Russia, the strong restriction of the Ming Dynasty had become a necessary measure. For this reason, Britain quickly persuaded the French to make concessions to Siam and no longer hold Siam responsible for their rash choice to France. Britain would fully support French power in Cambodia and would not allow any country to challenge the status quo of French control of Cambodia.

Obviously, seeing the actions of the Ming and Siam, the British began to decide to restrict the southward expansion of the Ming. And France also felt the heavy pressure, having just competed on the battlefield in Vietnam, and the French decided that they did not have the strength to cross the ocean to the East to challenge the Ming Dynasty. So seeing that the King of Siam appeared in Daming, and there was intelligence that the two sides were establishing a military alliance, didn't France hurry up to reconcile with Siam, and wait for the Ming Dynasty to form an alliance with Siam, before there was a Ming-French war?

Therefore, when Rama V was still in the Ming Dynasty, new changes appeared in the Singapore peace talks.

As soon as he returned to China, the British minister immediately came to the door to express a friendly attitude, and the intention of wooing him was obvious.

Siam did not refuse to be courted by the British, and it was by this hand that they sought a balance between the great powers.

It is necessary to rely on the power of the Ming Dynasty, but it is irresponsible to the country to completely entrust one's own security to another country. Siam's security depends on Siam's own efforts, and in the absence of a strong military force, it is necessary to make rational use of flexible diplomatic means.

The attitude of the British minister made the King of Siam very happy, because Britain wanted to unite Siam and other countries related to the South Seas to discuss a way to maintain the peace and order in the South Seas for a long time.

King Rama V quickly accepted the British proposal, and Siam immediately joined forces with the British and invited the Nanyang stakeholders to meet in Singapore to discuss the important issues of long-term peace in the Nanyangs, hoping to reach a peace agreement acceptable to all the countries concerned.

When Xu Rongcun, the director of the Foreign Affairs Department, saw the invitation sent by the British and Siam, he immediately thought that as the emperor said, Siam would not tie himself to any country, and neither could the Ming Dynasty, who tried his best to show friendship. After seeing what they proposed to discuss, Xu Rongcun immediately felt the importance of the issue.

He saw that what the two countries were asking for was a discussion between the countries concerned about their respective spheres of authority in the South Seas, as well as mutual assurances to peace, and the development of a mechanism for lasting peace.

Xu Rongcun immediately realized that this was a meeting to divide the interests of the Nanyang region like the Berlin Conference, and to put it mildly, it was a meeting to divide the Nanyang.

Britain, as the most important party in the interests of the South Seas, obviously wants to maintain the status quo here as much as possible, and in order to maintain the established order, they are also willing to pay some price in exchange for long-term protection of interests. Siam followed the British for the purpose of protecting their own safety.

So one for profit, one for security.

Xu Rongcun knew that the emperor attached great importance to the interests of Nanyang, and always believed that the Nanyang region should be the core interests of the Ming Dynasty, and the commercial network formed by the Chinese in the Nanyang region for hundreds of years made it a natural commercial chain covering the area of the Ming Dynasty, and millions of Chinese, with the continuous climb to the top of the Nanyang economy, the economic strength and consumption capacity have been greatly improved, and it has become the largest overseas market for Ming goods.

Even if these economic interests are put aside, the Ming Dynasty cannot ignore the huge overseas Chinese living in Nanyang.

Long before the First Opium War, the number of Chinese in Nanyang was estimated to have been 1.5 million, before the famine in the north, the number of Chinese in Nanyang reached more than 5 million, and a large number of Ming immigrants in the famine were now, and now the number of Chinese in Nanyang is not less than 8 million.

With such a large number of overseas Chinese concentrated in this area, it is impossible for the Ming Dynasty not to attach importance to this region.

Now that the foreigners want to discuss the issue of carving up this place, Xu Rongcun feels that such an issue has gone beyond the scope of simple diplomacy, but is a complex issue related to all aspects of politics, economy, and military, and he needs to consult his superiors on this, and his superiors are Wu Chongyao, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites.

Wu Chongyao also believes that the situation is very important, after the Berlin Conference carved up Africa, it will be difficult for other countries to gain a foothold in Africa, if Britain and France and other countries carve up the South Seas, if the Ming Dynasty does not join it, it will be difficult to gain a foothold in the South Seas in the future, if you plan to force it in, it will be a challenge to all countries.

Therefore, Daming must participate in this meeting, but the coordination of relevant departments is not something that the Ministry of Rites can decide.

Immediately find Hurd and convene all the departments to discuss.

Hurd also had a deep understanding of this issue, and organized everyone to discuss it, and the Ministry of War believed that the South China Sea was a necessary place for the West to enter the South China Sea, and it had a high strategic value, and the Ming Dynasty must not lose its military influence in this region.

Although relevant agreements were reached with France and Vietnam, France and the Ming Dynasty were gradually withdrawing their troops. However, the Ming Dynasty failed to gain a foothold in the South Seas through this war, and the Ministry of War demanded that if a conference was held to carve up the South Seas, it must gain a foothold for the Ming Dynasty.

The Ministry of Household believes that there are many Chinese in the Nanyang area, and most of them are immigrants of Ming nationality, and these immigrants are inextricably linked with the country, which not only helps the Ming Dynasty to open up the Nanyang market and seek economic benefits. This connection is also the absolute interest of the local Chinese themselves, and the state should protect the interests of these Chinese. Therefore, no matter what countries divide Nanyang, they must guarantee the legal right of relocation of the Chinese in Nanyang, and no country can organize the freedom of travel, business, and residence of the Chinese in various parts of Nanyang and between Nanyang and China.

The Ministry of Industry is interested in the abundant mineral resources of Nanyang. The Criminal Department needed to discuss the judicial issues between Nanyang and Daming.

After summarizing hundreds of complex issues that needed to be discussed, HD synthesized them and reported them to Zhu Jinglun.

Hurd was not careless in front of Zhu Jinglun, although he always insisted that he was the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, and in politics and diplomacy, everything was in the interests of the Ming Dynasty, but he was still very careful, because he always knew that the emperor did not fully trust him, and many issues would not be directly expressed to him, but Hurd himself was required to speculate.

Hurd knew that his power was not because of the support of the people, but because of the will of the emperor, and the emperor did not trust him, and the most important reason for appointing him, Hurd thought that it was his own ability, as long as the emperor no longer recognized his ability, he would immediately fall.

Therefore, he always treated the emperor carefully, did things rigorously, and was very well prepared.

After listening to Hurd's report, the emperor generally recognized Hurd's open-mindedness in Nanyang, and Hurd believed that the first benefit of establishing an open commercial mechanism in Nanyang was the Ming Dynasty, which was close to Nanyang, so the interests of Daming in this area were consistent with those of the British.

Developing a stable security mechanism can also prevent countries like France from expanding militarily in the South Seas, which would have an impact on the security of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Jinglun also put forward his own suggestion, first, the opening up of Nanyang is beneficial to all countries, but Nanyang cannot be opened uncontrollably to irrelevant countries, and an open Nanyang must face the stakeholders of Nanyang's interests, because it is these countries that have worked hard in Nanyang that have developed the interests of Nanyang, and only he has no right to share the interests of Nanyang.

Zhu Jinglun's meaning is obvious, that is, Nanyang can be opened to Britain, France, the Netherlands and Italy, as well as the Ming Dynasty, Siam, Vietnam and Cambodia located in the Nanyang region.

In addition, Zhu Jinglun also insisted that the history of the migration of Chinese to the Nanyang region can be traced back to before the Tang Dynasty, and the Chinese can no longer be regarded as immigrants from the Nanyang region, and the Chinese themselves are part of the Nanyang, so no matter how any country divides the rights of the Nanyang, it cannot damage the natural power of the Chinese formed over the past thousand years. For those countries that have always insisted on restricting the Chinese, for example, Spain has always refused to allow the Chinese to colonize the Philippines, resulting in only more than 10,000 Chinese in the Philippines, and the number of Chinese in history before the arrival of Spain was more than this, and it was Spain that harmed the interests of the Chinese through massacres.

If Spain does not make concessions on the issue of Chinese colonization, then the Ming Dynasty will bring up the old story of the Spanish massacre of the Chinese and dispute the legitimacy of Spanish rule in the Philippines!

If we can really follow the ideas of the Sixth Ministry and Zhu Jinglun's suggestion, establish such a monopoly mechanism in the Nanyang region, which is only open to individual countries, the Ming Dynasty will get the greatest benefits.

As for what can be negotiated in the end, the result is still early, the Nanyang issue is more complicated than Africa, when the Berlin Conference discussed the African issue, Westerners still know nothing about the interior of Africa, and the partition of Africa is to take the map to divide, but Nanyang is a region that has long been understood by the Chinese and foreigners, and the ethnic composition, geographical structure, history and culture here are not a secret to everyone, so there are more disputes, the Berlin Conference was discussed for more than 100 days, and if the Singapore Conference can be concluded within a year, it will be considered soon.

It was a patient process, and before the Singapore meeting reached an agreement, Da Ming was most concerned about the issue of the Russians going south.

Now the north has entered the winter, at the beginning of this year, Russia successfully pressured the Qing government, obtained the right to lease Huludao, and then the British warships rushed to the Bohai Bay to deter, strongly opposed to the Russian occupation here, after a whole year of confrontation, before the Bohai Bay froze, the British warships withdrew to Dalian to rest, did not expect that the Russians, who had not moved for a whole year, suddenly entered the waters of Huludao in a big way, and began large-scale construction here, with the clear purpose of completing the construction of Huludao defense facilities before the ice melts in spring. When the British army comes next year, there will be no way to stop Russia.

Britain now has two options, the first is to force your way into the waters of Huludao. Although Huludao has a freezing period every year, the sea ice here is very thin, and icebreakers can drive all the way into it. The second option was to persuade the Ming Dynasty to send ground forces into the north as soon as possible to deter Russia from the land, so that Russia had to abandon its plan to forcibly open up Huludao.