Happy times are always short-lived.

This sentence makes sense at any time and on anyone.

Only a few days have passed since Emperor Chongzhen enjoyed the blessings of Qi in the harem of the Forbidden City, and he had to withdraw from the gentle countryside again and start the struggle for the new year again.

In the interval between the Zhengdan Dynasty meeting in the third year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen took the opportunity to change clothes and rest, and met with the envoys from North Korea and the envoys of the Mo clan of the Annan and Northern Dynasties.

Qiu Yu wrote to Qiu Yu, who was on duty in the Six Branches, said: "Since the Son of Heaven summoned the tributary envoys of the foreign domain, the ancestors must have a law.

"First of all, the Son of Heaven was allowed to receive the congratulations of his subjects in the palace, and then the court had a cabinet of scholars, and the auxiliary ministers must be present to summon the foreign vassals.

"Celebrity, the order of heaven and earth, the extreme of humanity. The Dharma is the program of the world, and the instrument of everything! Now Your Majesty is acting recklessly and breaking this law, why should you quit for those who come after!? Please ask Your Majesty to reflect on yourself, abide by the law, and think that the subjects of the world are also a model! ”

Fortunately, criticisms like this are more about procedural issues than against the relocation of the Guangxi Governor's Yamen and the General Military Office to Nanning, as well as the question of the establishment of another Hainan Governor, so they are of little practical significance.

However, such an excerpt can be sent to the celebrant and the imperial study in the Qianqing Palace early in the morning of the third day after the end of the Great Dynasty Meeting, which also shows a problem.

That is, the first assistant of the cabinet, Li Guoyi, and the cabinet minister and secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Xu Guangqi, and other ministers, expressed their dissatisfaction with Emperor Chongzhen for taking advantage of their absence to arrange to summon foreign envoys, and concealing that they had made a series of important decisions.

Emperor Chongzhen was of course keenly aware of this dissatisfaction.

Therefore, when the Imperial Court arranged for the second group of foreign envoys to enter the palace for an audience, Emperor Chongzhen sent a decree to invite Li Guoyi, the first assistant of the cabinet, Xu Guangqi, the minister and secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and the Minister of Military Aircraft, the British Gong Zhang Weixian.

On the sixth day of the first month of the third year of Chongzhen, inside and outside the palace, there was a joy.

Emperor Chongzhen was also happy, in his own imperial study of the Qianqing Palace, ushered in these important ministers of the imperial court, and together with these important ministers, he met with the envoys from the subject countries of Ryukyu and Mongolia, as well as from the Dutch Eastern Colony Batavia Governor's Mansion and the Portuguese Oriental Colony Manraka Governor's Palace.

Wu Weiying, the envoy of the Imperial Court, and Jiang Yueguang, the deputy envoy, accompanied the meeting as usual, and these envoys also entered the Qianqing Palace one by one to be summoned according to the old rules.

The envoy of the subject state of Ryukyu was in the first place.

The officials of the Ming Dynasty, whether they were from the Ministry of Rites or from the Imperial Court, were such a stinky temper.

When they arrange for the emperor to receive envoys, they don't care about the size or strength of your country, but everything depends on your position in the Ming dynasty's vassal system.

Obviously, in the eyes of these officials, although the vassal states of Korea, Annam, and Ryukyu were small, they had a high status in the Ming dynasty's vassal system, so they were in the forefront.

As for the Mongolian tribes, of course, they are stronger than these countries, but these Mongolian tribes were the enemies of the Ming Dynasty a few years ago, and they were naturally ranked behind.

As for the Dutch and the Portuguese, of course, they were much more powerful than the vassal tribes in front, but they were all Tessie barbarians far from the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

No matter how strong they are, when they arrive in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, they have to follow the rules of the Ming Dynasty.

Because of this, although the Dutchman Bidno from Dutch Batavia and Perez from the Portuguese Governor's Palace repeatedly protested to Jiang Yueguang and others, asking to see Emperor Chongzhen as soon as possible, they could not change the arrangements of the Ministry of Rites and the officials of the Imperial Court.

On the morning of the sixth day of the first month of the third year of Chongzhen, according to the arrangement of the Li Fan Yuan, he came to the Ming Jingshi to wait for the summons of the Ryukyu tributary envoys Shang Yi and Cai Tong, who had been waiting for a long time, and finally waited for the reception of the Ming Emperor.

This Shang Yi is the younger brother of the "son" of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and his father Shang Bong is the current king of Nakayama Province, the largest country in the Ryukyu Islands.

There are also two small states in the Ryukyu Islands, one called Shannan and the other called Shanbei, which belong to the Shang clan and are considered to be the small vassal states of Nakayama Province itself on the Ryukyu Islands.

These small countries, taken together, are collectively known as the Ryukyus.

Among them, the lord of the Zhongshan Kingdom, Shang, has been canonized by the Ming court since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and the title given to him by the Ming Dynasty is the King of the Ryukyus.

The Shang clan of the Zhongshan Kingdom, because of the canonization of the Ming Dynasty, officially gained the right to rule the entire Ryukyu Islands.

As for the Ryukyu Islands, which are called countries in Shannan and Shanbei, which are actually just small tribes, the Ming court did not look down on them at all, so they did not bother to win them over and canonize them, and directly placed them under the rule of Zhongshan State.

It is precisely because of this that the Nakayama Sho family, who was named the king of the Ryukyus, has always been grateful to the Ming Dynasty, and has been extremely deferential and loyal since they were entitled.

In the war against the Japanese in the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty during the Jiajing period, it has been firmly acting as an ally and outpost of the Ming Dynasty army.

During the Wanli Renchen War, this small Ryukyu Kingdom was also very firmly on the side of the Ming Dynasty.

Not only actively responded to the call of the Ming court to spy on the military situation of the Japanese invaders for the Ming army, but also organized a sailor division to take the initiative to attack the Japanese mainland.

Of course, the result was miserable.

The so-called army that was put together by the small countries and widows of the Ryukyus was completely annihilated by the Japanese on the island of Kyushu.

However, the loyalty of the Ryukyu Kingdom Sho clan is still very commendable.

Therefore, among the many small countries around the Ming Dynasty, the current Emperor Chongzhen has always been full of good feelings for the small country of Ryukyu.

Shang Yi, who was polite and slightly thin, accompanied by his courtier Cai Tong, followed the pedestrians of the Li Fan Yuan into the imperial study of Emperor Chongzhen, and saw the emperor and several important ministers of the Ming Dynasty sitting in the room, and hurriedly knelt down to salute, stammered and introduced himself, and then shouted long live, and was so nervous that he was out of breath during the whole process.

Emperor Chongzhen watched Shang Yi and the two finish their salutes, asked them to stand up and speak, and said to them: "I already know the general meaning of your national letter. The matter of canonizing your father Shang Feng as the king of the Ryukyus has been arranged by the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Court as soon as possible. By March, Cai Tong could accompany the envoys canonized by the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Court to Ryukyu on the fleet of the Zhejiang Naval Division. ”

After Emperor Chongzhen finished saying this, Shang Yi and Cai Tong, who had just stood up, hurriedly knelt down and thanked them again.

This was the main task of the two of them.

However, Emperor Chongzhen saw that the two of them were busy kneeling down to thank him, but he continued: "You two are not busy thanking!" I have a few more thoughts here, and I want to say that I know with you two! ”

Hearing Emperor Chongzhen's words, Shang Yi and Cai Tong glanced at each other, raised their heads, and Shang Yi said: "Your Majesty the Great Emperor has an order, and the ministers of the Sea Kingdom all obey!" ”

Emperor Chongzhen smiled when he heard this, and said, "That's very good! The Ryukyu Kingdom has always been filial and respectful to China, and the entire Ming court, including me, is very satisfied with the Ryukyus. ”

After saying these words that reassured Shang Yi, Emperor Chongzhen continued: "I have heard that there are many islands and volcanoes in Ruguo, and the products are barren, but they specialize in sulfur. However, sulfur is of great use in the country, but it is necessary for my Ming military arsenal. In the past, your country mostly traded with our Ming Dynasty with seafood, and we intend to increase sulfur in the future, and we should purchase sulfur as a bulk item.

"In addition, I have also heard that the Kagoshima Domain of the Wasnu Kingdom in Haidong has been harassing the Ryukyu Kingdom since the Renchen Wars in the Wanli period, and for the sake of the safety of the Ryukyus and the sulfur procurement trade, I intend to send a naval division to the Ryukyus to be stationed in the Ryukyus. One was the northern rejection of the Kagoshima Domain, and the other protected the trade routes from piracy. What do you two think? ”