Lin Zhe didn't pay too much attention to the Ning Dynasty before, because the Ning Dynasty was born insufficient, and no matter how Lin Chengting tossed, he couldn't bring any threat to the empire.

In addition, the poor part of Burma is nothing, and it is not even as important as Vietnam, at least Vietnam still has the Quang Ninh coal mine, and the anthracite coal in it is the most important strategic material of our time, even if it is to fight a war with the French for this purpose.

But in that part of Myanmar, apart from teak and rice, there is basically no output, and some important mineral resources are not at all.

At the same time, the transportation between the empire and Upper Burma was very inconvenient, and there was no direct connection by sea, you must know that the Ning Dynasty did not control all of Burma, but only controlled Upper Burma, and Lower Burma was still in the hands of the British, and the current Ning Dynasty was a landlocked country sandwiched between China and Britain.

Therefore, it is very difficult for Lin Chengting to develop in Upper Myanmar.

At the same time, China and Britain also need the Ning Dynasty as a buffer, just as China, Britain and France need Thailand as a buffer, so Lin Zhe is still unwilling to break the peace in Myanmar unless necessary.

But not interfering too much does not mean that Lin Zhe will let the Ning Dynasty fall to Britain.

The Ning Dynasty is a buffer for the empire, even if the Ning Dynasty does not lean on itself, but it cannot fall to the British.

So when he learned that there was turmoil on the side of the Ning Dynasty, and after Lin Chengting died of illness, the new king of the Ning Dynasty who ascended the throne had the possibility of leaning towards the British, Lin Zhe naturally couldn't sit still.

Although no one knows whether the new king of the Ning Dynasty will really be inclined to Britain in the future, even if there is such a risk, it is enough for Lin Zhe to pay attention to it.

"Does this Li Haotong have enough ability? How much support does he need to get Lin Chengting's second son on the throne? Lin Zhe is very clear. Now Li Haotong came to the door and used the marriage proposal as an excuse. But the meaning behind this is already very obvious, that is, once he is allowed to take power in the Ning Dynasty. Then he will lead the Ning Dynasty to the Empire.

If the empire wants to obtain this benefit, then it will definitely have to pay a certain price!

Li Haotong has a lot of power in the Ning Dynasty, and he also has a certain amount of power in their military, but he has been in the rear for a long time, and there are not many troops that can control and win over, and if there is no external intervention, it is absolutely impossible for him to win. If we intervene, the diplomatic pressure will be enough to shake some neutrals in the Ning Dynasty, and if a certain amount of military pressure can be appropriately applied. Then it will be able to make many people collect their thoughts that they shouldn't have. ”

Song Guanqian said: "But once we intervene, then the British will definitely not sit idly by and watch the turmoil in the Ning Dynasty, and will inevitably react considerably, maybe they will exert pressure on us in other directions, such as the Macao issue, once the British find an opportunity, I am afraid they will intervene in it, and then sabotage our negotiations with Portugal!" ”

Lin Zhe said disapprerovingly: "The opposition of the British is certain, but your foreign ministry does not need to worry too much. Talk about it as you want, well, it's best to talk about it in Macau, and if you can't talk about it, you'll be a waste of time! ”

Song Guanqian heard this. I heard Lin Zhe's subconscious meaning, that is, if there is an accident in the negotiations in Macau, then it is estimated that the empire will not be too lazy to talk. Directly sent troops to Macao to take back Macao.

Since the empire sent troops to occupy Hong Kong last year, there were also voices at that time that they would simply take back Macau. However, at that time, it was considered to avoid making too many enemies at the same time, which would cause unnecessary trouble. Therefore, the Macao issue was postponed.

It was not until the signing of the Four-Power Treaty and the formal recovery of Hong Kong that the Empire put the recovery of Macau on the agenda, but the Portuguese and the British were not at the same level.

With the strength of Portugal in the Far East, the current empire can send a few thousand people at will, and a small fleet is enough to take back Macao, if Portugal is not far away in Europe, but in Asia, the imperial army can destroy this country with a single hand.

Portugal also recognized the reality, so it did not intend to live or die and was unwilling to return Macau, but insisted on receiving a large amount of compensation, one mouth is 500,000 pounds, which is more expensive than the redemption of Hong Kong Island, how could those diplomats of the Imperial Foreign Ministry agree.

Therefore, the two sides have repeatedly held several negotiations over the Macao issue.

Although the differences between the two sides in the negotiations are somewhat large, the chances of a peaceful settlement of the Macao issue are still very large.

At this time, if the British intervene in it, it is easy to get sideways.

After all, Portugal is a European country, and the British influence in Europe is too much, to put it mildly, the British fart, Portugal has to show a happy expression and say: so fragrant, so fragrant!

In this case, once again the Empire and the British clash over Burma, the British will definitely stumble the Empire elsewhere, and the Macao issue will be delayed again and again.

This is a risk that Song Guanqian thinks, but this kind of risk is nothing to Lin Zhe.

In those years, unless the British drew at least a third of their capital ships from the Channel Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet to Asia, and unless the British were determined to mobilize at least half a million troops to fight an all-out war around Central Asia, India, Southeast Asia, and the Empire, a little diplomatic pressure would be nothing.

International relations in the nineteenth century were actually very simple: whoever had the biggest fist was the boss, and if he didn't accept it, he would fight.

And every country is also shameless, no one cares about the national image or anything like that, and if they don't agree with each other, they will turn their faces.

In this era, the logic of bandits is pursued!

Therefore, for the UK, Lin Zhe's response method has always been very simple, ignoring any diplomatic language intimidation, and fighting if he wants to, who is afraid of whom!

The same is true on the issue of Macau, if the Portuguese know how to accept it when they see it, Lin Zhe will also give them some benefits, if the Portuguese look too ugly, then don't blame Lin Zhe for sending troops directly.

This conversation with Song Guanqian. Lin Zhe has already made his attitude clear, that is, to let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs actively promote cooperation with Li Haotong. Fight for the future to completely pull the Ning Dynasty into the chariot of the empire, and then at the westernmost point of Southeast Asia. Stick a nail in the British, and if you have the opportunity in the future, you may not be able to get an outlet to the sea in the Indian Ocean, and by the way, you will be able to spy on India.

Even if it can't be done in the end, as long as a nail is inserted here, then it is enough to make the British very uncomfortable, and if there is any conflict with the British in the future, they will threaten the British to fight India every once in a while, and the British will presumably have an ugly expression at that time.

After getting clear instructions from Lin Zhe. Song Guanqian also began to really promote this matter, and the next morning, Li Haotong secretly met with Lin Zhe, but this short audience naturally did not talk about any in-depth content, mainly Li Haotong made a gesture of surrendering to the empire.

You must know that when Li Haotong met Lin Zhe, he bowed three times and bowed nine times, and then called himself "Ning Chen", and the title of Lin Zhe was "the Son of Heaven".

In the feudal era, all kinds of titles were very strict. Especially on this kind of diplomatic occasion, all kinds of titles cannot be called indiscriminately, and there is nothing wrong with Li Haotong's self-title, but there are some problems with calling Lin Zhe the emperor. Generally speaking, the term Shangguo is the name of the traditional Chinese tributary system.

The so-called **** is also on the country. Only the people of the vassal states would call China the kingdom of heaven, and the British would not call China 'the kingdom of heaven'. Not to mention the British, even if there were no Japanese in the Tokugawa shogunate, they would not shout that.

And the Son of Heaven. This word in the Han culture not only represents the monarch of a country, but also represents the title of the common lord of the world, thousands of years ago at the end of the Zhou Dynasty there was no central authority at all, but the title of Zhou Tianzi is recognized by the world.

It can be seen that when Li Haotong met Lin Zhe, he put his posture very low, and regarded himself as a vassal courtier.

Lin Zhe is still very satisfied with Li Haotong's posture, if Li Haotong wants to get support from the empire, then he can't be like Lin Chengting, stinky and hard, ******** wants all kinds of independence or something.

Lin Zhe is not afraid that you have ambitions, as long as you belong to the empire, then Lin Zhe can satisfy your ambitions.

After meeting Lin Zhe, Li Haotong had a secret conversation with Song Guanqian for two days, and finally finalized a series of measures, first of all, the empire will promise that once Lin Chengting of Ningguo is killed, then the empire will unswervingly support the second prince to ascend the throne and support Li Haotong to become the regent.

The most obvious manifestation of this support is that the more than 1,000 troops of the empire stationed in Ningguo will, if necessary, directly intervene in a possible civil war in Ningguo and help Li Haotong control the situation.

Of course, this is not enough, Li Haotong wants to support the second prince to ascend the throne, and when the time comes, there will definitely be a conflict or even a civil war with those who support ****, so the empire will help Li Haotong strengthen the combat effectiveness of his control troops.

At least fifty military advisers will be secretly sent into the Ning Dynasty, and the supply of ammunition will also be a priority.

and promised that once Lin Chengting died, the empire would directly express its support for the second prince's accession to the throne through diplomatic channels.

And Li Haotong also needs to pay a price for this, but the current Ning Dynasty can't take any benefits that make the empire blush.

Li Haotong promised that once he became regent, he would officially announce that the Ning Dynasty would form a formal military alliance with the empire and carry out all-round military cooperation with the empire to meet the challenge of the British.

The first many conditions were that the two sides formally signed a secret treaty, officially known as the 'Sino-Ningbo Alliance Treaty', which can also be said to be the Sino-Ningbo Secret Treaty

After this secret talk, when the matter was almost discussed, the two parties finally remembered that all these conditions had been discussed, but the marriage had not yet begun.

For this reason, Song Guanqian also hurriedly went to find a few powerful families to find a woman with the right status and age to marry the second prince of the Ning Dynasty.

This candidate is not very easy to find, first of all, the status is too low, although the second prince of Ning Chao is a prince of a small country, but he is also the prince of the prince, and those women with too low status are naturally not good.

But the top princes of the empire are naturally reluctant to marry their daughters to Myanmar, and many people are counting on marrying the royal family in the future.

In the end, Song Guanqian found a compromise solution, that is, he found Shi Qingxuan, and then asked Shi Qingxuan to adopt his younger brother's daughter, so that the woman who went to Myanmar to marry became the daughter of a duke from an ordinary commoner.

Then, after determining the candidate, the royal family gave the woman the title of 'county lord', which is generally a title that can only be obtained by the daughter of the county king.

After such a toss, this woman's status is almost the same as that of the second prince of the Ning Dynasty, of course, strictly speaking, there is still a gap, after all, she is not a member of the royal family, not even a formal member of the aristocracy, although she is Shi Qingxuan's niece, but she is still just an ordinary person.

However, Li Haotong can't take care of it a lot, anyway, for him, the object of marriage is not important, the important thing is to connect with the empire.

Li Haotong didn't even see the five-year-old girl, and went back to Myanmar with the marriage certificate.

After Li Haotong left, the military also selected 50 experienced middle and low-level officers to serve as military advisers, but in order to avoid arousing the suspicion of the British, they would conceal their identities and secretly join the Ning army, and even Li Haotong gave them the nationality and military status of Ningguo.

The reason why it was so troublesome was because there was a provision in the Burma understanding agreement signed between the empire and Britain in the early years, that is, neither China nor Britain could send military advisers and instructors to the Ning Dynasty under any name.

At the same time, the empire also promised Li Haotong that once the matter was completed, the two major military schools of the follow-up empire would develop the Ning Dynasty, and a certain number of Ning Dynasty officers would be allowed to study abroad every year.

You must know that although the two major military academies of the empire have been established for a short time and are not famous military academies in the world, they are the only regular military academies in Asia, and thanks to the great martial arts of the Chinese army, Japan, North Korea, Thailand and other neighboring countries all want to send military students to study, but the Chinese army is not allowed to do so.

However, those ordinary schools will accept some foreign students, and now several universities have a small number of foreign students, but the number is very small.

Why?

On the one hand, I can't pass the exam, and on the other hand, I can't afford to pay the expensive tuition.

Higher education in the empire was notoriously expensive and difficult to get into.

Even foreign students cannot get any preferential treatment in this regard, they can apply for the exam directly, but whether they can be admitted or not is another matter.

As for tuition, the tuition fee for domestic students is expensive enough, and the cost of foreign students is naturally more expensive, at least thousands of yuan a year.

Sending dozens of government-funded international students to study for a few years will put too much financial pressure on the education departments of those weak countries.

This is not only the case with the Empire, but also in European countries such as the UK and France, and even more expensive, with Chinese students costing hundreds of pounds a year to study at some of the UK's top universities.

After Li Haotong returned to Burma, Lin Zhe asked the people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to pay attention to the situation in Myanmar at any time, and he naturally did not put all his thoughts on it, a huge empire with a lot of affairs.

In fact, for Lin Zhe, foreign affairs can only be regarded as secondary, even if it is an ongoing war with the Russians, most of the time Lin Zhe does not care.

More often than not, he focuses on internal affairs. (To be continued.) )