On April 26, Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Chinese Consulate in Bangkok, Ye Taisong, came to the Siam Royal Palace to ask for a meeting with King Rama VI.

After receiving the report from the officials, Rama VI was a little uneasy in his heart, and he asked: "Ahmad, what is the purpose of this Chinese minister Ye Taisong coming to see me at this time?" ”

Ahmad is the foreign minister, of course, he is very clear about the current crisis situation in Siam, and the source of the crisis is Huaguo, whose sphere of influence has surrounded Siam on all sides, and after Hua took over the territory of British and French influence in the southeast peninsula, he immediately sent troops to take over all defenses, and the naval fleet cruised around the Gulf of Siam, the Gulf of Burma, and the Bay of Bengal day and night, which made the poor small-tonnage ships of the Siamese navy dare not leave the dock at all, lest they be reimbursed by the Chinese fleet.

Amad thought for a while and shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, now the minister can't guess what Ye Taisong's intentions are, with the current crisis situation in our country, it is not possible for His Majesty to not see him, only when we see him can we know his intentions and those of Huaguo, so that we can think of countermeasures!" ”

Rama VI thought for a moment and agreed, "Well, you go and bring him into the palace to meet me!" ”

"Yes, my majesty!"

When the diplomat Ahmad came to the gate of the palace, he saw Ye Taisong standing on the porch next to him admiring the mural on it, and a luxurious Huaguo car was parked at the door, which he thought should be Ye Taisong's special car.

"Hello Gong Ye!" Ahmad stepped forward to say hello.

Ye Taisong is a middle-aged man in his forties, who had previously been a diplomat in the former Qing Dynasty and had some diplomatic experience. Although the ability is not very outstanding, in general, diplomats of powerful countries are very good. And Hua is now a strong country, of course, this is relative to a small country like Siam.

"Oh. Your Excellency Foreign Minister Amad, you must have brought the will of His Majesty the King of your country? Ye Taisong turned to look at Ahmad and said.

Ahmad owed Ye Taisong: "Yes, Your Excellency Minister Ye, Your Majesty the King of our country has an invitation, please come with me!" ”

"Please lead the way!"

This is the sorrow of a weak country, Amad is the foreign minister of Siam, and Ye Taisong is only the Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China in Bangkok, the two are several levels apart in rank, but Amad is worried about offending Ye Taisong and causing misfortune to his country. had to whisper to Ye Taisong, which also made Ye Taisong feel the power of the country's strong diplomacy.

Walking into the courtyard of the Grand Palace, the first thing that catches your eye is a large meadow and ancient trees of various shapes, and some linden trees and other tropical trees are planted around the lawn. The Grand Palace's stupa-like spire juts into the clouds, and the fish-scale glass tiles shine brightly in the sun. Walking through the second gate, a majestic and magnificent three-storey building unfolds in front of you, which is the largest main hall in the Grand Palace, the Jieji Palace. It was started by King Rama V in 1876. "Jieji" contains the meaning of "god plate" and "emperor", and it is also the correct name of the Rama Dynasty. The special feature of Jieji Palace is that its basic structure belongs to the architectural art of the Victorian era in England. The top of the hall with three square spires is a Thai-style roof. To the west of the palace is the Ritsushi Palace. This is the first royal palace to be built in the Grand Palace, and it is a traditional Thai building. The palace houses thrones and beds made during the reign of King Rama I, and is listed as the first-class art of the Rama dynasty. The palace is mainly used as a place for the funeral of royal figures such as kings, queens, and queen mothers.

To the east of the Jieji Palace is the Amarin Palace. It consists of three main buildings, namely: the Amalinda Hearing Hall, where the court's apparition ceremonies usually take place; Pap Sand Hall. The coronation of kings takes place here, with chairs for coronation to sit on; Temple of Kalama Dipiman. The building was the residence of King Rama I, II and III, and later became the official residence of the monarchs after their coronation.

Amaringda Audience Hall. Rama VI sat on the throne of the king, wearing a white Tigers royal uniform, with the rank of marshal on his shoulders and a ribbon on his chest, holding the hilt of his command knife in one hand and watching Ye Taisong walk in with the other hand on his knee.

Ye Taisong was dressed in a thoughtful and straight Chinese suit, with one hand on his abdomen, and the other hand behind his back to salute Rama VI slightly: "Ye Taisong, the extraordinary and plenipotentiary minister of the Kingdom of Siam, has seen His Majesty the King of Siam!" ”

Rama VI tightened his grip on the hilt of the command knife, although he was a little apprehensive and nervous, but he looked decent, raised the hand on his knee and pointed to the chair next to him and said, "Minister Ye, please take a seat!" ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Ye Taisong politely turned around and sat down.

Rama VI asked, "Your Excellency, Minister Ye, I wonder why you came to see me today?" ”

Ye Taisong owed a debt to Rama VI and said: "Your Majesty, now Your Excellency the President and the highest authority of our country are promoting the creation of the Great China Federation, restoring the former tributary system, aiming to form a large force group for our Asia and Asian countries influenced by Chinese culture, so as to protect the interests of Asian countries, although Siam was not in our tributary system before, but it is also deeply influenced by our Chinese culture, I am here to be appointed by our government, Come and ask Your Majesty to agree to let Siam join the tributary system of our Great China Federation and become a member of our Great China Federation! ”

When Rama VI and Ahmad and other Siamese officials heard this, everyone suddenly turned pale, and the hall of Amalingda's audience suddenly became lively.

Foreign Minister Ahmad stood up and reprimanded: "Presumptuous, as far as I know, all the countries that have joined your Great China Federation have no troops of their own, the king and the royal family have also become decorations, and the power is governed by the cabinet supported by you, which is completely your puppet government, you are still stationed in the local army, and the military expenses are also paid by their government, what sovereignty is there to speak of?" And our Siamese is an independent and sovereign country, and our king and royal family have absolute rule over the entire Siamese country. It's a joke! ”

Ye Taisong was stunned when he heard this, then shook his head and smiled: "Lord Amad, your views are too extreme, for the countries that have joined our Great China Federation, our government has included them in the protectorate, and we will advance and retreat together strategically, if any country dares to invade the members of the Great China Federation, it will be regarded as an enemy of the entire Great China Federation, and our government will definitely contact other Federation member states to seek justice for the victim country, even if it is a big war with troops, it will not hesitate, in this case, what do the members of the Federation need the army for?" Isn't this a waste of national revenue? Countries only need to pay a small amount of military spending to our country to obtain the protection of our garrison, isn't that convenient? ”

"Moreover, the internal affairs of the member states of the federation are the responsibility of each country, and our government will never interfere, and our country neither levies heavy taxes in the member states, nor does it levy heavy taxes on the people of various countries, and all the fiscal taxes of each country are at the disposal of the governments of various countries, which is much better than the wanton collection of goods by Britain and France and other countries in these countries, right? According to what Amad said, are you willing to let Britain and France continue to scrape and squeeze these countries? The introduction of the new tributary system in our country was decided to do so after a long period of practice and all-round consideration, and the sovereignty of each country is still in their own hands, and we will not claim extraterritoriality in these countries and Siam, as Western countries do, nor will we set up consular courts in these countries and Siam. Tariff autonomy is also vested in each country, isn't this still a retention of sovereignty? ”

As soon as these words came out, the Siamese officials in the reception hall were suddenly not calm, although the current Siam has not become a colony of Britain and France, and has complete independent sovereignty, but Siam has signed a series of treaties with Britain and France and other countries before, these treaties were signed during the reign of Rama IV, and the treaty stipulates that countries can set up consular courts in Siam, and Siam has no tariff autonomy.

Many Siamese officials even thought that if they could recover these sovereignty, even if they could let Siamese join the Great China Federation, they could also consider it, and some officials asked: "This Lord Ye, our Siamese State has signed those treaties with Britain and France, and if we join the Great China Federation, those treaties will still exist, and we will not be able to change the result of our loss of those sovereignty!" ”

Ye Taisong immediately said: "This lord said it well, but Your Majesty and you can rest assured that if Siam joins the Great China Federation, our government will naturally come forward to help your country solve this problem, so that other countries can terminate their treaties with your country and restore their lost sovereignty!" ”

However, Foreign Minister Ahmad said: "However, the tributary system of your country requires the king and the royal family to surrender power and form a cabinet to govern, which our country cannot agree to in any way, and it is impossible for our country to agree to allow your country's troops to be stationed in our territory, and it is impossible to pay military expenses."

Ye Taisong's face was a little ugly when he heard this, he looked at Rama VI and asked, "What does His Majesty the King mean?" ”

Rama VI pondered for a moment and said, "I haven't thought about this matter yet, unless your country can agree to restore the former tributary system of the Qing Dynasty, so that our country will consider it!" ”

In the past, the tributary system of the Qing Dynasty was too binding on all countries, of course it was impossible for Huaguo to agree, Ye Taisong's face changed, and he said coldly: "Your Majesty, please think about it clearly, my country is purely a good intention, Your Majesty Xià had better not make a mistake about yourself, maybe there will be no store in this village after that, hum, farewell!" ”

After finishing speaking, Ye Taisong turned around and left. Leaving dozens of Siamese officials arguing, many officials think that joining the Great China Federation is feasible, the only bad thing is that the king and the royal family will lose power, then this power will be dispersed to the officials below, so some officials who are eager for power agree to join the Great China Federation, while some officials are die-hard loyalists of the king and the royal family, and do not want the king and the royal family to lose power. (To be continued......)