Zhou Changfeng's concern is not unreasonable, although he is not interested in classical history, but he also knows a little about the past dynasties.

Although the Ming Dynasty, which was known for its toughness in diplomacy, had the reputation of "not making peace, not paying compensation, and not paying tribute", in his view, it was from the extreme of the Song Dynasty to the other extreme.

This point was coerced by the folk atmosphere, the Ming people despised the weakness of the Song Dynasty, and throughout the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, even a slightly moderate diplomatic attitude would be opposed by the literati and scholars.

In the classical era, there were very few diplomatic means, nothing more than paying tribute, calling vassals, sending protons, making peace, and prohibiting trade, and the political correctness of the Ming Dynasty did not allow them to appear, so there was only one option left: war.

If you look at it objectively, Zhou Changfeng thinks that this is also not reasonable, and it must be known that war is undoubtedly the most resource-intensive strategy in ancient times when productivity is low, and in many cases it is possible to achieve the goal at a lower cost.

At the height of the country's heyday, such a tough diplomatic attitude was not only good, but it could be inspiring; But when the country is in decline, continuing to be so tough is hastening its demise.

The extremes of the Song and Ming dynasties were obviously undesirable, and the majestic war strength could certainly invigorate the army and the people, but this was "dead energy," and flexible diplomatic means could make use of the magic of four or two thousand catties, which was called "turning strength."

The two complement each other and are indispensable, and only when they are properly applied can they gain the upper hand in the diplomatic game.

At noon on this day, the Forbidden City, Wenhua Palace.

Historically, the cabinet that was first created in the Yongle period usually served as a director of the Wenyuan Pavilion, and this rule has been used in the Later Ming Dynasty, because the location and regulatory level of the Wenyuan Pavilion are indeed suitable as the working place of the cabinet scholars.

However, after the constitutionalism, the reorganized cabinet was moved to the Mandarin Palace.

Since the number of government affairs in modern countries far exceeds that of ancient times, the number of cabinet members is at least a dozen, and the Wenyuan Pavilion, which has limited space, is a little crowded because it is also responsible for collecting books.

Originally, the Wenhua Hall was used as a place to teach and study the scriptures, but now it is almost useless, so it was simply moved here.

Although there is "the restoration of the prime minister, the general manager of the painting machine; Twelve cabinet ministers will be appointed to participate in the affairs of the aircraft." But the number of cabinet assistants is not necessarily twelve, and in many cases it is slightly more.

Similar to the titles of chancellor, minister, lord, and secretary enjoyed by the members of the British cabinet, the cabinet ministers of the Ming Dynasty also followed the old custom, that is, the additional title of university scholar.

The Scholar of Fengtian Temple is in charge of personnel work, that is, the Minister of Personnel;

The Scholar of the University of the Ward of the Buddha is in charge of financial work, that is, the Minister of Finance;

He is in charge of civil affairs, i.e., ministers of civil affairs;

Mandarin Hall Fellows are in charge of diplomatic work, i.e., Minister of Foreign Affairs;

Scholar Wu Yingdian is in charge of national defense work, that is, the minister of national defense;

These five cabinet ministers are the most important, known as the "Upper Five Ministers", in addition to many cabinet members, such as those in charge of education, water conservancy, health, transportation, etc., they are all crowned as Bunyuan Pavilion University Scholars.

The cabinet is headed by the prime minister and is not accountable to the council, but only to the emperor.

However, it is important to note that the Cabinet does not care about the Advisory Council, but it is under the supervision of the Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office.

This was a peculiarity from the typical dualist constitutional system, which limited the emperor's power to a considerable extent – a last-ditch effort by the New Party when it compromised.

In addition, the traditional Chinese power of sealing and refuting and the power of sealing and returning the execution have also been used, with the former being held by the six branches and the latter being held by the first assistant (prime minister) of the cabinet.

"Whatever is inconvenient for the system must be sealed; If there is a person in prison who is not reasonable, he must refute it." The combination of the two is a refutation.

At this moment, in a conference hall in the east room of the Wenhua Palace, several ministers are engaged in daily exchanges and discussions.

"At present, the British complain and complain, but in essence, they dare not move."

"The signs are still very good, but it may also be that the time is too short, and the attitude of all parties is not clear, so let's go a few more days. At the latest... It should also be clear at the time of the League of Nations Congress. ”

Li Guangyuan, a scholar of Huagai Hall and minister of finance, said casually while flipping through the booklet: "Indeed, this matter is not urgent, and according to last year's concept, we might as well make a fuss about exporting materials." ”

"It's limited to strategic materials, so that the direction is clearer." Yu Shenhua, a scholar of Mandarin Hall and foreign minister, took a sip of tea, "Now the world situation is unstable again, and there is a commotion in that part of the Franc machine, and it will not be able to subside in two or three years." ”

Li Guangyuan only grabbed the second half of his sentence and said: "A few days ago, you said that it is better not to mix, and it is better to sell things with stuffy heads, but now it seems that Britain and France also think the same way. ”

The topic suddenly shifted to the Iberian Peninsula.

"It's probably the so-called 'non-interference policy' again, and we look at Spain's infighting with a cold eye."

"What if the Germans themselves were killed? Britain and France will not be able to sit still. ”

If the German Society helped the Republican Army to win the final victory, then France would be faced with two bread and cheese sandwiches, and the French naturally did not dare to take this risk, and this would also violate the national policy of "balance of power diplomacy" in Britain.

Suddenly, Yu Shenhua turned his head to look at the Minister of Defense beside him, and asked, "Does the military department feel the need to send someone to visit one or two?" ”

The latter looked suave and elegant, and at first glance he looked like a complete scholar.

Lin Xi, who was flipping through the documents, bowed slightly, and replied casually: "Naturally, you have to go, a good and harmless idle move." ”

The topic diverged a bit, but everyone quickly moved back to the point.

After some discussions, they once again confirmed their previous idea, that is, Britain would retaliate-for-tat against the Ming Dynasty's restrictions on oil imports, and reverse restrictions on the export of the three major military strategic materials.

Layer by layer, one does not work and another is added, and even directly and unilaterally to the British and French side of the German Society to reduce prices and increase exports.

One is tung oil, as a thing that has been widely used by the people since ancient times, furniture, boats, oilcloth, oiled paper and so on.

Its high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, non-conductivity, and fast drying characteristics make it also play a key role in industrial production - paints made of different oils, soybean paint takes 41 hours to dry, linseed oil takes 28 hours, Suzi oil takes 18 hours, and tung oil only takes 7 hours.

At the same time, it is also one of the important organic raw materials, and hundreds of products represented by anti-rust paint need it to be produced, which shows its status.

And because most of the world's introduction of tung oil ended in failure, or little effect, so Daming occupies an absolute monopoly position in the export of tung oil, with an annual output of up to 90% of the world's total, and the remaining 10% is mainly for Uruguay and Argentina, and the quality is not as good as that produced in China.

In the past three years, Daming's annual tung oil exports have basically hovered around 90,000 tons and 100,000 tons, and it can be said that it exists in machines and industrial products all over the world.