"Your Majesty, it's not worth fighting with the Russians, it's impossible for us to cross the Urals, it's too far, and the price paid is completely disproportionate to the gain!"

The one who was speaking was the Grand Duke Shang Shulin of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After returning from Europe, Lin went to Japan again.

I have only recently returned to the Northern Capital.

The purpose of the Foreign Ministry's visit to Japan is, of course, to liaise with various Japanese forces and maintain the special status of the Ming Dynasty in Japan, and at the same time to urge Japan to end its ties with the Netherlands and to urge Japan to join the entire international system of China.

Japan is considered a marginal country of the Chinese civilization system, and although most of its cultural roots come from the mainland, as an island country, it seems that any culture will change when it comes to Japan

This is completely different from North Korea.

Almost all of the current high-level officials of the Korean state can be counted as Han Chinese.

The Confucian scholars in his country came to Daming to participate in the imperial examination, and if he didn't say it himself, very few people could tell that he was actually a scholar from Korea.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty gave preferential treatment to students from Korea, Japan, and the two kingdoms of Annam (Nguyen Dynasty and Tay Son Dynasty).

As long as he can pass the imperial examination, even the Ming Emperor will personally give the official.

Moreover, this kind of talent returning to its home country is also a highly sought-after "land return".

I don't know if this tradition of preferential treatment for international students was passed down from Emperor Zhu

"Moreover, the relationship between the crown prince and the empress of Tsarist Russia is not harmonious, and Tsarist Russia has a tradition of palace coups. It was after being frightened in the East that he was going back to Moscow to seize power! Lin Dagong said.

"Does this Paul have the ability? If he is defeated in the East, will he not be punished? Luo Fangbo asked with interest.

For example, Gu Song, Lin Dagong and other "three hundred old ministers" who returned from traveling in Europe certainly have an understanding of the basic situation in Europe.

However, "localists" such as Luo Fangbo, Peng Jun, and Song Xiang can only look black when they encounter European problems.

"Luo Xiang, it will take at least half a year for this war in the east to be transmitted back to Moscow, and it is winter, the Yenisei River and the big river leading to Moscow are frozen, and there is no way to go by boat, so Moscow will have to start spring next year if it wants to get the news, and it will be known when Irkutsk sends people back, in this process, this Crown Prince Paul can already firmly grasp the more than 10,000 troops at hand, and it can be packaged as an unprecedented victory, and the scenery will go back to Moscow to seize power - as long as we make a little gesture of cooperation!"

"What if they go back on their word and don't hand over the lands east of Irkutsk?" Peng Jun asked.

"I think the prince of Tsarist Russia has this sincerity, of course, there are many things that the European powers are deceitful and rebellious, but the prince of Tsarist Russia does not dare," said Lin Dagong, "because Russia has a mortal enemy, the Ottoman Empire in West Asia." If I arm the Ottoman Empire to attack Moscow, the Russian Empire is in danger of extinction! With this sword hanging over its head, if the Russian Empire wants to expand to the west and south, it cannot offend my Ming, on the contrary. The Ming can use Russia to leverage the situation in Eastern Europe and West Asia. ”

"How's the matter in France?" Peng Jun asked.

"The French Republic has the Duke of Jia Guo in charge, and it is worry-free to protect itself." Lin Dagong said.

Emperor Zhu frowned when he heard this.

Just self-preservation?

What if the emperor really unifies Europe?

It seems that it is still necessary to properly arm Russia.

"Let's wait for the Russian envoy to arrive in the northern capital." Emperor Zhu waved his hand and said, "Let's talk about Japan!" ”

Compared to Russia.

Emperor Zhu was still more concerned about Japan.

The "charm offensive" against Japan was quite successful.

Now in Japan.

There are quite a lot of Chinese schools and newspapers.

Serving as a soldier in the Japanese samurai corps in the Ming Dynasty has also become the way out for many Japanese samurai, and many Japanese elites have taken the "sinicization" exam and obtained the household registration of the Ming Dynasty.

It can be said that now is the honeymoon period that has never been seen before.

But underneath this honeymoon.

Undercurrents are surging.

First of all, of course, there was cooperation with the Ming Dynasty, and most of the benefits went to the Edo shogunate.

Some of the local powerful clans can only eat some leftovers.

Do not suffer from few, but suffer from unevenness.

Therefore, it is inevitable that the local powerful feudal lords will have opinions on this.

Not to mention.

Japan's system is a system of "weak legitimacy."

The Tokugawa shogunate was a minister of the Japanese emperor.

But now Japan is up to the shogunate.

The emperor can only look at the face of the shogunate, and even whether he can eat enough depends on whether the shogunate gives enough money.

And the Tokugawa shogunate did not dare to kick away the emperor and become the emperor himself.

In the local area, there are many feudal clans side by side, and if you are not careful, someone may use the name of the emperor to do something.

Therefore, if Japan had closed itself off from the outside world and had not been interfered with by the outside world, its system would have been able to barely continue.

But now the influence of the Ming Dynasty on Japan is too great.

Moreover, the expansion of the Ming Dynasty in the north, south, and India also made many Japanese people of insight either envious, criticized, or coveted.

In a word.

The rise of the Ming Dynasty can be regarded as blowing the spring water that crumpled Japan.

Some samurai in the country were also ready to move, and various ideas appeared.

There are those who believe that Japan should abolish the shogunate, imitate the Ming court, set up local parliaments, respect the emperor, friendship and the founding of the country, and govern the country with a bureaucratic system.

There are also those who believe that Japan needs to join the Eastern system of the Ming Dynasty, and the emperor or shogunate will pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, go to the throne, and integrate into the Chinese system of Shenzhou.

There are also those who believe that Japan should maintain its independence, learn from the Ming reforms, and also seek external expansion.

In a word.

Right now, the minds of the Japanese people are very confused.

And the appearance of the Spanish fleet in the Ryukyus. Nine times out of ten, there are powerful feudal clans in Japan involved!

"The Spaniards found Japanese in their fleet, and it is likely that the samurai in Japan were involved in the Ryukyu affair."

Lin Dagong said with a solemn face.

"Now there are forces in Japan that are ready to move, and some feudal lords in Japan have come into contact with the power of the Westerners, and they have colluded with the Spaniards and Britons. The occupation of the Ryukyus by the Spanish fleet was most likely a conspiracy against the shogunate"

"Conspiracy?" Gu Song frowned slightly.

"A conspiracy to strike at the prestige of the shogunate." "If the shogunate was unable to expel the Spaniards, their qualifications to lead Japan would be questioned, and some of the powerful local feudal clans would use this as a reason to call on the samurai to bring down the curtain," said Hayashi.

"The Tokugawa shogunate must be maintained, the emperor must not have power, and the powerful feudal lords must not have the power to threaten the rule of the Edo shogunate!"

Emperor Zhu rubbed his forehead and said with a headache.

The intertwining of forces in various parts of Japan is very complicated.

But he didn't care so much, anyway, as long as the Edo shogunate could maintain, this Japan was a self-weak, self-contained system.

Can't make any big waves.

It would be a bad idea if someone started to bring down the curtain and create the "Meiji Restoration" more than half a century ahead of schedule.

Japan is a large country with a population of 30 million, and there are so many samurai, as long as the military system is reformed, it can become a poor ghost and a small power.

This kind of poor and strong is the most difficult to do.

Let's fight, the gains outweigh the losses.

If you don't fight, you have to coax, otherwise it is easy to cause trouble

(End of chapter)