If you want to turn people from disappointment to despair, you must first give them a little hope. This is a clever psychological tactic, because after the little hope after disappointment is shattered, the person will fall into complete despair.
Now that the Ming Dynasty is in trouble, the officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty will inevitably feel disappointed when they see that the strength of the Ming Dynasty is inferior to others. However, the disappointment alone cannot make the Ming Dynasty lose their hearts. They must be thoroughly aware of the future of the Ming Dynasty. In despair, the gentry class in the Ming Dynasty would collectively fall to the Peking Army.
Therefore, on the one hand, Wan Lei generously demonstrated the power of Beiping City, making the Ming gentry feel disappointed with the Ming Dynasty; on the other hand, he intentionally or unintentionally revealed some insignificant technologies to the Ming Dynasty, allowing them to see a trace of their efforts to catch up. I hope that for the sake of peaceful development, the Ming Dynasty will definitely agree to an armistice and negotiate a peace.
After two or three years of "peaceful development" in the Ming Dynasty, you will be surprised to find that the blast furnaces you built can't smelt iron, and the trains you built can't run. At this time, it's too late to say anything, and the gentry will definitely support the mud. The Ming Dynasty, which did not go to the wall, was in despair. Even if Emperor Jianwen continued to shout about world orthodoxy, few people would listen to him.
Because this world belongs to the strong, and only a few fools will die for a pile of mud that cannot support the wall. As for the common people, they only care about their own one-third of an acre of land. Who treats them well? They will hang out with anyone who can make them live a good life. As for whether they are orthodox or not, that is a matter for scholars.
As expected by Wan Lei, on the fifth day after the first batch of envoys settled in Beiping City, the Ming Dynasty received a secret report from the envoys and sent another envoy, and the specifications of this mission were more formal. , not only Li Yuanming, the Minister of Rites, personally led the team, but also Dong Lun, the Minister of Rites and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, was sent to form a luxurious lineup.
Li Yuanming and Dong Lun both came from the Ministry of Rites together, and both were veteran ministers. Li Yuanming was appointed as the Minister of Rites during the Hongwu period, and later retired to his hometown, and was recently recalled to serve in the imperial court. Dong Lun, on the other hand, was over eighty years old and had served in the imperial court. Emperor Wen's father was even more highly respected among the gentry class of the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming court also had ulterior motives for sending these two old guys. Among them, Li Yuanming was originally from Anzhou, Baoding Prefecture, and Dong Lun was from Peiping. The two had many old friends in Peiping Province, so the court sent them as envoys. He must be trying to play the fellow villager card.
Because both Li Yuanming and Dong Lun were old and frail, they naturally could not ride on horseback. They had to go north slowly, and it would take at least ten days to reach Peiping. Gao Weishan, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, asked Tie Xuan to postpone the peace talks, and Tie Xuan saw that Wan Lei was still inspecting the public situation in the south, so he went directly to the local government to agree to the extension.
February passed by in a hurry, and everything revived in March. Wan Lei finally completed his inspection of the two Hejian Prefectures in Baoding. At this time, the new mission of the Ming Dynasty had arrived at Zhending Prefecture and passed through Baoding City and Wan Lei. After meeting, we took a train together to go north to Beiping City.
On the third day of March, Li Yuanming and Dong Lun finally arrived in Baoding City. Seeing that these two old guys were both in their 70s and 80s, Wan Lei personally accompanied them to take the train north. Although these two old guys had already graduated from Gao Weishan, They learned from the secret letter that there was a railway in the North Parallel Province, but they were still shocked when they boarded the train in person.
Wan Lei did not hide his secrets. Along the way, he gave them concise answers to questions such as the design principles of trains, railway laying, and steam engine design principles. He even let them visit the locomotive up close when they arrived at the station. , and some of the accompanying young envoys were secretly taking notes, and Wan Lei turned a blind eye.
Because Wan Lei knew that even if the core design drawings were given to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty would not be able to build a qualified locomotive, because the most important parts of the locomotive must be made of the finest steel. North Korea simply cannot mass-produce steel.
Even if the Ming Dynasty spent all its national resources to build a locomotive, the prototype is still useless, because the rails and wheels must be made of steel, and pig iron must not be used instead. Otherwise, sparks will fly when the train is running, and accidents such as wheel cracks and derailments will be even more serious. Frequent occurrences. Therefore, if the steel-making technology is not mastered, the Ming Dynasty's dream of building railways and trains will be a mirror image.
In addition, steelmaking does not just require technology. It also takes time to build a steelmaking plant. Therefore, even if Wan Lei handed over all the technology to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming court would not be able to build a qualified steelmaking factory within a few years. Steel plants, not to mention training high-level technicians used in steelmaking.
All in all, on the road to industrialization, the Ming Dynasty fell behind step by step. Wan Lei just didn't want the Ming Dynasty to break the pot so early, so he enthusiastically reviewed how industrialization was achieved for the envoys from the Ming Dynasty. , draw a big cake for Emperor Jianwen to save him from jumping over the wall in a hurry.
Boil a frog in warm water, you have no objection to it.
In order to better play the Ming Dynasty to death, it is not enough to just draw a big pie, but also to give the Ming Dynasty some small sweeteners from time to time. Only in this way can Emperor Jianwen take the bait obediently and make it fly on the road of predetermined destruction.
No, on the first day of the talks, Wan Lei agreed to conclude an armistice agreement with the Ming Dynasty, and also agreed to the Ming Dynasty's request for the permanent envoy to be stationed in Beiping City. Of course Wan Lei knew that the so-called permanent envoy was actually here to spy on Information, but the Ming Dynasty had Zhang Liang's plan, and Wan Lei had already prepared a ladder to cross the wall.
Now that people are asking for help, the Ming Dynasty has become somewhat self-aware and dares not to ask for the repatriation of "fugitives", let alone put on the airs of the suzerainty. Besides, Beipingxing Province has never recognized the Ming Dynasty as orthodox. , let alone paying tribute and so on, everything must be done according to the principle of reciprocity.
Although there is a principle of reciprocity, Wan Lei will not send envoys to the Ming Dynasty because the Ming Dynasty government has supreme monarchy and is a rogue government with no rule of law. Sending envoys to a "rogue" government with no credibility , that is simply sending hostages. Anyway, the Jingzhong Guards have secretly penetrated into the territory of the Ming Dynasty, so it doesn’t matter if they don’t send envoys openly.
The peace talks ended in a "friendly" atmosphere, and the peace treaty was naturally signed at the end. Wan Lei asked people to draft a joint statement based on the meeting minutes, and asked the envoy to sign and seal it.
However, the Ming Dynasty was used to being the suzerain. In the past, they would only issue "letters of credence" to the vassal state in a condescending manner. Now they actually have to issue such a so-called joint declaration. They are really at a loss. However, they also know that if they are not If you sign this joint statement, you won't be able to come to Beiping City to steal from others, so I gritted my teeth and signed it.
After signing and stamping, Wan Lei's face finally revealed a secret smile, because the envoy from the Ming Dynasty had fallen into a trap without knowing it.
In fact, Shuntian Prefecture, the predecessor of the North Parallel Province, was just a Tusi Prefecture. Legally speaking, it was not an independent "country". Although it is completely independent now, it is still a bit inappropriate to seek independence and separatism without authorization. It would arouse the resentment of the gentry class in the Ming Dynasty, and even be accused of being treasonous.
Now that the envoys from the Ming Dynasty have signed the joint declaration, it is an official text that officially recognizes the independent status of the North Parallel Province. Since the "orthodox" Ming government has recognized it, the gentry have nothing to say. Even if they were dissatisfied, they would only be dissatisfied with the Ming court and blame the Ming court for "losing power and humiliating the country."
"Everyone, although it is not stated clearly in the joint statement, I would like to make it clear here personally that the number of envoys sent by the Ming Dynasty to our city of Beiping cannot exceed ten, and all envoys must pay for their own expenses. There is diplomatic immunity, but serious crimes are not within the scope of immunity." Wan Lei put away the joint statement and added.
"Diplomatic immunity? What is diplomatic immunity?" Li Yuanming was a little confused. In fact, this was not the first time he had asked this question, because the Ming Dynasty was still very naive when it came to handling diplomatic issues.
"To put it simply, diplomatic immunity means that the two countries will not fight each other without fighting. Of course, the envoys must also abide by the laws of our North Parallel Province. If there is any illegal behavior, we will directly repatriate the envoys. If there are serious violations, We will severely punish criminal acts in accordance with the law." Wan Lei explained.
"That's it, it should be, it should be." Li Yuanming nodded repeatedly, and he finally understood that the so-called diplomatic immunity actually guarantees the personal safety of the envoy. For the envoy, this is really a favorable clause. .
Li Yuanming was secretly overjoyed when he "wrong" a favorable term for no apparent reason. On the one hand, he secretly laughed at Wan Lei for being stupid and always thinking about others. What is he other than a fool? On the other hand, he secretly admired Wan Lei. Although Wan Lei's behavior seemed It sounds a bit silly, but being so benevolent and righteous can also be called a noble character.
Li Yuanming would never have thought that this was another trap. On the surface, diplomatic immunity protects the personal safety and legal rights of envoys, but there is a mystery behind it.
One of the mysteries is that those who violate the law will be deported. As for whether the envoys are illegal, of course it is the province of Beiping that has the final say. The envoys sent by the Ming Dynasty will be repatriated as long as they do not meet the "requirements" of the province. After this screening , the envoys who can stay in Beiping City must be "pro-Beiping Army", or even the wallflower type.
In addition, Wan Lei also stipulated that all food, clothing, housing and transportation for envoys from the Ming Dynasty must be provided at their own expense. This was actually a disguised economic plunder of the Ming Dynasty, because the common currency in Beiping City was Beiping Tongbao and silver coins, and the currency of the Ming Dynasty could not be used. If the Ming Dynasty wanted to ensure that the envoys could live a normal life in Beiping City, they had to scoop things up in exchange for silver coins.
Moreover, Wan Lei will hint in the future that as long as Ming Dynasty is willing to pay a high patent transfer fee, he will transfer various technologies. He will even help Ming Dynasty cultivate technical talents. Of course, this also costs money. So As a result, Ming Dynasty will also fall into technical traps one after another, and it will be played without negotiation.