The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building of the Senate has just been completed. It is a neoclassical three-story red brick building. The new big clock installed on the bell tower on top of the main building in the middle not only has "Lingao Standard Time", but there are also three other small clocks on the clock dial.
The disks are (non-existent) Greenwich Mean Time, (also non-existent) Central European Time and (also non-existent) United States Western Time.
These three types of time, let alone naturalized people, cannot be understood by the senators who are not serious in high school geography class. They only fully reflect the ambition of the Senate's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to "deploy military force all over the world".
However, the current Ministry of Foreign Affairs is strictly speaking just a large trade representative office. The concept of the diplomatic system that modern people are familiar with comes from the Treaty of Westphalia signed by European countries after the Thirty Years' War in 1648.
》.
The signing of this treaty marked the formation of the international relations system and diplomatic system composed of sovereign states in the modern sense. From then on, "state" replaced the subjects of "monarch", "nobles" and "lords". It is also called Westphalia.
subsystem.
Before that, the diplomatic system was very vague and confusing. In East Asia, there was a unique tributary system of China, and there was no diplomatic system in the modern sense. In Europe, the Middle East, and the Near East, diplomacy was more about envoys from various countries.
Envoys and negotiations. Although there are permanent diplomatic personnel such as "ambassadors" and "consuls" in various countries, their specific responsibilities and the groups they represent are unclear. Some represent the country, some represent the monarch, and some simply
Only represents a certain business organization.
Just like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Senate, although it is a diplomatic department organized according to the Westphalian system, it has long been just a commercial representative agency. The entities of the treaties concluded over the years are mainly various East India Companies-
―The most famous ones are naturally the Dutch and British East India Companies; the only ones that can be called political entities are the Tsushima Domain and the Jesuits under the Tokugawa Shogunate.
In terms of work content, most of the business of this majestic organization actually belongs to the Department of Colonization and Trade. So much so that He Ying joked that Skade was his "chief secretary."
Therefore, Xiang Heying also holds the title of religious affairs officer. Compared with the illusory "diplomacy", this job takes up more of his working time.
The "magnificent" decoration of his office on the third floor was incompatible with the simple atmosphere advocated by the Senate. The purpose was naturally to highlight the "majesty" of the Senate.
Outside the office is a gorgeous "waiting hall". To be honest, it is rare for foreign envoys to come here. Most of the people waiting here are naturalized cadres who come to ask for instructions and reports. Sometimes, there will also be a senior citizen.
At this moment, a young senator was sitting in the antechamber, waiting for He Ying's meeting.
In the office on the third floor, all the old facilities have been cleared, and all the new facilities have been moved in. The new owner of this office, He Ying, the current Foreign Minister and Religious Affairs Officer, is looking at the man in front of him who is holding his hand slightly cautiously.
On his knees was the young senator sitting across from the desk.
This veteran Zhao Yanhao was a graduate of a certain Japanese university before D-Day. Because of the problem with his chosen major, he became unemployed immediately after graduation. When he was working in a convenience store, he felt that his future was bleak, so he finally decided to give it a try.
One batch got on the Fengcheng wheel.
As a result, Mr. Zhao was very miserable because his major was Japanese literature and his specialty was astronomy. Although he was not an otaku, he was very weak because he did not like to exercise and could not even do basic labor. He soon became a soy sauce among the crowd.
The most soy sauce type.
In order to do his best for others, this elder Zhao spent most of his time as a liberal arts teacher at Fangcaodi School, or tutoring Japanese for young elders; or when he had nothing to do, he was caught by Dr. Zhong Lizhi and was arrested at the Hutou Village Observatory. Later, the territory was occupied.
After the expansion, there was a shortage of administrative cadres, so he was sent to a county in Qiongnan for two years as the county director. Anyway, the county in Qiongnan has a very small population and almost no economy. As long as everything is stable, everything will be safe.
Zhao Yanhao was on the beach in a certain county in Qiongnan, enjoying the sea breeze and watching his men collecting fishery taxes on the dock and "persuading" fishermen to join the "County Fishery Association". He felt very uncomfortable.
He is a Japanese major and has studied in Japan for many years. So Taira Akiumori originally asked him to go to Hirado. He considered that he could not swim and was concerned that the trip would be risky. When he was hesitating, Qiao Tianzhi beat him to it.
As a result, he did not get the position of president of Nintendo, and only got a comforting "director" (director), which was equivalent to being a soy sauce boss for a few more years.
The reason why He Ying asked this elder to come to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not because Zhao Yanhao submitted in detail at the Senate meeting that the Dutch purchased dodos for breeding. The elders of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and those who had just returned from Sanya
A certain military giant nodded one after another, saying that it was a proposal worthy of consideration, but a proposal submitted privately to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contact the Ryukyu Kingdom and establish diplomatic relations.
"He Xiang..." Zhao Yanhao said seriously, almost choking He Ying who had just picked up the tea cup to drink water.
"Don't be like this, Comrade Zhao, although there is nothing wrong with this name, but it makes me feel weird, so just call me by my name," He Ying cleared his throat, then regained his calm expression and said
, "You must be the elder who wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and proposed establishing diplomatic contact with the Ryukyu Kingdom."
"Yes," Zhao Yanhao nodded vigorously, "it was indeed me who made this suggestion."
"Your suggestion is very good. Everyone is very interested in this proposal, including two elders, Ping Qiu Sheng and Qiao Tianzhi, who also support this proposal," He Ying continued, "What I want to know is, from this time we established diplomacy
What can you gain from a relationship?"
This is a very lethal question. The Senate is essentially a regime that "cannot afford early benefits without profit". Many of its decisions are actually based on interests considerations rather than the simple pursuit of "Welfare and domestic affairs".
". At this point, whether it is contacts with the East India Company in Europe, or blending with the Jesuits, or getting involved in the Korean Dynasty and Tsushima, or intervening in the Indo-China Peninsula... they all have their own economies or
Considerations of political interests.
Zhao Yanhao knew that He Yingbing had this question. He thought for a moment and said: "From an economic perspective alone, establishing diplomatic relations with Ryukyu is indeed of little value."
"You're quite straight to the point," He Ying said with a wry smile, "Are you going to be the ambassador of Ryukyu?"
"That's not what I meant. Ryukyu's significance to us is actually very small and not worth mentioning at all."
He Ying thought, this person is not playing tricks on me because he is full, right? Or is he mentally abnormal? But if you look carefully at the other person's expression and eyes, they are consistent with the article "How to Identify Mental Illness" written by Deng Platinum. The “normal range” of clothing.
"Please tell me," he said.
"Based on the current situation, the value of the Ryukyu Kingdom's existence is no longer worth mentioning from an economic perspective." Zhao Yanhao said, "But politically, establishing diplomatic relations with it can effectively declare our country's role in East Asian international politics. The existence in the world will reverse our current status as a 'rebellious party under the Ming Dynasty'."
Although the Senate had already begun to prepare for the invasion of the mainland, dealing with multiple East India companies, and even went to Japan, through the channel of Tsushima, obtained the trade license "Shu Seal" issued by the shogunate, and joined the ranks of Hirado trade. , and after defeating the Zheng Zhilong Group, it officially replaced the Zheng Zhilong Group’s monopoly on trade with Japan.
However, at present, all the actions of the Senate can still only be regarded as a "maritime trading group under the Ming Dynasty". In the eyes of various countries, there is no essential difference from the Zheng Zhilong Group. Although Ma Fan has accepted the canonization of the Senate, But to be honest, this can only be regarded as an isolated case.
Now that the Senate is about to launch a campaign on the mainland, it means getting rid of its ambiguous positioning in the past and officially declaring itself to be an independent political group and a political power.
Although there are many plans and programs in "declaring sovereignty", the most popular ones are North Korea and Japan, but Zhao Yanhao believes that Ryukyu is the most suitable target. First of all, Ryukyu is the smallest in size and has the weakest national power. There is no weapon at all. The Senate does not need to invest many resources to force its submission.
Ryukyu's backers for foreign aid are nothing more than two. One is the Ming Dynasty, which is currently too busy to take care of itself; the other is the Satsuma clan that actually controls Ryukyu. However, Satsuma only has one feudal territory, and it itself is a "Western clan" that is not trusted by the shogunate. "Remnants of the army" were actually unable to interfere with the actions of the Senate.
Therefore, the entire operation is basically an armed parade. Moreover, Ryukyu is insignificant in terms of resources, trade, and strategy, and the Senate does not need to invest a lot of resources here. The matter will be over after the two countries establish diplomatic relations, carry out trade, and send consuls to each other. Already.
"If I remember correctly, Ryukyu is a fat piece of meat for Satsuma, especially brown sugar, which is Satsuma's most important source of wealth. If we take over it, will Satsuma Domain be able to let it go?"
"The possibility of Satsuma's intervention is between 50 and 50," Zhao Yanhao replied cautiously, "If the Satsuma clan really wants to intervene, the Senate can also take the opportunity to use this as an excuse to directly intervene with arms in Satsuma, and then force the shogunate to negotiate. The Black Ships were established in advance. Moreover, the Senate has full discretionary power to decide whether to expand the intervention and to what extent. According to the minimum standard, if Satsuma really wants to send troops to intervene, we will give the Shimadzu family a painful blow to let them know the difficulty. But it is not difficult to retreat.”
"Well, I generally understand what you are thinking." He Ying pondered for a moment, "In this case, you can write a detailed proposal, including the history and current situation of Ryukyu and all the strategic considerations you just talked about.
Write it down and I will submit it to the Government Affairs Council for review."