"The Japanese side has also sent their congratulations. The Tokugawa clan sent Lao Zhonggu to come to congratulate you. Daimyo vassals from various places also came to congratulate them individually." Wen Xiang said.
The current relationship between Japan and China is rather strange. It is not that of a vassal state.
Unless they now demote the emperor's title and call him the King of Japan.
The relationship between the shogunate and China is an alliance. That is, the shogunate accepts the protection of China and becomes China's younger brother.
Dong Shuheng’s transformation of Japan has been ongoing.
In addition to the shogunate, there were several Japanese lords who were friendly to China who received Dong Shuheng's support.
"Is Zong from Tsushima coming this time?" Dong Shuheng asked.
"Come on, President, Ma Zong's income mainly depends on trade activities with us, as well as the provision of supplies for our temporarily docked ships. Naturally, they will not give up this opportunity."
"Speaking of which, I remember that Bao Youzhi of the Beihai Navy made a report last time and wanted to rent a military port on Tsushima Island for the temporary docking of the Beihai Navy."
"Leave this matter to Wen Xiang. You can give them some rent. In addition, you can emphasize that Huaxia will protect their clan. Aren't they often harassed by pirates? As long as Huaxia builds there
The military port ensures that no pirates will invade them again."
Wen Xiang promised that this matter did not seem difficult to handle. If he were the Zong family, he would also choose to lease the port to China, leaving aside frivolous things such as sovereignty, which would bring them more practical benefits.
Dong Shuheng no longer placed all his bets on the shogunate and his family. Some important shogunate names and strong vassals who were friendly to China were also the targets of Dong Shuheng's wooing and use.
The shogunate also had opinions about China skipping the shogunate and directly contacting some daimyo, but it could only keep this small matter in its heart.
China has explained that these daimyo who deal directly with the world are mainly in the Kansai region. Because China needs a lot of manpower and material resources to develop the Far East, it needs to contact these daimyo.
Japan now is like a big family that is about to be separated.
The Tokugawa Shogunate was a family head whose authority was gradually losing.
The more capable children in the family are looking for their own way.
Some of the restrictive measures imposed by the shogunate on daimyo were not as strong as before.
Originally, the daimyo's children had to live in their homes in Edo, and their money had to be spent in Edo.
At that time, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the attendance transfer system and the military service sharing system to restrict the development of local daimyo.
But now many powerful vassals no longer belong to the shogunate.
Once a loophole appears in a system, the loophole will continue to expand. This is the broken window effect.
The public family was even more miserable. Emperor Takahito obeyed the shogunate and had no sense of existence.
In this big family, Emperor Takahito is more like an ancestor portrait hanging on the wall.
Dong Shuheng has a long-term plan for Japan, but the most critical step is to ban the Japanese emperor.
Without the emperor, Japan will no longer be a unified country.
Qi Bin, who has always advocated the integration of public and military affairs, is one of his main pawns.
Regardless of the outcome of the merger of public and military affairs, as long as the emperor is gone and the Japanese adapt to life without the emperor, then there will be huge room for maneuver in how to design Japan.
Dong Shuheng expressed his position towards Japan by asking the Lifan Yuan to receive Japanese envoys instead of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Nowadays, the Renaissance Army in the Far East still uses Tachi teams composed of many Japanese.
The feedback is very effective. As long as these people are given some land, they don't even need to pay military pay.
But these people who got the land assigned to China regarded themselves as warriors of China and fought very bravely.
Moreover, they themselves recruited people to cultivate and plant the land allocated to them.
Such soldiers or combat cannon fodder can play a huge role in China's future expansion, especially in harsh environments.
Therefore, Dong Shuheng needed more Japanese to serve China.
Where do these people come from? This is a question. After China becomes stable, the shogunate should be left in chaos.
There are currently two undercurrents surging in Japan.
These two undercurrents have begun to fight openly and secretly over the issue of the Tokugawa family's successor.
The reformists who attempted to suppress the dictatorship of the shogunate supported Hitotsubashi Keiki, who had a reputation for wisdom, and were called the Hitotsubashi faction. The main representatives were Tokugawa Saiaki, Matsudaira Keinaga, Shimazu Saibin and others.
The conservatives who wanted to maintain the shogunate's dictatorship advocated supporting Tokugawa Keifuku of the Kishu Domain, who had the closest bloodline to the shogun. They were called the Kishu faction, also known as the Nanki faction. The main representative was Ii Naomi. The contradiction between the two factions began to intensify.
China is now the de facto protector of Japan. Of course, both factions have to contact China.
This is certainly a great opportunity.
After talking about Japan, next is Vietnam, the vassal state closest to China in the south.
Vietnam is still in a unified state now. Although France has been plotting against Vietnam, it has not succeeded.
In the first month of the third year of Chia Long (1804), Chibusen, the envoy to Guangxi and the governor of Nanning Prefecture, Huang Deming, sent by the Qing Dynasty, entered Vietnam with a seal and edict conferring Nguyen Phuc Anh as the "King of Vietnam".
From then on, the Ruan Dynasty began to pay tribute to the Qing Dynasty every two years and send envoys every four years.
Life in Vietnam has not been easy recently, with serious internal and external troubles.
The current leader of the Nguyen Dynasty, Nguyen Phuc Thi, calls himself Emperor Tu Duc. Of course, this is what they call themselves.
Historically, they only used the name Vietnam when making offerings or requesting canonization.
Within Vietnam, it had been transformed into the Great Southern Empire. Naturally, the vassal states had no right to claim the title of emperor.
After Nguyen Phuc Thi succeeded to the throne, Vietnam was on the verge of internal and external troubles.
During the previous reign of Emperor Minh Ming, Vietnam expanded to Chenla and Nanzhang and was strong. However, domestic uprisings continued and exhausted Vietnam's national power.
During the reign of Emperor Shao Zhi, the French sent warships to Tuohui to demand that Vietnam open a port for trade and allow missionary work.
The two sides went to war, and Vietnam suffered heavy losses.
Dong Shuheng always believed that France had begun colonizing Vietnam, but he did not expect that a small Vietnam would be stronger than the Manchus.
It is also a closed country, and Vietnam has not been colonized until now.
However, there are Catholic missionary activities in Vietnam, but they are always controlled. Catholics in Vietnam are also a major security risk.
"President, Vietnam is going to send Minister Gu Ming Ruan Zhifang to come to congratulate you. They have made a request, which is to ask China to send troops to help eliminate the Beiqi pirates in Vietnam."
This Beiqi is sandwiched between China and Vietnam. If Huaxia is willing to send troops to attack the Beiqi rebels from the north and south of Vietnam, then these rebels can be put down in an instant.
Dong Shuheng knew who the Kingdom of Vietnam was talking about.
The bandits who flowed to Vietnam from Guangxi, Yunnan and other places in China were called guest bandits by the rebels.
The boundary between Vietnam and China is not clear, and the people on both sides are mostly of the same race.
Therefore, rebellious people from western Guangdong and Yunnan often fled into Vietnam.
Shi Dakai was not the first such army.
It's just that Shi Dakai is very strong.
After entering Vietnam, he occupied almost the entire Beiqi in a short period of time.
Unexpectedly, the tactics of the Taiping Rebellion worked surprisingly well in Vietnam.
With Shi Dakai, the local officials of the Ruan Dynasty were eliminated.
The local poor people quickly revolted, and the peasant army that had been suppressed quickly resurrected.
At first, these people followed Shi Dakai, killing the rich and giving to the poor.
When Shi Dakai moved westward, most of these people did not follow him. They formed a rebel army led by Nong Chi Do and Le Van Thong.
They gathered tens of thousands of troops, occupied Hanoi, and elected Le Van Thong as king.
After Le Van Thong claimed to be the Le Dynasty, he reestablished the Le Dynasty.
The Northern Li Dynasty also sent people to China to request for canonization.
But the Ruan Dynasty has always only recognized that the other party is a guest and traitor from China.
Now Shi Dakai has already moved westward because he does not want to waste time fighting with Vietnam.
When Vietnam reacts, it will definitely fight back against itself, and then it will be entangled.
But he didn't expect that the younger brother he brought out in Beiqi was so strong, and even blocked the Vietnamese government's conquest.
In fact, it is because Vietnam has oppressed the people at the bottom too much in recent years.
In the past few decades, there have been more than 200 peasant uprisings alone.
Their suppression of the uprising was also brutal, and most of the suppressed rebels were executed.
Therefore, after the uprising in Beiqi became serious, Vietnam sent troops to suppress it, but met with fierce resistance from the insurrectionists.
These rebels sent people north to the territory of China to purchase weapons.
The government in western Guangdong knew that he was from Vietnam and sold them all the old-fashioned weapons originally reserved by the Manchus in the treasury.
Even the militiamen of the Renaissance Army were unwilling to use these things.
With these weapons, the combat effectiveness of the Peasant Army in Beiqi was greatly increased.
They blocked the conquest army sent from Hue Prefecture at every level in the dangerous terrain between Bei Qi and Zhong Qi.
The two sides actually fought evenly.
Although Beiqi was raided by Shi Dakai.
However, there were still many gentry and landlords in the local area. Bei Li claimed to represent the poor people, and he followed the Taiping Army's example and began to attack the local tyrants to allocate their land.
In fact, you want to gain wealth as quickly as possible.
Soon, they also accumulated a lot of wealth, and all of this money was sent to China to buy equipment.
The Northern Qi became stronger as they fought, while the Nguyen Dynasty became weaker and weaker. The success of the uprising in the north also inspired the people in the south who were preparing to revolt.
The Nguyen Dynasty was a little exhausted, so this time the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty made such a request.
Their implication was that this incident was caused by the establishment of the New Chinese Dynasty. They believed that Shi Dakai was driven to Vietnam by Dong Shuheng and others.
China wants to help us put down the Beiqi rebellion, otherwise I won't be your little brother.
Since the establishment of the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty, they have claimed vassal status over the Manchu Qing Dynasty on the surface and emperor secretly. Dong Shuheng did not have a good impression of them.
After the First Opium War, the King of Ruan Dynasty even sarcastically mocked the Qing Dynasty for losing to the Dao Yi.
It wasn't until France invaded Tuohai and Vietnam suffered a disastrous defeat that they realized that they were also very weak.
"President, how should we deal with the Beiqi incident?" Wen Xiang asked.
Dong Shuheng pondered for a while and looked at the people around him. No one seemed to have any suggestions, so he said: "As for Beiqi, we can hang it up for now. If they have money, you can sell them something. If they don't have money, you can also take it."
Mine in exchange.”
"But things like canonization are postponed for now. How can it be so easy to get canonization from China? Let's see how the Ruan Dynasty reacts."
"As for the Ruan Dynasty's request, ask them if they are willing to rent Jinlan to us. If they are willing, China will sell them a batch of weapons to help them put down the rebellion in the north."
Dong Shuheng had long wanted to find a naval base in Nanyang that was easy to defend.
In later generations, the name Cam Ranh Bay often appeared. Later, he looked for it on the map and found that it was indeed very important for controlling Nanyang.
Dong Shuheng knew that Vietnam was still very conservative now and would not relent on this matter for the time being, but he believed that these people would come to visit him again soon.
"Hey, where is Shi Dakai now?" Dong Shuheng looked at Zheng Jian. Dong Shuheng told the Intelligence Department to pay close attention to the movements of Shi Dakai's Taiping Army.
"President, Shi Dakai's men are currently operating in the northern part of Nanzhang. It is now divided into many small countries, all of which are vassal states of Vietnam. However, Vietnam is now too busy to take care of itself, and its control over there is also very weak."
"Shi Dakai occupied Long Prabang and reached reconciliation with the Buddhist forces there. It seems that he wants to make this place his foundation."
"His men now have hundreds of thousands of troops, and they have begun to develop upstream and downstream along the Mekong River. He also allocated land to his men. It seems that he plans to stay here permanently."
After hearing this, Dong Shuheng shook his head. His strategy was to let Shi Dakai go to the northwest of Myanmar and the north of Bangladesh to establish a country, and then develop to the rich Bangladesh region in the south.
Unexpectedly, Shi Da thought he had found his own land of abundance when he arrived in Nanzhang.
This is not possible. He must be moved. Shi Dakai must move westward.
Dong Shuheng looked at Yan Shikun and said: "Nanzhang has been destroyed for many years. It is connected to Yunnan by the Lancang River. It was originally a vassal land of China. I want Peng Yulin to take it back and move the landless people in Yunnan.
Go and cultivate the land."
"President, the war has just ended, is it okay to send troops now?" Yan Shikun obviously did not agree with sending troops to Nanzhang now.
"How about this? Let Peng Yulin send people to organize a fleet to dredge the waterway of the Mekong River in the lower reaches of the Lancang River. This waterway has never been used because there are many hidden reefs. If we clear the waterway first, it will be much more convenient to enter the lower reaches.
, at that time, Chenla and Vietnam can be connected through this river, which will also be of great help to the development of the southwest region."
"Old Zeng, what do you think?"
"I support the matter of dredging the river." Zeng Xianfeng said, which means that in addition to dredging the river, other things must be considered.
At this time, Dong Shuheng asked Wei Yuxiang to bring in a map. He pointed at the map and explained the importance of Lancang River to everyone.
Everyone knew it clearly. This river passed through almost all the vassal states in the southeast region, and then entered the sea in Nanqi, Vietnam. If it could be completely dredged, landlocked Yunnan would be able to directly connect to the sea.
Moreover, this river was also of great significance to the vassal states that controlled the southeast after China.
It would be great if a navy was established in this river.
"Let's do this. Build a shipyard in Thuan Ninh Province to build steamers for dredging the river. After the river is dredged, the shipyard can continue to produce merchant ships and even naval gunboats."
"I agree. I think we should leave it to the Ministry of Transportation. General Peng doesn't have anyone dedicated to do this." Zeng Xianfeng said quickly. After doing some research just now, everyone found out that this river is really important.
.
Yunnan has been relatively isolated since ancient times. It is known as one hundred thousand mountains. If this river can be revitalized, it will undoubtedly make southern Yunnan much more convenient to connect with the outside world.
At the same time, it can also revitalize Yunnan's economy, which can be said to serve multiple purposes with one stone.
"Since no one wants to fight, let's do this. The Intelligence Department and the Military Department will send people to contact Shi Dakai to see if they can persuade him to give up Nanzhang."
"If it doesn't work out, we can pay to buy the place they currently occupy. In short, let them continue to move westward." Dong Shuheng could only compromise.
As for buying the land, they will definitely not pay for it. Some equipment will be given to Shi Dakai. This was also the condition for Dong Shuheng to persuade Shi Dakai to leave.
"However, Peng Yulin's army will also press on the border of Nanzhang to put some pressure on Shi Dakai."
"On the Vietnamese side, the Nanyang Navy recently asked the Nanyang Navy to visit Hue. They said that they would express condolences to the Vietnamese King on my behalf." On the Vietnamese side, Dong Shuheng was prepared to use both soft and hard tactics to capture Cam Ranh Bay first.
On the Beiqi side, Dong Shuheng not only would not help the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty to be eliminated, but would also secretly help. He wanted to make the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty feel fearful, and only then would they become obedient and obedient if there was a crisis.
ps: Many new book friends have come here in the past two days, welcome!