Xinshun 1730

Chapter 291 The Foreign Ministry's Style Is Too Low
Qi Guogong attaches great importance to this matter, probably because he really feels that the Westerners have taken the lead in some places.

But Liu Yu really does not support the spread of Western learning and the translation movement, at least at this time.

The premise of the centuries-old Arabic translation movement is that the technical level of the world is almost stagnant, and it can be translated slowly and influenced slowly.

But now, not to mention three changes in a year, but to say that ten years will produce many unprecedented theories, and translation is not enough.If it was at the end of the Ming Dynasty, maybe there was still time for the translation movement, but it really doesn't work now.

Some technical books are useless after being translated, and the current technology still has to be learned from an early age through an apprenticeship system.

Harrison, who made a series of top mathematicians such as Newton ashamed and made a nautical clock, Liu Yu seriously doubted whether he could write.

Watt may not be illiterate, but that's about it.

As for professional mathematics, before Euler unified mathematical symbols and brought up calculus, the translation of Newton's book had to be understood by the top people, which was of little significance.

As for algebra and the like, one needs to be able to write a set of teaching materials, rather than translating all previous papers.

Of course, translation still needs to be translated.

Liu Yu thinks that if we want to start a translation movement, we should focus on literature and history books, and wait for him to finish compiling the textbooks and wait for those orphans to grow up to start a new one.

"What the Duke sees is what he sees. If the titles of this translation are not unified, it will be really difficult. How about this, I will publish a book that popularizes Western geography and a brief history, and future translations will be based on this."

The Duke of Qi praised: "It's really easy to keep the routine. That's exactly what I mean, and so does Your Majesty. You still have to do this. Anyway, I heard His Majesty said that you are quite free in Weihai. Everything is in order. The navy has already It can run on its own. But you, if you go to Songjiang today and find Batavia tomorrow, you will be idle if you are idle."

"As for the translation, I'll just wait for your news. Another thing is that His Majesty wants me to be in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Raksha people want to send a higher-ranking special envoy because of the border demarcation. Raksha's side It’s easy to talk about it. But His Majesty said another thing, that is, let me ask you about the trade with the Swedes.”

The trade with the Swedes is very important, and not many people know about it.

Since Qi Guogong said that His Majesty let him take over, it seems that the emperor told him some things, and Liu Yu no longer concealed them.

"This matter is troublesome and troublesome, and it is simple and simple. Your Majesty intends to manage the Southeast Asia. This time, he also sent a ship to Sweden to sell the goods."

"Once we start a war against Southeast Asia, the Dutch will rob our ships. East of Malacca, we don't have to be afraid. But after Malacca, our ships will not be able to go to Europa. We must be robbed by the Dutch halfway and go bankrupt." .”

"I think so, there must be a war in Europe. Once there is a war in Europe, France and Spain will rob the merchant ships of the Netherlands and Britain; otherwise, the Netherlands and Britain will also rob the merchant ships of France and the West. This is an excellent Opportunities, trade in our dynasty, are completely controlled by Westerners, what to buy and what to sell, Westerners have the final say, and the profits in the middle are also earned by Westerners.”

"That's why, taking advantage of this European war, since they hijacked each other's ships, we must take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sell our goods to the West."

"It's just... if we go to Southeast Asia, we will go to war with the Dutch. So we are thinking of borrowing Sweden, borrowing chickens to lay eggs, flying the Swedish flag, or talking to the Swedes about trading companies. The Swedes are definitely not willing Give up the interests in hand, so this matter must rely on diplomatic means."

Unlike Europe, Dashun's "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" is really not very meaningful.It's just that if Liu Yu wants Dashun to let go of the heavens and enter the world, he can only make people think that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is of great significance. Even if he pretends to be, takes off his pants and farts, he has to create such an illusion.

Duke Qi understood immediately, and said with a frown, "The Netherlands...the Netherlands, you should not be underestimated."

"When I was in the country of France, it was in a time of war. This country can be called a powerful country. The strength of the army is really amazing. But even so, it has been a series of maneuvers. I don't even have the courage to go to war near the Netherlands. I am afraid that the Netherlands will be pulled into the war. Although the country of Holland is small and has few people, it is so powerful."

Liu Yu didn't think so, and said with a smile: "At the end of the crossbow, you can't wear Lu Jin. The Dutch are nothing but rich, and fighting for money is money. But no matter how rich he is, he will not spend too much money in Nanyang. I wait to knead? The Duke is going to Europe this time, can you check the European tariffs?"

This Qi Guogong has really inspected it.

"Check it out. When I went, the Dutch happened to come to France, and they were talking about tariffs. Their products are similar. If they are like Henan and Shandong, they compete with each other. If the Dutch don't tax French wine, then Dutch distillers can't make a living, and vice versa."

"This matter is difficult for Guochao. One is to communicate with each other, and there is no competition at this time; the other is that Guochao has a long coast, and tariffs are not easy to manage. If you collect more, you will smuggle more. From Weihai to Guangdong, you really can't find those few boats."

"Your Majesty said let me handle this matter and cooperate with you. But I really can't cooperate."

"Sweden, bordering on Rakshasa, is a rivalry between deadly enemies. This can be negotiated as a long-distance and short-term attack, but when it comes to this kind of thing, how can I, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, be in charge? If Sweden fights with Rakshasa, I want to deter Rakshasa. Stop, threaten war, how can the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have such great power?"

"Another one is tariffs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has the right to decide who to tax?"

"So, I really don't understand what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does. I think it's no different from Honglu Temple or something. It's about etiquette?"

The new department will inevitably lead to the distribution and reorganization of power.

The advantage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is that it will not encroach on the power and responsibility of the Li government, which is tantamount to creating something out of nothing, and there is little resistance.

But the disadvantages also exist. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot take away other people's power, and the whole thing is just a decoration.

Theoretically, if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to achieve success, it should join the cabinet, enter the Tianyou Hall, and be responsible to the emperor and prime minister of Dashun—the Son of Heaven.

The problem with Dashun now is that the rights and responsibilities are not clear, Tianyou Hall is in charge of everything, and the rights and responsibilities of the Six Ministries are being violated everywhere.

But Liubu actually has its own leader and its own team.

The emperor didn't want to have a prime minister, so he got a secretarial team from the previous cabinet or the current court's Tianyou Temple, but many things were difficult to handle.

It is easy for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get things done now, because the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is Qi Guogong, who can bypass the Tianyou Temple and directly deal with the emperor.

But what about the future?Without a clear distribution of powers and responsibilities and a discussion mechanism, what should we do if we change people?We can't rely entirely on honors to turn the Ministry of Foreign Affairs into a nursing home.

Ordinarily, the most reasonable thing is that there should be six or seven people in the Temple of God Blessing, and one of them will be in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The British have a similar situation, so the UK has a Foreign Office and a Commonwealth Office.Correspondingly, it can also fit Dashun, one is in charge of tributary state affairs, and the other is in charge of diplomacy outside the scope of the tributary state. The east of Malacca is called Tianchao, and the west of Malacca is called China.

However, there must be someone in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Rituals, and he should also be in the cabinet.

In this situation, whether it is big or not, it is not small.

If you say you have no power, you can communicate directly with the emperor; if you say you have power, you can't make decisions on your own.

This matter fell on him, and Liu Yu thought clearly.

The emperor didn't want Liu Yu to take care of too many things and grasp too much power.

Originally, Liu Yu reported these matters directly to the emperor, but now through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, exchanges and negotiations with Western countries have actually changed from "relying on Liu Yu" to "relying on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs".

This is the emperor taking away the authority in advance, just for the convenience of doing it, and let the princess of Qi take care of it.One is that the candidate is suitable because he has been to Europe; the other is that the emperor also knows the relationship between Qi Guogong and Liu Yu.

In the future, when the team of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can operate independently, there will definitely be a replacement.

Now the emperor wants to organize two sets of teams, one is the internal Celestial Dynasty; the other is the external China.The problem is that there is only one Tianyou Temple, which is both the Tianyou Temple and the Chinese cabinet, which is very troublesome.

The emperor moved the inner court to the outer court and tried his best to seize power, but now he found that his energy was limited, and he had to acquiesce in letting some power go.

But there are no rules, and only rely on unspoken rules. When encountering a new department like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is a bit blind, especially if it has not yet formed a complete set of unspoken rules for its operation, so it is natural to be blind.

Duke Qi also felt that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was nothing more than a useless seal.

"Shouchang, look. The last time the French delegation came to Beijing, our official envoy here was the British Duke. The British Duke is the state affairs of the Pingzhang Army of the Tianyou Temple, so the matter can be negotiated."

"Then next time, if the Raksha Kingdom, the Kingdom of England, and the Kingdom of Holland send a mission. If you want to talk about serious matters, then the interviewer must at least be a member of the Gapengzhang Army?"

"Then I am in charge of etiquette? Do some interpreters?"

Qi Guogong is not too dissatisfied, he has no interest in entering the Tianyou Hall, and knows that the candidates for the Tianyou Hall are almost fixed.The British Duke went down, and the one who fought in the Northwest for many years and now wants to release his military power.

But since the emperor let him take up this new department, he also had to consider the authority of this department.

In fact, Liu Yu doesn't really understand what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does. Foreign policy must not be independent, but must consider a series of issues such as war and tariffs.

Then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a seal?came out to speak?

Diplomacy and diplomacy, the geographical location of Dashun determines the surrounding areas that are qualified to engage in diplomacy with Dashun. In fact, it is only Russia and Spain.

Portugal occupies Macau, but it is nominally a tributary country; Japan is not a tributary country, but everyone pretends that it does not exist. If Japan's affairs are really brought to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the world will be shocked.

Moreover, Russia is on the side of Dashun, and there is a permanent envoy of similar level. This is because the border issue has been discussed, and it is hard to say whether it will be permanent in the future.

Spain is a mess, and it's best to pretend it doesn't exist for a while.Once the massacre in Luzon ignites public opinion, there will definitely be an uproar; but in order to get rid of the Netherlands, you must hold your nose and communicate. After all, the Western-French Alliance is also the Bourbon dynasty.

In this way, this is called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?
This is clearly the "Department of Negotiation and Boundary Survey with Russia", and the style has suddenly changed from a ministerial level to a departmental level organization.

(End of this chapter)