Daming 1805

Chapter 6 Ask for Support
Zhu Jingyuan himself saw that all the ministers around him were silent. At first, he subconsciously thought that his words had convinced all the princes and ministers.

But this overly arrogant idea was snuffed out the moment it appeared.

Accepting it without any doubts is a near-impossible thing, and someone will make suggestions for the orders directly issued by the emperor.

Even if you are convinced by yourself, you will stand up and agree, but now you are not saying anything.

Faced with this strange situation, Zhu Jingyuan vaguely understood the current situation after a brief period of surprise.

This shows that everyone is unwilling to oppose, and inconvenient to approve.

Then facing the old emperor's question again, Zhu Jingyuan was a little speechless, but he could only continue to bite the bullet.

"If I preside over the peace talks, I need the three preconditions of Grandfather Emperor and everyone here to accept, approve, and cooperate.

"First, peace is only temporary, and wars will eventually resume, because the contradictions between countries have not been resolved, so the peace treaty should prepare for a new war.

"Second, war is a continuation of politics, and peace talks have the highest priority under the current situation, so the military, the imperial court, and the consortium must fully cooperate with the peace talks.

"Third, it is difficult to get relatively favorable terms under the current situation with a very tight deadline, so the time limit for peace talks should be as loose as possible."

Zhu Jingyuan said this, and while pausing for a while, he looked around again at the reactions of the emperor and ministers.

There was no obvious reaction from everyone, and many people even frowned secretly, apparently thinking that what Zhu Jingyuan said was a matter of course nonsense.

Zhu Jingyuan also anticipated this situation. Without this basic understanding and awareness, these people would not be qualified to sit here, but he still had to speak out.

Zhu Jingyuan stabilized his state of mind again, and it seemed that there was some superfluousness to ask again:
"My three premise, if any senior does not agree, please stand up and explain the reason, otherwise, it means that everyone here agrees with these three points."

Zhu Jingyuan seemed to be talking nonsense, but the ministers whispered.

Do you know that those three premises are not important, but the responses to these three premises are very important.

The response to the premise is a promise. If everyone does not speak now, the subsequent discussions must be based on this premise, and can no longer be denied.

The discussion at the scene soon stopped, and Cao Zhenyong, Minister of Military Aircraft, said:

"Tight time frames are not conducive to negotiations, but time frames cannot be completely eliminated.

"The battle situation on the front line is now anxious, and a lot of ammunition, supplies, and well-trained soldiers are being consumed every day.

"So the negotiations cannot be delayed indefinitely, and I don't think the time limit for peace talks can exceed six months."

After Emperor Shizu revived the Ming Dynasty, the authority of the Five Army Commanders' Office was restored and became the highest military institution of the Ming Dynasty again.

At the same time, the cabinet of the imperial court borrowed the name of the military machine office of the Qing Dynasty, and added a staff organization to the military attache system, which was composed of personnel drawn from the five military governors' offices.

Therefore, the Minister of Military Aircraft of the New Daming Dynasty was not a kowtow bug in the Qing Dynasty, but a member of the military's highest staff.

After considering the identity of the other party, Zhu Jingyuan responded:

"The current technology is conducive to defense, and defense losses are much smaller than offense. After the peace talks start, the intensity of the battle will definitely decrease, and the consumption will also decrease.

"A six-month time frame is too short anyway, and I think the front lines should hold on to at least another two years."

Cao Zhenyong frowned slightly, and subconsciously glanced at the upper right, the emperor Zhu Zhongliang and the ninth son Zhu Jianfeng.

Zhu Jianyan had said before that the emperor might abdicate after the negotiation, and the intended successor was likely to be Zhu Jianfeng, which was already semi-public.

Therefore, the time limit for this peace negotiation is actually equivalent to the time limit for Zhu Zhongliang's abdication and Zhu Jianfeng's ascension to the throne.

Everyone didn't want to talk about this topic, so they could only look at the emperor and let the emperor make up his own mind.

In the silence, the old emperor Zhu Zhongliang scanned the audience and said with a light sigh:

"The negotiation time is until the end of this year. Everyone agrees with Jing Yuan's three premise, so you can continue to talk about it."

Zhu Jingyuan breathed a sigh of relief, slightly bowed his hands to the old emperor and the surrounding ministers, and then spoke again:
"Based on the above three premises, I believe that the first thing the court needs to provide political cooperation is to immediately finalize the policy of withdrawing vassals and setting up provinces.

"As soon as possible, determine and publish the conditions and timetable for the withdrawal of the vassal and the establishment of a province, and to determine the arrangements for the people of the vassal state after the withdrawal of the vassal and the establishment of a province, and it must not be delayed any longer.

"In the era of Emperor Sejo, a large number of vassal states were established because the speed of navigation and information transmission was limited at that time, and the empire could not directly control places that were too far away.

"For example, in the most distant Xintianfu territory in South America, the sailboats at that time went back and forth along the ocean currents and monsoons once, and a whole year passed, and the central government simply could not achieve it.

"But the situation is different now. The imperial fleet can reach Xintianfu in just one month, which is faster than the army's going to the Western Regions at that time.

"At the same time, the radio relay antenna paired with the wired cable allows us to quickly reach the world without missing a decision due to communication time.

"Now that the imperial court can control the most distant territory, the preconditions for Damo to withdraw from the vassal and set up a province are ripe.

"Now a large number of feudal states explicitly or implicitly declare that they want to stand on their own feet, and in the anti-Ming war, they pursue the so-called principle of getting the two to help each other, which has affected the balance of power between the enemy and us.

"Only when the imperial court decisively announced the withdrawal of the vassal state and the establishment of the province, can the power of the vassal state be brought over again, and the entire Ming Dynasty can be united again.

"Then we can force the so-called anti-Ming alliance to make concessions at the negotiating table."

When the vassal state was preparing to become independent, the imperial court announced the withdrawal of the vassal state and the establishment of a province, which would not force the vassal state to rebel and become independent, but could reduce the tendency to independence and increase the cohesion of the empire.

This logic felt like a dream in the classical dynasty, but within the scope of the Ming Empire today, it is a matter of course reality.

However, the reactions of the princes and ministers at the scene were also very strange.

When Zhu Jingyuan was explaining, he began to whisper and humiliate his words and emotions. After Zhu Jingyuan finished speaking, he handed over again, and immediately stood up one after another.

"The vassals that claim to be independent are actually rebellions. Instead of punishing them, the imperial court grants them favors. Where is the majesty of the Celestial Dynasty?"

"The population of the feudal country and the overseas Huangzhuang is at least [-] million people. It is necessary to rebuild the household registration information of the [-] million people when the feudal vassal is replaced by the province. This is definitely not something that can be completed in two or three years!"

"The court does not have so much manpower and time now to complete the household registration adjustment of [-] million people, and to appease the local civil change is the first priority!"

"After removing the vassal and setting up the province, how will the identities of the [-] people in the vassal state be resettled? Do you want to grant imperial citizenship?"

"Are citizens of the original vassal state allowed to participate in the Ming Dynasty's local imperial examinations? How are the quotas for the imperial examinations divided between the local provinces and the original vassal state?"

"The ban on the vassal state has been lifted, and the empire itself is still a specialized industry. What should I do after the vassal state is removed and the province is established?"

"How will the ethnic groups that are owned by the vassal state but not in the native land be resettled after they are removed from the vassal state and set up as a province? What level of resident rights should be granted?"

"His Royal Highness Jingyuan, the withdrawal of the vassal and the establishment of the province has been brewing in the center for many years, but it has never been implemented because it is very involved."

"The withdrawal of the vassal should be planned slowly, and absolutely must not be handled, and there will be chaos!"

Some are doubts, some are reminders, some are persuasion, but in any case, everyone does not support the withdrawal of the vassal.

(End of this chapter)