This was an unexpected circumstance, and for Wong, it meant a whole new kind of challenge.

Because of this expedition, she is no longer just a general as in the past, and she still has to consider some political factors.

In her opinion, Gao Pragmatic threw such a complicated situation in Nanyang to her, which is both a trust and a test.

Because she discovered very early on that the wife Gao pragmatic wanted was by no means a woman who only needed a husband and children, and he seemed to appreciate the kind of woman who could show her light.

The simplest evidence is that when Gao Shifeng was transferred back to Beijing, the two of them had actually agreed for life, if they were to change to other men, the simplest and most direct choice would definitely be Huang Zhiting's resignation, return the power of the Huang family to his father Huang Chengzu, or simply hand it over to her younger brother Huang Yinglei, and she herself would either stay in the Huang family and wait for Gao Pragmatic to be hired, or go directly with him even more.

But Gao Pragmatic did not consider this approach at all, but left her in Annan, not only gave her a separate "fiefdom", but also officially put her in front of the stage, and together with Cen Ling, formed one of the two giants of the "Guangxi faction" in Annan.

At first, she thought that the main reason why Gao Pragmatic did this was because she was worried that Cen Ling would become uncontrollable after he returned to Beijing, so she used herself to contain Cen Ling.

This idea actually seemed correct later, but after a while she figured out that this was just the most basic arrangement, and in fact Gao Pragmatic had a tighter and more profound arrangement than this—he was deliberately creating factions in Annan's political arena.

Because shortly after Gao Shishi's departure, the government of Annam actually formed three factions: the Jinghua faction, the Guangxi faction, and the local faction.

It stands to reason that both the Jinghua faction and the Guangxi faction are "Daming factions" and should naturally form an alliance to suppress the local faction, but Huang Zhiting soon discovered that things were not so simple.

Because there was a split within the Guangxi faction.

This kind of differentiation is not simply divided into the Cen faction and the Huang faction, to put it mildly, it is actually more like the "pro-Ming faction" and the "pro-high faction".

Huang Zhiting found that she and Cen Ling actually couldn't represent the entire Guangxi faction, because the Tusi who "moved towns" from Guangxi to Annan, only the group that sent the main force when they went south to Annan with Gao Pragmatic at the beginning were the same as her and Cen Ling, and all affairs were arranged by Gao Pragmatic.

And those Tusi who did not send troops or sent very few troops often regarded themselves as loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty, and did not think that they needed to listen to the orders of a "former governor of Guangxi" who had left office.

Originally, this didn't matter, because administratively, they now had to listen to the orders of the Annan Metropolitan Commander, and the Annam Metropolitan Commandery itself was actually controlled by Jinghua because of the relationship between the "Jinghua Sixteen Articles".

But the trouble is also here, it is true that Jinghua Group is Annan's national policy group, but the commander himself is still Mo Maoqia after all. This means that in the eyes of some people, Mo Maoqia is still "Annan orthodoxy", and Jinghua Group can only be regarded as an "ancient prime minister's house" at best.

Then there was a situation that Huang Zhiting had not expected at all: some Tusi who had moved from Guangxi began to have private relations with the local faction in Annan. And what made her most vigilant was that her younger brother Huang Yinglei was actually one of them.

At this time, the Guangxi faction became a situation of secret struggle between the "pro-Gao faction" headed by her and Cen Ling and another group of "pro-Ming faction" headed by the Zhao family.

The Zhao family was tricked by Huang Zhiting, and later because of the pragmatic plan to move the town, had to come all the way to Annan, although in the end they did not treat them badly, and divided one government and two states, but in fact, the territory controlled by the Zhao family was almost only one to one compared to the Guangxi period, but the population was more than 200,000.

It stands to reason that this is also earned, but people's hearts, they always suffer from inequality, and Zhao still thinks, "Why did the Cen and Huang families get rich and I will change them?" ”

Originally, when the Zhao family was in Guangxi, it was the strength of the toast, and now it has naturally become the mainstay of this faction.

As for Huang Yinglei...... Huang Zhiting has a headache every time she thinks of her younger brother.

In fact, she knows very well why Huang Yinglei got involved with the Zhao family, the reason is very simple, Huang Yinglei feels that everything in the Huang family should be his, why is it like a family split now?

Obviously, there is a man like him in the family, but my sister can still divide one alone? According to the customs of the Ming Dynasty, although female toast is not rare, the premise of female inheritance is that there is no brother in the family to inherit it. So Huang Yinglei thinks, since there is a younger brother of mine, why do you let my sister inherit half of it?

As for this "country", it was originally laid by my sister...... It doesn't matter, rules are rules, and what is mine should be mine.

After discovering that the situation had developed into this situation, Huang Zhiting was a little nervous at the time, but she soon discovered a wonderful thing, that is, this situation may have been expected by Gao Shishi a long time ago.

Because the Jinghua faction and the "pro-Gao faction" in the Guangxi faction were just able to suppress the local faction and the "pro-Ming faction" in the Guangxi faction.

Here we have to talk about Gao Pragmatic's "separation", not to mention the three southern towns of Annan, the best developed "original territory" of Annan was "staggered" by Gao Pragmatic.

Roughly Jinghua occupies Thang Long and Hai Duong Mansion, which can be regarded as a "central flowering" and then there is a channel to connect with the outside world, and then Huang Zhiting and Cen Ling occupy the easternmost and westernmost places respectively, and the rest is "filled in the blanks" by the local faction and the Guangxi "Yongming faction".

If the three southern towns are also included at this time, then a situation will be formed in which Jinghua, Huang Zhiting, and Cen Ling occupy the southeast, west, and west sides and the center respectively, and the rest will be filled by "unstable elements".

In this situation, if there is really any change between the localists and the pro-Ming faction, Gao Pragmatism can actually control it.

The biggest possibility is that they went straight to Thang Long, and Thang Long has tens of thousands of garrisons to hold on, and if they can't hold on, they can evacuate by water. There are two ways to evacuate by waterway according to the river, one is to go directly to the sea, and the other is to go to Huang Zhiting's Haidong, so it is impossible to "die chess".

If they don't move the dragon, they can only go to the south, east, west, and west. Huang Zhiting was not familiar with the situation of the three towns in the south, but after going to Jingang this time, he found that there were so many fortresses around Jingang alone, and at a glance, he knew that they were dead chess to the south.

Then there are two ways left, either to the west to find Cen Ling's trouble, or to the east to find her Huang Zhiting's trouble, but no matter who they find, the Thang Long Garrison and the Jingang Garrison can support at any time.

In particular, her Haidong is close to the sea, and with the strength of Jinghua's sea power, it is easy to support. And it is not easy to find trouble with Cen Ling, because the west is a mountainous area, and Cen Ling can hold on for a long time even if he is besieged, and that time is enough for the two major garrisons to be dispatched to cooperate with Cen Ling to outflank him before and after.

This is the overall situation of Annan, I am afraid that no one understands it at first, but now with the passage of time, it is found that everything has long been expected in a highly pragmatic manner, and the countermeasures have been arranged for a long time.

However, there has been a slight change in the situation recently, that is, Annan needs to send troops "abroad", and once the war goes well, Annan will become the hand behind Siam and Laos in the future. At this moment, if Annan can only rely on internal checks and balances to maintain stability, it will be a little bad and it will be difficult to concentrate his forces.

At this time, Annan needs someone who can completely control the situation.

Huang Zhiting knew that this person did not necessarily have to be herself, and it was okay to choose Gao Mengnan, or even Gao Zhiqin. However, although Gao Mengnan's surname is Gao, he is actually the adopted son of Gao Shishi's uncle Gao Jie, and Gao Shishi is not necessarily willing to hand over the entire land of Annam, Siam, Laos and Cambodia to him.

As for Gao Shiqin, his young age is only one aspect, the most important thing is that his ability has not been proven, how dare Gao Shiqin throw him the "Land of Four Kingdoms" at once?

At this time, the best choice was only Huang Zhiting, who had a lifelong appointment with him. Although the reunification of Huang Zhiting and Annan was not at the behest of Gao Shishi, he immediately made corresponding arrangements, including transferring Gao Jing to Huang Zhiting, and also letting Huang Zhiting personally go to Jingang to participate in military parades, receive troops, and inspect defense affairs.

And all this is not just a task for Huang Zhiting, because as long as she wants to be "Mrs. Gao", then these are all responsibilities.

In the past, it was almost only necessary to fight a war, at most it was to deal with the internal affairs of a prefecture, and this prefecture was full of its own cronies, so of course things were easy to do.

In the future, it will be much more difficult to deal not only with such complicated internal affairs of Annam, but also with "diplomacy" in which the devil knows what the situation will be.

So what is happening right now can be used to practice.

Myanmar is regarded by the Ming Dynasty as his own external toast, and Portugal also regards it as the "next dish", and his "Gao Lang" is not clear - what does he plan to do with Myanmar? Should Daming take it back, or deal with it as a second Annan?

He didn't say it.

Huang Zhiting didn't think that Gao Pragmatic was trying to hide anything from her, she thought that Gao Pragmatic probably hadn't decided on her own, maybe she was hesitating, or maybe she was going to decide depending on the situation.

But Gao pragmatic hesitation does not mean that she is also hesitant, in fact, she does not hesitate at all.

In her opinion, it doesn't matter if Daming has Myanmar or not, and he didn't take it seriously before, if it weren't for Myanmar dancing happily and even starting to peek into the hinterland of Yunnan, Daming wouldn't have bothered to care about it at all.

On the other hand, Gao Pragmatic has been fighting Myanmar for a long time, accepting the Dao brothers and sisters, contacting Na Lixuan, and even preparing soldiers and horses.

Therefore, in Huang Zhiting's view, although he sent troops this time to cooperate with the counteroffensive of Yunnan, in the final analysis, he wanted to find a way to turn Burma into a second Annam.

Since it is a reserved land for one's own family, it is better not to keep some future troubles - such as the Portuguese De Brito mentioned by Alfaro, and it is even better to make the Portuguese dare not fight the idea of Burma from now on, which is a bit difficult to do.

Not to mention that the Portuguese are not easy to deal with, that De Brito alone is very troublesome.

Huang Zhiting has seen the situation map drawn by Gao Shipra, that "Ceylon" is not close to Burma, and it is absolutely impossible for him to send troops to Ceylon to destroy Debrito's lair this time, and the only way is to lure Debrito himself to come to Burma to die.

But if he goes to Burma, he will face the pressure of Mang Yingli to go south at any time to return for help, and the strength of the Portuguese is also very strong, and now he has to add the Spaniards who have just annexed Portugal......

Wait, mergers?

Huang Zhiting's heart moved, and said secretly: Gao Lang said that Spain and Portugal themselves are a pair of rivals, and that guy named Philip II led troops into Portugal and then forcibly ascended the throne, doesn't that mean......

She turned her beautiful eyes, and suddenly said to Alfaro: "I have heard that after the Portuguese controlled the Malacca Sea Road, the Ming merchant ships were not allowed to cross westward, and the merchants of Dashi and Tianzhu were not allowed to come east, and now your fleet came from the Philippines, but wanted to cross Malacca and return to Europa, it seems that it is not among the Portuguese ban?" ”

Alfaro listened to the translation, hesitated slightly, and finally shook his head, and said: "Your Excellency misunderstood, the Kingdom of Portugal has not relaxed the ban for the time being, and the reason why this fleet dares to leave is because the commander of the fleet, Sir Diego, has a warrant from His Majesty King Philip II, and his identity is ...... In your country's words, it is a chincha. ”

Who knew that Huang Zhiting still did not give up, and asked: "This is a little strange, since the king of your country is also the king of Portugal, why can't you directly order the Portuguese in Malacca to lift the ban?" Could it be ...... How dare these Portuguese officials disobey? ”

In this era, most of the priests who were willing to go to the ocean to preach, after all, still had a relatively firm faith, although they knew that the "Oriental Joan of Arc" in front of them was tricking him, but they were not very willing to lie.

He was silent for a while, and then finally smiled bitterly: "Your Excellency, I can't hide it, the situation in Portugal is more complicated. Although His Majesty has been crowned, there is still some opposition in Portugal. Moreover, His Majesty has always been merciful and does not want to put his will completely above the people, so it is not easy for His Majesty to announce the lifting of this ban in the short term. ”

If Gao Shishi was here, he was afraid that he would have sneered in his heart, because he knew that Philip II's rule in Portugal was not firm at all, and it could even be said that there could be chaos at any time.

The situation began with the crisis of the Portuguese throne, when King Sebastião of Portugal landed in Tangier in the summer of 1578 with an invading army led by King Sebastião of Morocco, Abdul Malik II. Arrogant and refusing to heed the advice of his men, he went alone into enemy territory and fought the Sultan of Morocco, Abdul Malik, in one of the most painful battles in Portuguese history.

The Moroccan army, though slightly less equipped, attacked with ferocity, forcing the Portuguese army led by Sebastião to retreat, and then while crossing the Mahazan River, the Portuguese king accidentally drowned at the age of 24.

The problem is that he is the only son of the former king of Portugal, João III, in other words, João III's branch will be extinct when he comes to him, so the kingdom of Portugal will be vacant, and a new king must be elected according to blood.

João III, who was second in line to the throne of the King of Portugal at the time, was his sister Princess Isabel.

This princess was the wife of Charles V and the mother of Philip II. Therefore, theoretically, King Philip II of Spain should be indisputably in the position of direct heir.

The second in line of succession after him was Antonio, the illegitimate son of João III's brother Luis, who was the abbot of the Abbey of Claas; In third order is João III's younger brother, Archbishop Enrique, who is the only surviving brother of King João III; Last in line is Duchess Catarina, daughter of Prince Duarte, João III's younger brother.

As a result, after Sebastião's death, Archbishop Enrique, the regent, the only surviving brother of his father João III, ascended to the throne first. However, King Enrique was 64 years old at the time, frail and unable to have any more children. Once he dies, only the crown princes of his grandchildren will inherit the throne. Among the grandchildren, Philip II was the first, followed by Antonio and Catarina.

But now, it's not just a matter of blood, the Portuguese have to think about one thing: if they choose Antonio, it means that they choose the independence of Portugal; And if King Philip II of Spain is chosen, he chooses union with the Spanish throne. At the same time, given the strength of the Spanish Habsburgs, Portugal will inevitably only play the role of "little brother" in the future.

As a result, both the Portuguese aristocracy and the upper class tended to choose to unite with Spain, because at this time Morocco demanded a large ransom from Portugal for the release of prisoners of war, and the nobles were eager to replenish their blood, and chose Philip II, which was to choose wealth, which owned two of the largest silver mines in the Americas and a large pile of minerals.

Moreover, the union with Spain also meant the opening of the borders between Spain and Portugal, and Portugal and its trade in the East and Brazil could be protected by Spain's powerful fleet. The artisans, fishermen, and urban commoners, on the other hand, openly supported independence, because they were already resentful of the aristocracy.

Later, in the process of fighting for the throne, Antonio was proclaimed king of Portugal due to the support of the general public, and Philip II was furious, so he simply led his troops directly into Lisbon and was crowned king with the support of the nobles.

However, the lower classes of Portugal did not like Philip II, who was deposed by the Netherlands, and there was a serious antagonism between the upper and lower classes in Portugal.

It can be said that Portugal at the moment is like the crater of an active volcano, which can erupt at any time, in such a situation, how dare Philip II directly lift the ban on Malacca's navigation? You must know that most of the colonists in those colonies went out to "open up" because they couldn't get along in the country, and if Philip II stimulated them again, this group of scum might follow the example of the Dutch and declare independence.

Huang Zhiting is not Gao Pragmatism, she obviously cannot be so familiar with the situation in Portugal, but she has an almost blind trust in Gao Pragmatism, Gao Pragmatism told her: Philip II's rule in Portugal is very unstable, because the contradiction between the two countries is a huge contradiction of interests - Spain has always coveted Portugal's vast market in the East, while the Portuguese adhere to the Treaty of Tordesillas, believing that the Pope has divided the colonial scope of the two sides, and Spain cannot overcome.

Gao pragmatically said that even if the Portuguese upper echelons want to use Spain's strength to relieve their pressure, they only want to use Spain, and they do not really want to share benefits with Spain. At the same time, the Spanish aristocracy and the king are not of the same mind, they only want the Portuguese market, but they are not willing to help Portugal wipe their butts, because at the moment Spain has a lot of troubles, especially the Netherlands - the situation there has been so much that it is not what it looks like, Spain has put up an army of eighty or ninety thousand in the Netherlands and will not be able to control the scene, where is it willing to be a gunman for Portugal?

Huang Zhiting smiled in front of Alfaro for the first time, and said with a smile: "I have a deal, I wonder if your envoy is willing to hear it?" ”

Alfaro blinked and bowed slightly: "Please make it clear." ”

Huang Zhiting said lightly: "The Ming Dynasty lent Macao to Spain as a temporary residence and trading point, and at the same time expelled the Portuguese. ”

Alfaro's face changed drastically: "This ...... Your Excellency, is this true? ”

"Seriously."

"Your Excellency, with all due respect, can you guarantee that you have such authority?"

"I didn't." Huang Zhiting smiled slightly: "However, Jinghua's owner Gao Qiu Zhengong can guarantee it." ”

"I've heard of the most knowledgeable person in the Ming Empire, but as far as I know, he doesn't serve in the southern part of the empire right now, and I'm worried about ......"

"Zhang Gong, the governor of Liangguang, was his colleague when he served in Guangxi in the past, and Gao Gong had a life-saving grace for Zhang Gong, since you have learned Chinese, you should know how heavy the life-saving grace is in the eyes of the Han people."

Alfaro took a deep breath and moved his throat several times before asking, "I am afraid that I will need to consult carefully with Sir Diego before I can reply, but I would like to ask one thing first: What does Your Excellency need Spain to do?" ”

Huang Zhiting smiled again, this time with a spring smile.

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PS: This chapter talks a little bit about the situation in Spain and Portugal, which may be considered by some readers to be the number of words, so I specially gave about 800 words.