In 1655, at the end of the fifth year of Wuding.

The news of the capture of Xiamen by the Wei army reached Chang'an, bringing the turbulent Wuding five years to an end.

After the Southeast Incident, which lasted for nearly a year and a half, the Wei army finally began to reverse the unfavorable situation.

The news also made Gao Yihuan's New Year's review more confident.

After all, if you are still being beaten, what confidence do you have to deter others?

In 1656, in the spring of the sixth year of Wuding, the vassal states and tribal leaders came to Chang'an as usual to worship the emperor of the Great Wei.

Six years after the opening of the Great Wei Dynasty, the influence of the Wei Empire gradually spread.

Especially more than two years ago, the Wei army defeated Tsarist Russia in Central Asia, which made the influence of Wei begin to expand westward, not only the countries of Eastern Europe knew about it, but even the Holy Rome in the central part of the country also heard about it.

Gao Yihuan wanted to flex his muscles, he was worried that the surrounding countries, especially those that were not part of the Great Wei Domain, would not come, so he sent envoys to various countries since last year, one to establish contacts, the second to facilitate trade, and the third to hope that they could send people to pay a return visit.

At the beginning of the year, his goal was achieved, and not only the vassals and tribes who submitted to the Great Wei sent tributary missions, but also the surrounding countries sent envoys.

This included envoys from Russia, Poland, Japan, and even the Ottomans and Sassanids.

After the last war between the Wei army and Tsarist Russia, the two sides have not signed an armistice treaty, Tsarist Russia is fighting with Poland for Ukraine, and Wu Sangui often crosses the Ural River to attack Tsarist Russia, and the main purpose of the Tsarist Russian envoys is to hope to sign a border treaty with Wei.

The purpose of the arrival of the Polish envoys was exactly the opposite of that of Tsarist Russia, and after they learned that Wei had defeated Tsarist Russia, they thought of concluding an alliance with Wei and attacking Tsarist Russia in the east and west.

Poland was originally the hegemon of Eastern Europe, but in recent years, there have been continuous domestic uprisings and weakened national strength, which is not as good as before.

They were a little powerless in the face of Sweden, a powerful country in the north, and at the same time facing the challenge of the rising Tsarist Russia.

The envoys of the Tokugawa shogunate came to Chang'an to jointly encircle and suppress the pirates.

After the Wei army swept away Hauge, Geng Zhongming and others fled to Jeju Island, and used it as a base, often harassing the coasts of Korea and Japan, and even occupying several Japanese islands.

Because of Japan's maritime ban policy, the navy was relatively weak, and the southern Daimyo Satsuma Domain did not obey the dispatch very much, so the Tokugawa shogunate had nothing to do with Geng Zhongming, so he hoped to cooperate with the Great Wei to exterminate the pirates.

As for the Ottomans and Sassanids, they sent envoys to Great Wei for trade.

Before the rise of the West, Asia was the center of the world, and China, India, and the Arab world were almost equivalent to the whole world.

This began to change after the rise of the West, which first replaced the Arab world as the second dealer of world trade.

Previously, the most active businessmen in the world were not Chinese, nor Westerners, but Arabs.

After the Ottoman Empire unified the region, it blocked trade routes, imposed monopolies, and raised the price of goods, causing the West to look for new shipping routes.

The West thus rose, and the rising West, after controlling the sea routes, in turn imposed a blockade on the Ottomans.

At this time, the Ottoman Empire did not expect to have more of their monopoly, and actually forced the Western world to take another path, and will soon steal their business.

This time, both Ottoman and Sassanid hoped to have more exchanges with Great Wei.

Gao Yihuan, no matter what their respective purposes were, asked the Ministry of Rites to entertain them well, and also agreed to some requests from envoys from various countries.

In the spring of the sixth year of Wuding, when the envoys of various countries were preparing to return, Gao Yihuan asked them to climb the city tower and inspect the army of the Great Wei together.

On this day, the people of Chang'an City flocked to both sides of Suzaku Street, and hundreds of thousands of people and envoys from various countries watched the military parade.

Gao Yihuan stood on the city tower and saw the army walking by, like three fat men, clapping from time to time.

Walking in the front were the students of the Imperial Military Academy, who had been training for many days, under the leadership of Li Dingguo, holding brand-new flintlock pistols and wearing mighty black military uniforms, full of pride and passion, and when they walked to the front of the viewing platform, they let out a resounding cry: "Long live Your Majesty, long live the Great Wei Empire." ”

They were followed by the elite infantry selected by the battalions of each type A and type C, and then the mighty shock cavalry, the heroic dragoons, and a large number of artillery.

In front of the phalanx, one by one passing through the city tower, the soldiers saluted with their guns, and shouted sideways, "Long live Your Majesty, long live Da Wei!" ”

The military parade of Wei gave all kinds of envoys a great shock.

Morosky, the Russian envoy returned home many years later, on the eve of the entry of the Wei army into Moscow, wrote his memoirs, "For the Great Wei Empire and its army, at that moment, I felt an inexplicable fear, just as for hundreds of years, we were afraid of the Tatars. ”

When the Polish envoy returned home, he said to the Poles, "I strongly advise the king to ally with the Great Wei Empire, for it would be a foolish thing to be an enemy of such a powerful empire." ”

When the Tokugawa shogunate's envoys returned to Japan, Japan reacted most quickly, and the first envoys from Edo set out that year, but due to poor shipbuilding technology, the fleet encountered a storm and all of them sank into the sea.

The Tokugawa shogunate was not discouraged by this, and the following year sent Wei envoys to Chang'an to begin to learn the military and economic culture of the Great Wei.

Gao Yihuan's goal was achieved, the Great Wei vassals, did not dare to have the slightest thought, even the quite complacent Sun Kewang, after listening to the envoy's return, was also worried and frightened, as for the surrounding countries, they also did not dare to provoke the Great Wei.

This made the Great Wei border tranquil, trade unimpeded, and a general environment for cultivation, but it also brought another consequence, that is, the countries surrounding the Great Wei Dynasty successively started to change the law and try to become stronger, and the entire East Asian region took the lead in initiating the modernization process.

Originally, the world situation would have developed towards the Western pole, but the revival of East Asia has changed this process, and the East Asian civilization circle has not declined, but has gradually begun to compete and confront the West.

At this time, Gao Yihuan did not understand these influences, and soon after the school review, he set off south, preparing to completely defeat the only opponent in East Asia who was still fighting with him on the bright side.

At this time, in the southeast sea frontier, the Wei army had been fighting with the Southern Ming for two years, the Wei army's Nanyang Naval Division had been established for four years, and the Beiyang Naval Division had six years, and the Wei Army's naval division gradually had the strength to fight with the Southern Ming water.

At this time, the Wei State had a truce on all fronts, and the opponent was only left with the Southern Ming, and the material and manpower of the entire world were thrown to the southeast, and the strength of the Wei army's naval army finally saw results, and the situation on the battlefield began to gradually change.

With the Battle of Xiamen as a turning point, the offensive and defensive positions were reversed.

(End of chapter)