"Lao Wen, the Great Song Dynasty can't cure its illness by relying on its own self-healing power, and we need to give it some more powerful medicine. As the saying goes, poison fights poison, and there are also prescriptions for using poison in traditional Chinese medicine, and the principle is the same, but this dosage must be mastered well. I think that the amount of medicine is a bit light for the unarmed merchants to fight against the imperial court with military power, so I want to add some amount to this medicine. The maritime merchants have weapons, can the court still bully them casually? Wen Nan's surprise Hong Tao had already expected it, not to mention Wen Nan, even those members of the Imperial Council would react with Wen Nan if they heard their decision.

"But to do so, wouldn't it be to provoke a war!" Wen Nan couldn't understand Hong Tao's intentions, he could only think about the problem from his own level. If the maritime merchants had cannons and loaded them on their ships, wouldn't they be armed cargo ships?

"Wrong, wrong, wrong! When is war most likely to occur? Anyway, there was nothing to do, Hong Tao simply lit a cigar cigarette, and accompanied Wen Nan and Cixi to raise the bar for a while, and raise the bar to increase knowledge.

"If Your Majesty sells the cannon to the maritime merchants, war can easily break out!" Wen Nan is still holding his point.

"I think war is always most likely to happen when the two sides are not equal. For example, the Mongol Empire was much stronger than the Great Song Dynasty, and then the war began. Another example is that the empire is militarily stronger than the Java country, and the war will start again. The greater the difference in strength between the two sides, the easier it is to use force, because it is the easiest way to do so for the stronger side. ”

"Suppose the combat power of the Great Song Dynasty is about the same as that of the Mongol Empire. Do you think the Mongols will invade south easily? Suppose there are also cannons on Java Island. Am I going to just find an excuse to destroy someone's country? I'm not going anyway. I'm afraid I won't come back. At this time, I will take a different way to negotiate with the Java country, note that it is a negotiation, not a war. You see, will the closer strength of the two sides avoid war? ”

Hong Tao also has a large set of ready-made theories on this issue, and this set of theories is not something he made up to deceive people. It was summed up by those philosophers and politicians in later generations, and even if it is not the truth, it is enough to deal with Wennan.

“…… Then if Your Majesty sells the cannon to the maritime merchants, will the court be soft? Wen Nan really can't find a reason to refute it, what Hong Tao said is the obvious truth, although it is not comprehensive, but the meaning is clear, and he understands.

"It's hard to say, but it's hard to say that proximity in strength can avoid war to a certain extent, but it doesn't mean that success is guaranteed. There are also many factors that can affect the course of the war. Lao Wen, there is no need to think too much about doing things. There are some things that you and I can't control. There are two sides to everything, there are gains and losses, advantages and disadvantages. We work together to guide them to sit down with the imperial court and have a good talk, but no one can guarantee that the two sides will finally talk. "Hong Tao really doesn't have a score about what the final result will be, this thing is difficult to control, maybe a small thing can cause a whole change.

"If they do fight, where will the Empire go?" Wen Nan no longer dwelled on the issue of selling cannons, but put aside the details and asked directly about the ending.

"My attitude is that I do not support the two sides to enter a state of large-scale war, let alone support the maritime merchants to attack the cities of the Great Song Dynasty, even if it is a small city. But there is a degree to everything, if the Great Song Dynasty is too arrogant and unreasonable in dealing with this matter, then the empire will not watch the hard-built sea trade market be messed up by them. The specific response needs to be analyzed in detail, and I can't give a definite result right now. I suggest that you immediately go north to Lin'an, meet Zheng Qingzhi in person, explain the Empire's attitude towards this matter to them, and record it. The Great Song Dynasty should also have changed, and it should not be thought that the country and the people are safe because the pressure on the north has been reduced. This incident is an opportunity, if we handle it well, the Great Song Kingdom is likely to enter a new era, and then you and I don't have to worry about it all day. Even if Wen Nan didn't ask this question, Hong Tao had to make his position clear, and he would explain it to Wen Nan as the emperor and prime minister. This is not a private matter, but a game between countries.

Nan Dou dared to ask, what result does Your Majesty want to achieve in this matter in order to be satisfied? As the Empire's Minister of Foreign Affairs, I must understand His Majesty's intentions before I can deal with the Great Song Dynasty. Wen Nan completely understood, this matter was 100% operated by Hong Tao behind the scenes, and it made people feel cold in the back of their necks when they thought about it.

This emperor is really calculating, he has been laying out since ten years ago, and he has come to the present step by step under the noses of thousands of people, and he has not aroused anyone's suspicion. What else can I say? Compared with Hong Tao, he is a frog at the bottom of the well, so let's follow step by step, and see where this emperor wants to lead the Great Song Dynasty.

"Well...... I have three plans. The highest expectation was for the imperial court to agree to the implementation of merchant autonomy in Guangzhou and Quanzhou, to turn these two ports into ******, and to agree to the formation of local self-government by merchants while ensuring territorial integrity and increasing tax revenues year by year. The appointment of officials in this government is not subject to the control of the imperial court, and local affairs are decided by the local government, which still retains some military power and can send people to occupy certain seats in the local government. Wen Nan's question is more realistic, no matter how the maritime merchants and the Great Song Dynasty court deal with this matter, there will still be a solution in the end, how to solve it, Hong Tao has already thought about it.

"I'm afraid it's hard...... Your Majesty wants these two cities to become an empire, and it's up to the council to decide, right? "Actually, Wen Nan is not stupid, on the contrary, he is very smart, as long as Hong Tao doesn't get those things that are too advanced and too unbelievable, he can draw inferences from each other in most things.

"The next best thing to do is that if this is not the case, then let the merchants elect representatives and then serve in the local government, and the officials of the two cities must be supervised and judged by the merchants, and finally voted to stay. The imperial court only has the right to appoint, not to nominate. Hong Tao also felt that the first choice was a bit too high in expectation, if the Great Song Dynasty court desperately did not agree, it would be possible to take a step back.

"Isn't this similar to the previous method, I think it's hard for the court to agree." Wen Nan had a much deeper understanding of the Great Song Dynasty than Hong Tao, and he had little hope for the two plans proposed by Hong Tao.

"Oops...... Actually, what is this? Should pay taxes and pay taxes, should serve and serve, should it be the city of the Great Song Dynasty or the city of the Great Song Dynasty, should it be the people of the Great Song Dynasty or the people of the Great Song Dynasty. When the war resumes, perhaps the people in these two cities will be the most patriotic and the first to go to the front. Okay, then I'll take a step back, the court must come forward and reach an agreement with the merchants, and it must be stamped and approved by the officials, and then issued in the form of a holy decree. I haven't figured out the specific content of the agreement yet, but in principle, there is only one clause, which is to bind the rights of the government and the imperial court, and no longer arbitrarily interfere with the normal commercial activities of maritime merchants in the future. If the government wants to seek benefits with the people, how can it compete with the people for profit? If the imperial court had to intervene in all the areas where money was made, who would be able to compete with them? Is it appropriate for them to use the money of the treasury as their capital? Hearing that Wen Nan rejected his second plan, Hong Tao was a little angry. Both of these options were what he wanted, and the third was just a formal compromise with little substantive change.

"Your Majesty, this is asking the official family to issue an edict...... However, compared with the previous two options, this approach has a chance of success. This time, Wen Nan did not completely reject Hong Tao's plan, he felt that the third method was more realistic.

"The official family of the Great Song Dynasty is really unlucky! When he does bad things, he is under the banner of the royal family, and the emperor can't get much benefit if he succeeds, and once he misses, he will put all the on the emperor's head, what kind of strength should this kind of emperor be? Lao Wen, don't misunderstand what I mean, it's not that the official family will be done with a guilty edict, where is it so cheap? This agreement is a contract between the merchant and the imperial court, and whoever violates it will bear the consequences! Don't try to fool around! The agreement is ultimately guaranteed by a third party, the Empire. Whoever dares to violate unilaterally, I will let him know why Ma Wangye has three eyes! Seeing that the pit he had spent more than ten years digging was about to be filled by a guilty edict, Hong Tao was really anxious. I really didn't consider this possibility before, and the Great Song Emperor used it for the top cylinder, and if things are not good, he will be punished? This kind of self-criticism that doesn't hurt or itch works! Responsibility, only by doing everything must bear the corresponding responsibility, so as not to abuse the right again and again. Phew, if you want to be beautiful, if you want to fool yourself with this method, that is to find death!

"Nan will try his best to persuade Zheng Xiang, Your Majesty should wait for Nan to come back before deciding whether to use force, didn't Your Majesty himself say it, it's best not to fight......" Wen Nan got on the boat overnight and left, and went to Lin'an with Hong Tao's three suggestions. At this time, negotiations to sell muskets to the Song court and help them train their troops were not so important. Hong Tao has already shown his claws here, if the Great Song Dynasty still can't recognize the form, Wen Nan is afraid that Hong Tao will turn his face and not recognize people. This emperor can really do it, his patience has been worn out, once he loses patience, in order to save worry, he can do anything, he has no bottom line on him at all, anyway, Wen Nan has never found it.

(To be continued.) )