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"Is there an expansion of the Second Brigade?" Zhu Jishi frowned slightly, as if he had something on his mind.

"Yes, the original 2nd Regiment was expanded into the 2nd and 102nd Regiments, and the original 102nd Regiment was expanded into the 6th Brigade, and the brigade commander was Colonel Ren Yijiang."

Now the brigade commander of the Second Brigade is Huang Zhisheng, an "old minister" who followed Zhu Jishi as early as Nanyang. Ren Yijiang voted with Zhu Jishi, so he is now the brigade commander of the Sixth Brigade.

"When will the new 2nd and 6th brigades be available?"

The war in Guangdong seems to have the overall situation decided, but there are still variables. In the more than 200 years since the founding of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, its roots in Guangdong are not shallow, and it is not something that can be completely swept away by a major battle on the Dongjiang River.

In addition, along with the chaos in Guangdong, there are also a large number of heroes who rebelled against the "speculative revolution". How to co-opt and resettle these people is also a big problem.

Zuihou was the local gentry who were interested in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, although the larger of them either fled or were trapped in the city of Guangzhou. However, there are still some stubborn gentry in the local area who are organizing anti-Ming forces, and it will take some effort to eradicate them one by one.

However, Zhu Jishi's troops at hand are a little thin, including the newly expanded troops, which are only barely enough for 30,000 people, and it is really not enough to raze a province.

"The opinion of the General Staff is that you need to train for at least one month, otherwise it will not always be useful. In addition, there is an acute shortage of officers, and the General Staff Department has suggested that the Cheung Chau Island Military Academy be opened immediately. ”

"Let the 6th Brigade be stationed in Dongguan and Bao'an counties, and the focus of the defense will be Kowloon. The 2nd Brigade was stationed in Foshan in one regiment. Let them train slowly when they get to the station. In addition, the remaining troops of the 5th Brigade on Baiyun Mountain were expanded into the 7th Brigade. Bingyuan recruited villagers from the north of Guangzhou. Brigadier Jean ...... Lu Siyuan will take on the role for the time being. ”

Lu Siyuan doesn't really understand military affairs. However, in Sanyuan, the surroundings are very prestigious. It was up to him to recruit troops, and he would soon be able to gather the number of troops. With these soldiers, they will be able to take over the defense of Huaxian and Conghua counties. The forces of the 1st and 5th Brigades will be freed up to continue attacking the city.

When Su Yuniang reported the military situation, she also held a Western-style notebook and a fountain pen in her hand, recording Zhu Jishi's orders at any time - all graduates and auditors of Jishi Academy, Jishi University and Yaleizhou Military Academy can use fountain pens, and Su Yuniang is no exception.

After recording Zhu Jishi's order and asking Zhu Jishi to sign it, Su Yuniang turned around and went to the General Staff Headquarters opposite the Ming Palace to give an order, which was originally a capital mansion, only one street away from the Ming Palace.

Finished arranging military affairs. Zhu Jishi's walk time is also over. When he returned to the study of the Ming Palace, Zuo Zongtang and Liu Peng had been waiting there for a while.

These two have now entered the role of prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, Zuo Zongtang is the left prime minister, and Liu Peng is the right prime minister. At the same time, Zuo Zongtang also serves as the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, and Liu Peng is also the secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both of whom are first-class busy people.

"Your Majesty, the Jihua who visited Europa has been done, and the minister's right minister wants to recommend Ye Shangshu as an agent, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can be taken over by Pan Shangshu of the Ministry of Commerce."

Liu Peng handed over a book of planned visits to Jihua, and suggested that Ye Mingchen and Pan Shicheng should act as his two agents.

"Left phase. Do you think these two are up to the task? Zhu Jishi asked casually while flipping through the jihua book given by Liu Peng.

"Capable of doing it." Zuo Zongtang said in his heart. I can't do it, and I don't have anyone else! How many officials are there in the Ming court?

"The errand of the right minister is easy to do, Ye Mingchen will definitely be able to deal with it, but the affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are not easy to handle...... Zuo Xiang, you and Pan Shicheng should be cautious, and everything involving negotiations must be reported to the palace, and I will make the decision myself. ”

Zhu Jishi paused and his brows tightened.

"Now the Ming Dynasty is a weak country in the world, and it is not easy to engage in diplomacy of weak countries, but weak countries are more dependent on foreign affairs than strong countries."

Zhu Jishi's words, Liu Peng can completely understand, but he does not approve of some of Zhu Jishi's practices.

"Your Majesty, since we are a weak country, shouldn't we be softer in diplomacy, especially opium ......?"

He also thinks about the overall situation, but Zhu Jishi's grasp of the overall situation is more accurate.

"Diplomacy of a weak country does not mean blindly retreating, otherwise it is not diplomacy, but surrender! Internationally, exchanges between countries are all about fighting for every inch of profit, and even if a weak country is strong against a strong country, it will fight as much as possible. So what we should fight for is still to the end! This opium is a profit that must be fought for! Moreover, Britain is not the only international power, but also France, Russia, Austria, Prussia, and the United States, all of which are countries of great powers. We, the Ming Dynasty, must carry out equal exchanges with them, conclude equal treaties, and send envoys to each other. We can't let them unite against us, so that they are not afraid of British pressure! ”

Zhu Jishi's foreign policy was to "go out, please come in", on the one hand, send the transportation powers, conclude treaties, and protect trade; On the one hand, it has set up embassies with foreign powers to carry out exchanges, and at the same time, it has also recruited talents from various countries for its own use. It is not like the Manchus, who sit and wait for the foreign powers to come to negotiate, but they do not send people abroad.

"Your Majesty, should our Ming Dynasty claim to be Huaxia Zhengshuo in the world?" Liu Peng pondered and raised a rather sensitive issue.

In terms of domestic propaganda, Zhu Ming claimed to be the Zhengshuo of Huaxia and regarded the Manchus as Tatar barbarians. But in the eyes of the great powers, Zhu Ming and the Manchus are two countries! And splitting China is exactly what they are pursuing!

"Of course you have to declare." Zhu Jishi frowned and said, "It's about Chinese orthodoxy, of course we have to fight." But we can't concede to the great powers elsewhere because of this legitimacy! I fought with the Manchus for the world, relying on the sword, not on the tongue...... Moreover, those Western powers would not have broken off the Manchus because of the demands of one of our weak countries. So on this issue, we just need to clarify our position. He paused, and then continued: "Mu Wen, we are now a weak country diplomacy, this weak country diplomacy should be pragmatic and profitable, and the young man should be vain, do you know?" ”

There is a famous saying in later generations, called "a weak country has no diplomacy", but in Zhu Jishi's view, there is no reason. If a weak country really has no diplomacy, then what do so many small and weak countries need to do with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? In fact, diplomacy can be done well no matter how strong or weak it is, and the problem lies in getting it right. The foreign policy of a weak country and the foreign policy of a strong country and the foreign policy of a strong country are pursued differently, but they must be pragmatic and cannot pursue impossible goals. Otherwise, no matter how strong or weak, there will be no way to do diplomacy well.

"Muwen, in this visit to Europe, in addition to the United Kingdom, France and Russia are the top priorities of the negotiations!"

Zhu Jishi had already finished reading Liu Peng's visit book, his brows furrowed, and he was very dissatisfied. Liu Peng is not a great diplomat in the end, and he is not engaged in diplomacy with a broad view of Shijie at all. In the eyes is a British Empire, at most there is a France, and the other powers basically ignore it, including the Russian Empire, the European gendarme who is still in full swing at the moment!

"Your Majesty, this Russia is a wolf's ambition, eyeing Xinjiang and Manchuria, and it cannot be ......" Zuo Zongtang said this, and suddenly felt that something was wrong, no matter how ambitious this Russia was, it would not be able to provoke the Ming Dynasty! The two sides are too far apart, and Xinjiang and Manchurian Mongolia are not the land of the Ming Dynasty now.

Zhu Jishi smiled and said, "So we and Russia are natural allies, aren't they?" He paused, took out a letter written in German from the desk, handed it to Liu Peng, and said, "This is what I wrote to Olga, the crown princess of Württemberg. Letter from Grand Duchess Nikolaevna. She was the daughter of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, had lived in England for a time, and had a good relationship with me. ”

The meaning of a good relationship is naturally that I have been laid! Among the many European ladies who slept with King Zhu, the highest status was actually not the Duchess of Segur, but this Olga. Grand Duchess Nikolaevna. However, Zhu Jishi and her are just a few nights of friendship, not a deep friendship.

"She will facilitate your visit to St. Petersburg." Zhu Jishi is sure of authenticity. This is not a big deal, and the Russian Empire must now have the idea of establishing diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty. (To be continued......)