Chapter 89 Treaty
The echo of the last proverb was still lingering in his ears. The honorable Master Fei Xuan suddenly coughed repeatedly, his face flushed red with saliva. Huang Shanggang, who was accompanying the emperor, stepped forward quickly, knelt down and massaged the emperor's chest and shoulders, his tone extremely panicked:
"Your Majesty! Is Your Majesty alright? I'll go get the imperial physician!"
Although the emperor's illness had basically been cured, the problem in his brain was difficult to eradicate after all. When Li Shizhen was making the diagnosis, he repeatedly warned the emperor to do his best to stabilize his emotions and not to allow any intense conflicts between extreme joy and sorrow. Over the past few months, the Imperial Household Department and the Eastern Depot have been following the doctor's advice and reporting news to the emperor in a tactful and implicit manner, with basically no overly provocative content. How come he suddenly coughed so loudly today without even reading one more memorial?
The emperor took a breath and finally exhaled the lost breath, and his chest felt a little relieved. He waved Huang Shanggang's hand away, his tone returning to calm:
"Of course I'm fine."
After dismissing the fussing personal servant with a single sentence, Master Fei Xuan finally couldn't bear it anymore and snorted coldly:
"Those Arabs are really unreasonable!"
It is indeed unreasonable and even more unbelievable. All I can say is that barbarians are barbarians, even their ideas of flattering are so weird and twisted. If these barbarians want to promote some "holy lord" or "wise ruler", even if the words are a bit explicit and a bit too flattering, Master Feixuan can understand it. What is the “Queen of the East”?
Can't the barbarians of the Arab world even tell the difference between yin and yang? How dare you slander me like this? You are such a bastard!
Of course, such anger only flashed by and then disappeared. Perhaps it was the story of "The Elder is Locked Up in the Western Garden in Deep Spring" that honed his patience; after a brief moment of surprise and anger, Master Feixuan regained his composure. He adjusted his posture and sat down again. After eliminating this little episode, he naturally paid attention to the most important details:
——[There are only two legitimate crowns in the world]!
Nothing can stir up Master Fei Xuan's emotions more than power. With his extraordinary insight of playing with fame, authority and people's hearts for many years, Lao Deng quickly understood the real intention behind this abstruse statement - just as the heavenly book said, no matter how complicated and cumbersome the legal logic is, in the final analysis, it only emphasizes one sentence:
He, Feixuan Zhenjun, Wanshou Emperor, Qingmiao Emperor, the Emperor of China, is the unique supreme being in the world.
Just one sentence is enough. You don't need to care about other inexplicable trivialities such as "Rome" and "international law". After realizing this key point, a kind of pure and hot joy will happily arise from the tip of the heart, circulate along the blood and energy veins in an instant and go straight into the limbs and bones. Everywhere it passes is hot and soothing. In a trance, the blood also boils, making people feel so happy that their scalps numb and their toes dig into the ground...
Zhenjun couldn't bear it any longer and finally let out a long breath of foul air from his nostrils!
Nothing can move Lao Deng's heart more than power and majesty, especially at this point in time when his strength has been greatly shaken after he fell ill. The supreme authority and status are even more wonderful and moving, and more irresistible than any secret recipe for elixir. Although he is often denounced by the Heavenly Book as conservative, ignorant and arrogant, Lao Deng actually has some self-awareness. He also vaguely knew that although Da'an was still strong and powerful enough to intimidate the surrounding barbarians, there were also many powerful countries in India and Persia, thousands of miles away in the west, that were secretly planning and growing stronger, and their momentum was no less powerful than that of Da'an today. The so-called Heavenly Dynasty, where all the land under heaven belongs to the king, has become more and more like a self-satisfied dream, and no longer has the momentum that it once had to look down on the world.
Being unable to make progress outward, and being able to only revolve within themselves in conservatism and isolation, relying on dog-eat-dog warfare to maintain a little illusory dignity and power, isn't this a tragedy?
As an emperor with outstanding talents and extensive experience in the world, Master Feixuan actually understood this sadness. But unlike his cousin who was bold and ambitious, after the heroic spirit of his early years had worn away, Zhenjun turned directly to Taoism and alchemy. He did not care about the common people but asked ghosts and gods, and used abstruse talks and strange theories to cover up the shame of the country's declining strength and status. But concealment is not forgetting after all. When he was reciting poems and taking elixirs in a trance on weekdays, the unsatisfactory state affairs seemed to have been blown away by the wind; but now that the real facts are revealed before him, a certain ambition that had been covered in dust for a long time is still beating violently, bursting with a thrilling joy!
——To put it bluntly, the reason why Xuan Xiu practiced alchemy and didn't care about the affairs of the court was simply because he couldn't handle it anymore and just gave up. But if one can achieve the outcome of being the supreme being invincible in the world without much effort or trouble, how could our Lord Feixuan and Emperor Wanshou not like it?
Recalling the days of Emperor Taizong, he was in his prime and vigorous, yet he made six voyages to the West and five expeditions to the northern desert before he achieved great success with great effort and intimidated the four barbarians. Lord Feixuan is calm, inactive, and self-contained, and can rule the world while chatting and laughing. Isn't this kind of ease and freedom that makes him far superior to his predecessors and his charming ancestor?
The later generations are better than the previous generations, the present people are better than the previous ones, and each generation is more outstanding than the previous one. Doesn't this just show that under the rule of the True Lord, Da'an is thriving and prosperous?
To be honest, Master Feixuan, or Emperor Wanshou, may lack confidence and be too modest. Before he got the news of the leak of the Heavenly Book, he had no idea that his future would be so great.
This unexpected greatness was of course an unexpected surprise. The huge emotional value surged and fluctuated violently, shocking Master Fei Xuan so much that he couldn't restrain himself. Even after gritting his teeth again and again, he had to reveal a twisted and weird smile!
——So I actually have such potential?
He just said that God must have a purpose when creating things. Why did the throne fall exactly on the head of him, the prince of Xingxian Prince, who had nothing to do with the title of emperor? Isn't this the result of Heaven bestowing a great responsibility on this person, hoping that he can create a prosperous era and accomplish more glorious achievements than those of his ancestors?
I am a virtuous person!
The emperor, whose psychological needs were unprecedentedly met, felt so comfortable that his scalp tingled, his skin itched, and his joints and bones made crisp sounds - if there were no palace confidants watching him at any time, he would have jumped off the futon and shaped his body like a crane, or rolled around on the bed and dug big holes in the sheets with his fingernails!
Of course, even taking into account the onlookers, the emperor's expression still changed rapidly and was difficult to control. Even if he tried his best to suppress his composure, he could only barely stay in a state of neither smiling nor tense, as if he would not be able to suppress his laughter in the next moment. This expression was so strange and bizarre that Huang Shanggang, who was watching anxiously, had his mind full of lawsuits:
——No, isn’t it said that the emperor’s head sequelae have disappeared? How come this still seems so outrageous?
The emperor obviously didn't care about the eunuch's mood. He coughed a few times and spoke slowly:
"Go to Wenyuan Pavilion and get a copy of the Book of the Later Han. I want to take a look at it."
He didn't understand what "Rome" was, but he had some impression of "Da Qin". After listening to the heavenly book, Master Feixuan became very curious and decided to find out the details of this "Rome".
Huang Shanggang quickly bowed his head and agreed. Zhenjun closed his eyes again and entered into a deep state of silence:
[However, although it is regarded as one of the milestones of world historical turning points, research on the Treaty of Shangyu has long been insufficient and the perspective has been very limited. This is largely due to the lack of original data - individuals at a historical turning point are not always able to perceive the changes in the wind direction. At least on the day the treaty was signed, the main participants from China and Portugal did not attach much importance to the outcome of this naval battle. Count Vidiguera of Portugal considered the defeat a great shame and never mentioned it again in his life; Hai Gangfeng, who presided over the negotiations on the Chinese side, adhered to the habit of distinguishing between public and private affairs since he entered politics and did not record the details of the confrontation in his collection of essays. Therefore, for a long time, the only detailed information about the Shangyu Treaty was the "Shangyu Memorial" submitted to the emperor by the prince of Duke Mu.
However, if you choose to believe this report, then the signing of the Shangyu Treaty actually "demonstrated the long-standing friendship between China and Portugal", "brought a century of peace", "a symbol of equality and freedom" - such a large number of compliments are not only in line with the facts, but at least have nothing to do with them; historians have worked hard to distinguish the true from the false, and progress has been slow.
It wasn't until one hundred and fifty years ago that the experts sorting out the East India Company's archives had a surprising discovery. They found the diary left by the former chairman of the board, Ru Wang, from years of waste paper. The part about China is a treasure trove for historians and has to a large extent rewritten the historical research on Sino-Western exchanges after the Jiayin Reform. Among them, the impact on the Treaty of Shangyu was the greatest and most thorough, almost completely reversing the image that Prince Mu had created for himself in his memorial.
Yes, although beginners today may find it incredible, but before the publication of Ruwang's diary, influenced by the "Shangyu Memorial" (there is only such a little information left, and in fact it could not be unaffected), the academic community generally believed that the Prince of Mu was just a marginal figure in the negotiations. He appeared so simple, harmless and innocent in the memorial, which perfectly matched the expectations of the public - an inexperienced, naive and even somewhat stupid nobleman who was completely unable to influence the progress of the negotiations and could only huddle behind the scenes to watch the confrontation. He was even suspected of being manipulated by the Portuguese - before the diary came out, the prince was basically like this, and even if someone questioned it, they could not find any basis for it.
But the diary completely changed this; during the more than ten days that Ruwang accompanied the negotiations of the "Shangyu Treaty", he recorded every detail of the news behind the scenes; various details were compared and related to each other, revealing the bloody facts. The part about the Prince of Mu was so stimulating and sensitive that later historians even jokingly called "Ruwang's Diary" "The Double Life of the Prince of Mu". The difference in the description angles of the two materials is so great that it is still quite shocking even now.
As for what kind of "double life" he led... Here we can give a brief example - in the report of the prince of Mu, he said that he was "considerate of the overall situation" and "made every effort to maintain the friendship between China and Portugal". At the critical moment of the confrontation between the two armies, he was still obsessed with maintaining the so-called diplomatic dignity, so naive that he was almost pedantic; but in Ruwang's diary, the prince described the traditional friendship between China and Portugal like this:
"…The friendship between China and Portugal is time-honored. We will never allow any organization to undermine the friendship between the two peoples - even if that organization is the Portuguese government."
】
The emperor suddenly coughed again, and his breath almost went the wrong way, causing his lungs to ache.
However, before Huang Shanggang rolled over to greet him again, Master Feixuan waved his hand impatiently and dispersed the palace servants who had gathered around him - he was so absorbed in reading the heavenly book that he would not allow outsiders to disturb him.
[Of course, this sharp contrast in words occurs more than once. For example, the Crown Prince declared in his memorial that the court's policy toward Southeast Asia was "peaceful coexistence" and "joint development." His words were gentle and honest, and were dignified for a great country. But in Ruwang's diary, the prince's attitude towards the so-called "joint development" is as follows:
“Are you really developing it?”
…………
However, compared to just a few harsh words, what surprised historians the most was the position the Crown Prince held in the entire negotiation. In early studies, most scholars viewed Mu Qi as merely a figurehead who presided over the Shangyu Treaty. Apart from the so-called "two crowns" argument, they did not believe that the then-still quite young Crown Prince could play any leading role in the negotiations. The entire meeting should have been mostly controlled by Hai Gangfeng and Ru Wang, with the rest being mere figureheads. However, judging from the diary, this was not the case; or it was completely different, completely overturning the impression of hundreds of years.
According to Ruwang's records, he and Hai Gangfeng encountered some troubles when they negotiated with the Portuguese, including the disputes over compensation, especially the focus of the negotiations. The Portuguese were certainly unwilling to pay high compensation for no reason, so they acted unreasonably during the talks and tried their best to reduce the amount, at one point delaying the negotiations to the point of almost breaking down. When Ruwang reported the news to the prince of Duke Mu, the prince did not give any specific instructions on the negotiations (from this perspective, Mu's positioning as a "vase" is not without reason); he just asked Ruwang if he knew the story of the ancient Greek priestess Pythia.
"The priestess Pythia received divine revelation and wrote down ten volumes of prophecy. She found the most powerful kingdom in Greece and wanted to sell the ten volumes to them, asking for ten city-states." The prince said, "The king thought it was too expensive, so he politely declined and hoped to negotiate the price. Pythia didn't say much, but immediately threw the first volume of prophecy into the fire, and then told the king that the remaining nine volumes of prophecy were priced at twenty city-states."
"Therefore, our attitude is the same. You can tell the Portuguese, and even all foreigners in Southeast Asia, that the first condition offered by China is always the best, most appropriate, and most considerate of the interests of friends." Ru Wang heard the prince's words clearly: "If they reject this best condition, then we can only express regret. Now, please tell the other party that the compensation we demand will be increased by 100,000 taels."
——In the end, the total amount of indemnity became 4.1 million taels.
Even today, the contrast is quite shocking. Not to mention in the early days when the research atmosphere was relatively conservative. If you look at the papers published when the Ruwang Diary was first discovered, you can easily see the shock that historians could hardly conceal beneath the rigorous and calm academic terms:
So you are such an extreme guy? !
】
——So this kid is so extreme? !
Master Feixuan's eyelashes trembled, and he was also shocked.
Of course, compared to the shock of later historians when the truth was suddenly revealed after being deceived for a long time, Master Feixuan’s surprise was only fleeting and did not cause much waves - perhaps he had been numbed by the Crown Prince’s abuse for too long in daily life, and even if he added an extreme personality to the madness and disorder, it would not change the impression at all; anyway, the person who was abused was a Portuguese, so what did Master Feixuan have to do with it?
As for the so-called "double life" and the deliberate cover-up of memorials... the emperor just let out a breath and didn't think of pursuing it. Although these methods seem a little hypocritical, the emperor has held power for decades and knows the unspoken rules of the court too well, so he cannot help but express his understanding.
The civil officials of Da'an inherited the tradition of recording history since the time of Sima Qian, Emperor Wu of Han. They would downplay victory and write extensively about defeat. The difference was very obvious and their reasons were very sufficient. The Heavenly Dynasty was glorious and orthodox, and the heavenly soldiers were crushed to pieces as soon as they arrived. Victory was a matter of course and nothing surprising, so there was no need to record it in detail, let alone show off one's military power or be brave and ruthless. Any self-conceit would be considered vulgar and shallow, and a great loss of dignity. On the contrary, if the foreign conquest strategy fails, it will be extremely painful and uncontrollable. One must recall the past over and over again in long speeches, and will not be able to forget these blood and tears even after one hundred, two hundred, or five hundred years. A series of operations have made this great country look like a weak, helpless, pitiful little white flower that can only be bullied by others. As for how the bullied little white flower has spread and multiplied for more than 5,000 years - it would be impolite of you to ask too much about this kind of thing.
Therefore, it is actually quite reasonable for the Crown Prince to be modest and restrained and to deliberately conceal the truth in his report. Of course, all his extreme words and deeds cannot appear in official documents. He must present himself as dignified, gentle, and virtuous. It is understandable that his reputation is a little strange. It's just like the emperor's ancestor, Emperor Taizong, who spent most of his life hacking and killing people with a knife, so didn't he have to give himself the posthumous title of "Wen"? As for what was "Wen" about Emperor Taizong, that is another impolite question.
As a descendant of Emperor Taizong, Master Feixuan could understand this little deception - or even if he didn't understand it, he would be calm when he saw the amount of the compensation. Of course, after all, he has been tested for a long time in the Heavenly Book broadcasts, so Master Feixuan would not lose his composure for a few million taels of silver. He just slowly, slowly exhaled a breath of hot air.
"I remember that there is still a lot of grain stored in the palace's treasury?" After a moment's silence, the emperor suddenly spoke.
Huang Shanggang waited outside with bated breath, and immediately lay down upon hearing this: "There are still tens of thousands of stones of old rice..."
"Since it is old rice, let's divide it all up and use it to make some hot porridge so that the poor people in the suburbs of Beijing can have a good New Year." The emperor said without blinking: "After the old rice is cleared out, repair the warehouse that has been vacated. I can use it."
Why would you want to empty the warehouse for no reason? Huang Shanggang was puzzled, but he still lowered his head and agreed.
The emperor took a breath and suddenly remembered something:
"Yes, ask the East Factory to investigate who is behind this conspiracy and who is constantly attacking the cabinet. Send a message to the officials saying that they don't know the seriousness of the matter and find a way to deal with them. Don't let them jump back and forth like this every day, or they will miss out on important matters."
"…I will obey your order."
·
After several days of extremely arduous negotiations, China and Portugal finally made great progress.
It should be said that compared with the initial expectations, the final progress of the negotiations was much smoother than Mu Qi had imagined. This was certainly not an intentional concession by the Portuguese, but a capitulation out of helplessness. In the subsequent interrogation, the officials of Shangyu obtained intelligence from the prisoners and learned that what was destroyed was actually a main fleet of Portugal stationed in Southeast Asia. It was originally passing through to escort merchant ships, but after receiving Hong Tianwang's book halfway, it got carried away and temporarily changed its route to "punish" the ungrateful Chinese. As a result, it was unprepared and careless, and ran into the well-planned rocket tactics, accidentally causing an astonishing loss ratio. After the main fleet was almost completely destroyed, Portugal's naval power in the South Seas was greatly weakened, and its words were certainly not firm enough.
In addition, the evolution of the post-war international situation was also unfavorable to Portugal. Prince Mu's vigorous spread of the threat of rockets really hit the weak spot of Europeans. Once high-risk weapons eliminate the gap in violence, Western colonial rule will inevitably experience severe turmoil. If this threat is to be eliminated, there are only two options: either collectively declare war on China to seize rocket technology; or force the Portuguese to bow their heads and maintain the situation to avoid overturning the table. After the Battle of Shangyu, the former was no longer feasible; if they were to pick on the weak, the pressure could only be put on Portugal.
- In fact, during the negotiation process, Juwang, as the senior commissioner of the British Bank, had clearly told Count Vidigla: If this agreement could not be reached and China really opened up its rocket trade, then the friendship between England and Portugal would probably be in jeopardy.
In the Age of Discovery, the strong preyed on the weak, and even the former overlords could not escape the blow once they became weak.
Faced with internal and external difficulties, the Portuguese had no choice but to admit defeat. On the seventh day of the negotiations, the two sides finally reached an outline of the Shangyu Treaty, which was initially divided into six clauses:
First: Da'an and the Kingdom of Portugal cease fire and establish peaceful and friendly relations. The two countries will protect the personal and property safety of each other's citizens; the Kingdom of Portugal agrees to release all captured Da'an craftsmen and compensate for the losses, and severely punish the criminals involved.
Second, Portugal must open the ports it occupies in Southeast Asia to allow Da'an ships to dock and resupply, and must not try to block them.
Third: The Portuguese government paid Da'an 4.1 million taels of silver as compensation for military expenses. Of this, 3 million and 10 taels were in cash, to be delivered within three months; the remaining 1 million taels were converted into materials of corresponding market price, to be delivered in Shangyu.
Fourth: The two sides will build the South China Sea based on the principle of "peaceful coexistence and common development" and call on other countries to respect this principle.
Fifth: Portugal recognizes and respects Da'an's sovereignty over the Southeast Asian countries; respects the status quo of the tributary system.
Sixth: The two sides agreed to maintain channels for dialogue and move towards the goal of all-round free trade.
These six treaties were concise, clear, appropriate and decent, and even Prince Mu had no fault to complain about. After sending the copy to Zhao Fei and Liu Li for review, Mu Qi signed his name on the final text and quickly submitted the treaty to Beijing in a secret memorial for Lao Deng to approve and exchange the documents.
All the procedures have been completed and the major matter has been settled. But at the final discussion, Mu Qi deliberately left Hai Gangfeng behind, asking him to keep his mouth shut and not leak the details of the negotiations. Even the report to the court should be modified a little.
The Portuguese side viewed the negotiations as a great humiliation and would certainly not leak any information; but asking the Chinese representatives to keep silent undoubtedly seemed to be an attempt to erase their own achievements. Hai Gangfeng himself didn't think there was anything wrong, but was a little surprised:
"The treaty must always be made public. Why should the prince care about such a secret?"
The prince let out a breath:
"…The treaty is one thing, and the details are another. If too many details are leaked, it will inevitably arouse discussion. There are already many conservatives in the court. It is better to keep a low profile."
He seemed to think for a moment:
"...Besides, it wouldn't be a good thing if other Western countries could find out something from the details. England represented by Ruwang is not very strong at the moment, but Spain and the Netherlands are really disgusting..."
Hai Gangfeng heard the clue and was quite surprised:
"Will you fight again later?"
The prince was silent for a moment, then he let out a sigh:
"Of course. After all, in this era of great strife, the colonial empires will never give up their desire to destroy us..."
He paused, but smiled again:
"However, the colonial empire is determined to destroy us, and I am determined to destroy the colonial empire as well. Both sides are ready to fight at any time, and in the end, it will all be a matter of fists."
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