Zhu Jinsong looked at Liu Hemming, Liu Erniu, Geng Rui, and the other powerful officials as if they were fools.
This look made Liu Hemming and the others uncomfortable—even if they were indeed fools, His Majesty the Emperor shouldn't stare at them like this. They were, after all, leaders of the Five Army Commanderies, and they had their pride!
However, Liu Hemming and the others dared not speak up in protest. After all, it was a relationship between monarch and subject. Even if Zhu Jinsong openly called them fools, Liu Hemming and the others would be helpless.
The main reason was that Liu Hemming and the others had been beaten by Zhu Jinsong since they were young, leaving deep psychological scars.
Only when Liu Hemming and the others lowered their heads under his glare did Zhu Jinsong coldly snort and say, "Trying to pry budget from Uncle Huaiwen, even if you really formed a martial arts team and wielded large sabers, you might not be able to extract a few more taels of silver. But if you were to claim that gold mines, silver mines, or oil fields were discovered somewhere, Uncle Huaiwen would even dare to cut the Ministry of Works' budget!"
Liu Hemming's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed, "Understood! Your subject is dull-witted, thank Your Majesty for your guidance!"
Zhu Jinsong snorted coldly again and didn't bother to pursue the embarrassing matter of Liu Hemming and the others failing to complain about poverty and instead losing face.
"According to intelligence from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Europe has completely descended into chaos, and the situation is now beyond control."
After having a map spread out, Zhu Jinsong casually gestured on it: "The current situation is that the Habsburg family has schemed against England and France. England has proactively attacked France, the Russian Tsar is counter-attacking the Habsburg alliance, and the Ottoman Empire is hiding and playing dumb."
"Of course, the chaos in Europe does not bring any benefits to our Great Ming's mainland. At the very least, it will affect commercial exchanges among the populace."
"More importantly, our Great Ming now lacks necessary buffer states."
"If the fires in Europe truly ignite and the flames of war spread completely, even Great Ming might be dragged into it."
Hearing Zhu Jinsong's words, Liu Hemming, Liu Erniu, and the other powerful figures of the military commanderies couldn't help but frown, their hearts in turmoil like ten thousand alpacas trampling over them.
Was the Great Ming's military strength strong?
Very strong.
Liu Hemming and the leaders of the Five Army Commanderies were confident in their ability to block the flames of war outside the gates of Great Ming.
However, as Zhu Jinsong said, Great Ming indeed lacked necessary buffer states at this moment.
And when it came to buffer states, one couldn't help but mention the tributary vassal system that the Central Plains dynasties had played with for thousands of years.
On the surface, the tributary vassal system meant that surrounding small countries recognized the Central Plains dynasties as their father, and they would exchange trinkets like stones and bark for actual gold and silver from the Central Plains dynasties, making the Central Plains dynasties appear like legendary fools.
In reality, the tributary vassal system was not as simple as it appeared on the surface, and the benefits it brought to the Central Plains dynasties were endless.
For instance, the first meaning of the tributary vassal system was territorial sovereignty—it should be noted that territorial claims under the tributary system and territorial claims in later eras cannot be generalized; they are two entirely different concepts.
Vassal states incorporated into the tributary system needed to recognize the emperor of the Central Plains dynasty as their sovereign, and the king of the vassal state as their subject. When the emperor of the Central Plains dynasty ascended the throne, the king of the vassal state had to send envoys to congratulate him, and when the king of the vassal state changed, they required an investiture edict from the emperor of the Central Plains dynasty, otherwise, it would be considered usurpation, and even their own people would not recognize it.
For example, the Koreans of that era overthrew a king for the reason that this king had gone mad and decided to abolish the Chinese characters and language of the Central Plains dynasty, vigorously promoting their own language and script.
This was considered an act of great disrespect towards their Central Plains father by the Koreans, so they removed this king from his throne, blinded him, and exiled him to an island.
In other words, the territorial ownership of the vassal states under the tributary system belonged to the Central Plains father. The king of the vassal state was merely an appointed and hereditary professional manager entrusted by the Central Plains emperor to govern a certain territory.
Even the right to wage war between vassal states actually belonged to the Central Plains dynasties—if one vassal state fought another, it first needed permission from the Central Plains dynasty, otherwise, it was considered great disrespect to the Central Plains dynasty.
Of course, one could argue that if two vassal states initiated a conflict, or if one side was even annihilated, or if a rebellion occurred within a vassal state, and the Central Plains dynasty was the last to know about it, what then?
It was simple: even if the Central Plains dynasty was the last to know, it still had the full right to make a ruling.
For example, it could order both sides to cease fighting, or it could order the annihilated side to re-establish its state. Even if a vassal state rebelled, the Central Plains dynasty could choose to resolve it by sending troops or choose not to send troops.
Whoever disobeyed could be legitimately attacked by troops.
The Central Plains dynasty had this right—historical records would refer to this as aiding the people and punishing the wicked.
The second meaning of the tributary system was pricing power—while vassal states under the tributary system paid tribute to their Central Plains father, and it seemed like a great deal where stones were exchanged for jade, what was the reality?
Which was more valuable, stones or jade? Which was more valuable, spices or ebony?
This pricing power was not held by the vassal states, but by the Central Plains dynasties.
For example, if a vassal state presented a large quantity of spices to the Central Plains dynasty, the latter would bestow gifts of silk, porcelain, and the like in return—to the Central Plains dynasty, the value of the spices was far greater than that of silk and silver ingots, while to the vassal state, the value of silk and porcelain was far greater than that of spices.
Who lost out?
No one knew who lost out; everyone felt they had gained.
The key was who decided the price of silk and porcelain.
To put it bluntly, the tributary system itself was a good way to openly exploit others, but some fools had ruined this system.
As for the third meaning of the tributary system, it was also the most important function of the tributary system, and the reason why some fools, after ruining the system, had to continue playing the game even if they felt they were losing money.
Buffer states.
Buffer states referred to the surrounding vassal states that could block the first wave of war for Great Ming and buy Great Ming time to react.
For example.
As is well known, the barbarian chiefs of the Great Qing were consistently disappointing. Even when the rivers were flooded and pigs were climbing trees, the barbarian chiefs of the Jian夷 remained disappointing.
Therefore, powers like Japan, France, and England, and even smaller countries like the Netherlands that had fallen out of the ranks of powers, wanted to tear off a piece of Great Qing.
However, Great Qing inherited the tributary system of the Central Plains dynasties—if Japan wanted to fight Great Qing, Korea was a buffer state that Japan could not bypass. Before dealing with Korea, Japan would not dare to be too blatant.
Take the Netherlands, for example.
The reason the Netherlands dared to cause trouble in Lanfang and perpetrate the Red River Massacre in Batavia was that Lanfang was far from the mainland of the Central Plains dynasties, and the Netherlands wanted to test Great Ming's attitude through Lanfang—if it hadn't been for the incompetence of Emperor Qianlong, the Netherlands would have been prepared to apologize.
France was no different.
France's intervention in Vietnam at that time was because Vietnam was then a vassal state of Great Qing. Conquering Vietnam was a pure profit, and failing to conquer Vietnam could also test Great Ming's attitude and strength.
In summary, the tributary system was equivalent to establishing the first line of defense around the Central Plains dynasties. Any force that wanted to attack the Central Plains dynasties had to first deal with these buffer states.
If you don't believe it, look at the vassal states that were incorporated into the tributary system in history—almost all of them were small countries that the Central Plains dynasties were confident in controlling, and they happened to be located around the Central Plains dynasties.
Even the Tatars and Oirats at that time were for this reason. After all, Emperor Zhu Di's five personal expeditions, and his frequent troop deployments to cause trouble, had greatly harmed the Tatars and Oirats.
It was just that no one expected that the classmate Zhu Qizhen, the brick of the Ming Emperor, had messed up.
The sea?
Except for the Great Qing, the Central Plains dynasties throughout history had never considered fighting across the sea.
More importantly, no dynasty had ever neglected coastal defense as much as the Great Qing, to the point of being beaten like a dead dog and having to rely on ceding territory and paying indemnities to prolong its life.
Of course, how the Great Qing became useless was its own business, and it had nothing to do with the Great Ming that Zhu Jinsong had created.
What truly gave Zhu Jinsong a headache was that although causing trouble at the time was satisfying, after finishing, there were few vassal states left. Now, Great Ming had lost its surrounding buffer states.
No, it couldn't be said that there were no buffer states at all. After all, Great Ming still had a few vassal states, one being Japan, and the remaining two being the State of Qin and the State of Jin.
Japan was, of course, nothing to speak of. Apart from serving as an unsinkable aircraft carrier for the East Sea Fleet, it had no other significant meaning. As for the State of Qin and the State of Jin, they were far from the mainland of Great Ming.
If one were to be precise, the geographical locations of the State of Qin and the State of Jin were quite good—the State of Qin was in the continent of North America, located in the heartland of the Eagle family, while the State of Jin was in the New Qin Province, what was later known as Alaska, situated above Canada, always able to jointly encircle Canada with the State of Qin, and even jointly dispatch troops to attack the Eagle family.
The problem was that both the State of Qin and the State of Jin were far from the mainland of Great Ming and could not serve as Great Ming's first line of defense. The territories most suitable for serving as the first island chain defense, such as Lanfang and Jiugang, had now become administrative provinces.
Without sufficient buffer states, it meant the absence of the first island chain defense, and it also meant that once the entire world descended into chaos, Great Ming would have to personally participate in the global chaos.
So, the question arises: why did Great Ming lose its buffer states?
Answer: Because His Majesty Emperor Zhu, in his pursuit of recovering the former territories of Han and Tang and acquiring more land, forgot about the matter of buffer states.
This was the true consequence of causing trouble at the time—it was satisfying, but after all the satisfaction, it became very troublesome.
Thinking of this, Zhu Jinsong's brows furrowed even tighter: "Judging by the current situation in Europe, the time for the entire world to descend into chaos will not be far off. The time left for us to build buffer states is likely not much."
Liu Hemming leaned over the map to examine it, but the more he looked, the more troubled he became: "As far as your subject knows, Jiugang has now become the largest port in the South Seas. If Jiugang is crippled, maritime trade in the South Seas region will essentially be crippled. This means that once the full-scale war breaks out, Jiugang will inevitably be the first target of attack."
"India could form a pincer movement with Jiugang and Lanfang, but the recruitment of laborers in India has not yet been completed, and Great Ming's garrison in India is not large. They can defend, but they cannot attack."
"If we were to send reinforcements to India now, we could prepare before the full-scale outbreak, but..."
Zhu Jinsong glanced at Liu Hemming and coldly snorted, "But Uncle Huaiwen will definitely not allocate much budget, so you are short of money, right?"
Liu Hemming chuckled sheepishly and did not reply. Zhu Jinsong couldn't help but sigh—ever since he saw those matchlock guns, small sampans, and Kongming lanterns, Zhu Jinsong had felt a bit vexed, because those matchlock guns, small sampans, and Kongming lanterns, through their constant changes, ultimately boiled down to two words.
"Give money!"
Seeing Liu Hemming and the other powerful officials feign deafness again, Zhu Jinsong simply snorted coldly, "Figure it out yourselves and talk to Uncle Huaiwen. Whether you can get the budget from him depends on yourselves. I won't favor you this time."
Hearing Zhu Jinsong's words, Liu Hemming immediately put on a fawning expression and began to play the victim: "Don't do that, Your Majesty, you can't abandon us. If you let go, Uncle Huaiwen definitely won't give a single copper."
Zhu Jinsong ignored Liu Hemming and instead gestured on the map: "With the State of Jin and the State of Qin, the direction of the North American continent will not be a threat to our Great Ming. And with Jiugang, Lanfang, and India forming a pincer, it is enough to resist most of the threats from Europe—this means that Great Ming's greatest threat now lies with the Russian Tsar."
"On the surface, the Russian Tsar is currently fighting the Habsburg alliance and will not pose any threat to our Great Ming for the time being. However, the Russian Tsar's ambition is like a soaring eagle, and once he resolves the conflict with the Habsburg alliance, it is hard to guarantee he won't turn around and attack the Ottoman Empire."
Seeing that the Emperor Zhu was discussing serious matters, Liu Hemming no longer dared to play the victim and honestly followed the Emperor Zhu's line of thought: "In other words, to build buffer states for our Great Ming, we must first ensure the defenses in India, west of the Western Regions, and north of the Western Regions."
Zhu Jinsong nodded and said, "That's right, that's exactly it—more importantly, the entire world descending into chaos has become inevitable, and this day will not be far away."
Hearing Zhu Jinsong's words, Liu Hemming also felt a bit vexed.
Why would the entire world descend into chaos?
Because most countries in the world were not living very well—after their grain was bought up, the people would lack food, and when people lacked food, they would not be able to survive, and when people could not survive, they would rebel.
To prevent their own people from rebelling, those countries could only choose to vent their pressure outwards.
One or two small countries fighting was not a big deal; the five great benevolent powers of the world were enough to suppress them.
But what if two or even three of the five great benevolent powers were fighting each other?