The Ming Dynasty set up the Lifan Academy and the Honglu Temple as diplomatic institutions. In fact, there was no Lifan Academy in the original court institutions of the Ming Dynasty. However, Zhu Yicheng considered the integrity of the diplomatic system and originally used the Honglu Temple as an independent institution as a too weak one. Moreover, the Honglu Temple was mainly responsible for reception and etiquette for foreign affairs and was not considered an exclusive institution, so it was still necessary to set up the Lifan Academy in reference to the Qing court.

In the future, these two institutions will be merged, and after the merger, they will be responsible for diplomacy. As for communication between various ethnic groups within, Zhu Yicheng has long thought about it and set up a special department for management when the time is right.

This time, it was the first time that the Lifan Yuan and the Honglu Temple formally negotiated with overseas countries. The Ming Dynasty, as the leader, attached great importance to it. Moreover, Zhu Yicheng had already given instructions on this negotiation, and had explained the extent and bottom line. In addition, the preparations for these days, Earl Vasconcelo learned the aggressive attitude of the Ming Dynasty from the beginning of the talks.

Regarding the positioning of Macau, the Ming Dynasty not only presented historical documents of the Portuguese lending Macau, but also warned the other party that Macau was never the territory of the Kingdom of Portugal, but the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, while renting it from Macau to Portuguese merchants, the Ming Dynasty effectively informed and managed Macau. Therefore, the so-called Portuguese colony is simply nonsense, and the ownership of Macau's territory is irrefutable.

Subsequently, the Ming Dynasty protested against the so-called Macau Governor General's establishment to Portugal. A position of governor general in other countries was equivalent to a naked act of declaring war and invading the other side. What's more, the Portuguese Kingdom unilaterally provoked the South China Sea War, which brought great losses to the Ming Dynasty, and the Portuguese Kingdom must bear the responsibility for this.

In addition, in addition to the territory of Macau, the Ming Dynasty set up free ports and free cities in Macau, which was for the need to trade with Western countries. The current Macau City Hall and Council must also be operated under the management of the Ming Dynasty. The Kingdom of Portugal did not interfere at all...

The Ming Dynasty's tough attitude was completely different from the kindness he had when he met yesterday, which made Count Vasconcelo feel the pressure.

Although Count Vasconcelo tried his best to defend the interests of the Portuguese Kingdom, unfortunately, the Portuguese Kingdom did not have the upper hand in that aspect and retreated step by step.

"Your Excellency, you should know that we Portuguese have lived in Macau for hundreds of years. Today's Macau was established by the Portuguese Kingdom after spending huge amounts of money and time. Of course, what you said just now is right. As the envoy of the king, an honest nobleman, I admit that Macau was once the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but this became history half a century ago! Although the Ming Dynasty has inherited the Ming Dynasty before, Macau is no longer the Macau of the past."

Earl Vasconcelo tried to use this method to explain Portugal's rule over Macau. Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty ignored these things at all. In the Ming Dynasty's view, the Qing court's occupation of the Central Plains was just a local rebellion, and the orthodox was still in the Ming Dynasty. According to the initial agreement, Macau still belonged to the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, the so-called Portuguese view cannot affect the Ming Dynasty at all. If the Portuguese Kingdom still wants to take Macau back, the Ming Dynasty will definitely not agree, and even launch a war to safeguard the ownership of Macau.

When the negotiators representing the military said this firmly, Earl Vasconcelo was silent. He knew in his heart that the Ming Dynasty was so tough, it seemed that Fernando's words were reasonable. In the previous battle of the South China Sea, the Ming Empire had a very poor sense of the Portuguese Kingdom, especially in the military. Perhaps as Fernando said, the military put great pressure on this negotiation, which made the Ming Dynasty so tough.

For a time, Earl Vasconcelo felt the slimness of his mission for the first time. Perhaps he had fantasies before coming to the Far East, but after he arrived in the Far East and witnessed the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, Earl Vasconcelo, who had always been stubborn, had become increasingly illusory about the goals achieved through diplomatic blackmail.

In addition, William's appearance, including William's participation in the negotiations, made Count Vasconcelo feel very alert.

He was a little confused. Why did a British man hold an important position in the Ming Empire? Has Britain secretly joined forces with the Ming Empire?

In Europe today, due to the Spanish throne war, almost all European countries were involved in it, and they were invincible. But there are two different countries. One is the Kingdom of Portugal. The Kingdom of Portugal took advantage of the Spanish throne war and worked hard to govern, and its national strength continued to rise. The other country is Britain on the other side of the strait. Britain is also taking advantage of the opportunity of war on the European continent and constantly extending its tentacles overseas.

If Britain really joined forces with the Ming Dynasty in private, this would be far beyond Earl Vasconcelo's previous expectations. Once the two countries unite, one in Europe and the other in the Far East, this would be a fatal blow to Portugal, which originally occupied a major position in the Far East.

Although Britain's strength is weaker than Portugal, after Portugal lost its Far East fleet, Britain is now comparable to Portugal in terms of military strength.

This situation made Count Vasconcelo secretly alert, and at the same time he lost some confidence during the talks and became more concerned about one and another.

"Today's talks are roughly like this..." In the side hall, Deng Bing, the admiral and the officials, was reporting to Zhu Yicheng. The talks have been continuing these days. After the end of each day, Deng Bing would report the situation to Zhu Yicheng as soon as possible.

After hearing this, Zhu Yicheng nodded slightly. The content of today's talks is not much different from yesterday. It is basically still entangled in those issues. However, from the overall perspective, Earl Vasconcelo no longer forces Macau to belong. Perhaps he also understands that Macau cannot get it back at all. Now what he asks for is more about the trade between the Ming Dynasty and the Kingdom of Portugal. At the same time, he hopes that the Ming Dynasty can give the Kingdom of Portugal certain trade privileges.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty would not agree with this issue. Zhu Yicheng gave a clear bottom line. It is no problem with necessary trade cooperation, but it is absolutely impossible to require privileges. After all, the Ming Dynasty has now extended its tentacles overseas, and the proportion of maritime trade is getting heavier. If the privileges are given to Portugal, how can the Ming Dynasty negotiate with other countries?

This is a long-term strategy and must not be viewed from a short-sighted perspective.

"It seems that the negotiation is almost over." Zhu Yicheng said this. Diplomacy requires patience. In fact, there is no need for negotiation in fact. After all, the Ming Dynasty is the one that truly takes the initiative. But Zhu Yicheng still conducts this negotiation, firstly because of the other party's identity, secondly because of diplomatic etiquette, and thirdly, he hopes to let the Ming court become familiar with how to interact with overseas countries through this negotiation.

"What the emperor said is that according to the opinions of the minister, the other party can surrender at most in a few days." Deng Bing appropriately flattered Zhu Yicheng.

"Don't be careless, you need to be careful about foreign affairs." Zhu Yi immediately warned him seriously when he saw this.

Deng Bing hurriedly said yes, and Zhu Yicheng waved his hand and then asked about the situation about Ryukyu, Japan and North Korea.

"Go back to the Emperor, everything in the Ryukyu Kingdom is as usual. Since the northern islands were taken back by our Ming Dynasty, everyone in Ryukyu has been grateful to me, the Ming Dynasty, and the people's hearts have already reached the Ming Dynasty. As for Lord He, he has also controlled the overall situation. Please rest assured." Deng Bing first briefly talked about Ryukyu, and then talked about Japan.

"The construction of the Kitakai Castle and the Matsue Bible are progressing well. As for the shogunate since the negotiations between Wang Shuai, the people sent by me are also in Nagasaki. Edo and Edo have been stationed in the name of merchants, and the trade is also planned. But in fact, the shogunate seems to have ordered the reprimand of the Satsuma Bible and summoned its vassal lords to the Edo Castle for guilt, but there are not many real actions."

"Oh, how about the Satsuma family?" Zhu Yicheng asked.

"I have admitted my mistakes on the above statement, but the vassal lord is still in the vassal because of his serious illness, and there is nothing else."

Hearing this, Zhu Yicheng sneered. The tacit understanding between the Tokugawa shogunate and the Satsuma family seemed to have reached an agreement in private and deliberately did this for the Ming Dynasty to show it.

This is the case with the Japanese. On the surface, they are very clever and they think that doing so can hide the past. It's really a dream. However, Zhu Yicheng is too lazy to pay attention to them now, so let's put it aside for now.

"Please urge someone to urge the shogunate, but don't force it too much, you can just grasp this yourself."

Deng Bing thought for a moment and immediately understood what Zhu Yicheng meant and nodded repeatedly to say yes.

Finally, it was North Korea. At the meeting after Wang Dong returned to Beijing, everyone proposed to fight North Korea. Zhu Yicheng agreed to this suggestion. Therefore, as the General Affairs Office, he has been paying attention to the situation in North Korea these days, and has collected North Korea's intelligence for reference.

The king of North Korea is Lee Kyung, who has been in power for more than 30 years. This person is good at power and constantly changes his ruling factions, strengthening the royal power by supporting the weak and suppressing the strong, but thus making the party struggle unprecedentedly fierce.

Not only in the court, but also in his harem, the Jiaxu change caused by the famous Zhang Xipin was not long ago. Although Zhang Xipin is dead now, his son is still made the prince.

It can be seen that the situation in North Korea is so complex and changeable, and the two classes of ministers are like changing lights. Deng Bing has not yet made up for a moment, so he can only know about it.

Zhu Yicheng didn't care much about this. After all, North Korea is just a small country. Besides, North Korea's national strength is not strong. If it is not because of its complex terrain, North Korea's military strength is nothing to the Ming Dynasty.

And more importantly, whether it was Zhu Yicheng or Wu Sidao who agreed to fight North Korea, they actually didn't take North Korea seriously at all, so they agreed to everyone's suggestions. That was because the drunkard's intention was not to drink. On the surface, they wanted to fight North Korea, but in fact they were focused on the north.
Chapter completed!