It was surprising that Zhu Yicheng not only agreed to Zhao Hongcan's sanctions, but even directly called him King of Song, which was equivalent to the Ming Dynasty's recognition of Zhao Hongcan, the so-called King of Song.

You should know that since the rebellion, only one person who was truly named king by Zhu Yicheng was Yuan Qi at the time. But even Yuan Qi, the so-called king at that time was not out of Zhu Yicheng's intention, and was completely controlled by Yuan Qi.

After the Ming Dynasty restored the country, Zhu Yicheng won the titles, and the highest of them was only a marquis, with no duke. As for the titles, there was no one else except Zhu Yicheng's crown prince and second son.

The civil and military officials of the court did not object to the arrangement of titles, because everyone knew in their hearts that the title of titles was just the first step. After Zhu Yicheng returned to Beijing and pacified the world, he would inevitably be awarded the title again. With everyone's contribution, it would be obvious that the Marquis was promoted to Duke and the Earl was promoted to Marquis by then.

But now, Zhu Yicheng recognized Zhao Hongcan, the title of King Song, and directly gave Zhao to Zhao with the honor of the Emperor of Ming Dynasty. This is unprecedented.

However, Liao Huanzhi and others understood Zhu Yicheng's meaning after a brief thought. Everyone showed no objection. Therefore, the Zhao Book was sent out, which soon caused a shock in the southwest.

The happiest thing was naturally Zhao Hongcan, who had just become the King of Song. When Zhao Shu and the rewards were delivered to him, they had already left their braids. Zhao Hongcan, who had recovered the Han Dynasty clothing, was immediately excited as if he had been injected with chicken blood. He put on an incense table and bowed to the east three times and shouted long live. Then he took Zhao Shu, and then his red face was full of smiles.

Amid the congratulations of everyone, Zhao Hongcan, the King of Song, can be said to be worthy of his reputation. More importantly, he can be said to be able to advance and retreat freely now, and he has no need to be wary of the Ming army's attack on Gui before.

Immediately afterwards, good news came from Gao Jin, which made Zhao Hongcan even more happy. Then he was ready to gather his troops and prepare to do a big vote in the southwest.

In fact, in Zhu Yicheng's heart, Zhao Hongcan was just like this. The so-called Zhaoshu and Fengshu were just to calm his heart, and the real purpose was to stimulate the southwest and make the four sides fight more powerfully.

In Zhu Yicheng's opinion, although Zhao Hongcan is talented and has a decisive decision, he has no such a hero. Not to mention that he is compared with Yuan Qi back then, even Zhu Jiancai, Wang Zhiqing and others were far inferior to Gao Jin.

In fact, if Zhao Hongcan, who had taken the military and political power from Guangdong to Guangxi, had he still left the Qing Dynasty and held high the banner of the Han family, perhaps Zhao Hongcan had some chance to compete for power. After all, at that time, the power of the Ming Dynasty was mainly concentrated in the battle with the Qing Dynasty. In addition, Yuan Qi, Zhu Jiancai and others were conquering cities and land everywhere, the situation in the entire Shenzhou was not as clear as it is now.

With Zhao Hongcan's strength in Guangxi and the territory of Guangxi Province, he could have made some achievements at that time. However, Zhao Hongcan did not do this. On the surface, he turned aside with Kangxi, but he still maintained a relationship between the monarch and the ministers in private. He did not expand outward, but just managed his own territory. At the same time, he also played with power tricks and communicated with all parties in private, trying to protect himself.

It is no exaggeration to say that he is short-sighted, or Zhao Hongcan is not brave enough and he is looking at things. Now, the overall situation in the world has been decided, and Zhao Hongcan has made such a move. On the surface, it seems that he chose the Ming Dynasty, but he also calls himself King Song. As Bei Henuo said, Zhao Hongcan is afraid of wolves in front of him and tigers in the back, and thinks he is smart, but he is actually a fool.

That's right, Zhu Yicheng was not worried about Zhao Hongcan at all, and he also used this method to calm his heart. In Zhu Yicheng's view, Zhao Hongcan, the King of Song, was just a gifted king. No matter how he planned it, he would be the moon in the well and the flower in the water.

Zhu Yicheng didn't care about them for the time being. He hoped that the more the trouble in the southwest, the better. When the trouble was almost done, the Ming Dynasty could easily take over the territory with a million soldiers. Now he put the three provinces in the hands of these people, but the time was not yet ripe.

At present, the Ming Dynasty is concerned about other matters, which is Xinming's battle situation. After receiving Xinming's rescue, Zhu Yicheng responded immediately and asked the navy and army to prepare for reinforcement of Xinming. Now, the first batch of reinforcements have set sail. If everything goes well, it will arrive in Xinming in February. Zhu Yicheng only hopes that Pan Mengyuan will not disappoint him and firmly defend Xinming's territory before the reinforcements arrive.

Zhu Yicheng also expressed great anger about the British's performance of standing by in the North American War. Now British Minister George Churchill has reported this matter to the local area as quickly as possible, but there are quite a few times to go back and forth. It is estimated that when the news of the British local reply reached the Ming Dynasty, it will probably be time to return the city next year.

Zhu Yicheng naturally knew about this, but since such a thing happened, just scolding and warning was just the first step. Next, Zhu Yicheng also announced that the British troops in North America failed to fulfill the agreement on cooperation between the two countries and decided to reduce the total trade volume of Britain next year. After this news was announced, British Minister George Churchill asked to see Zhu Yicheng many times, trying to explain and save the order, but Zhu Yicheng did not see him, but replied to George Churchill through the Military Affairs Office. This decision could not be changed. As for whether to continue to reduce trade volume or resume normal trade in the future, it depends on the attitude of the British royal family and the British government. After all, it was not the Ming side that disrupted the agreement, but the British side. What they are doing now is just punishment.

Hearing this reply, George Churchill looked extremely frustrated, and at the same time he was extremely angry.

Originally, he worked well as the Minister to the Ming Dynasty, and his daily life was free and easy. He even thought that after his term of office expired, he would definitely be reused for his qualifications. By then, he would not only be able to get generous returns for himself in politics, but also possible to gain a high position in the government.

But now, the sudden situation made George Churchill worried, especially after Zhu Yicheng's decision to cut trade volume, the leisurely days of the past were gone forever, and instead faced countless British merchants every day, even officials from the East India Company, and continued to visit them one after another.

The reduction of 30% of the trade volume is a significant number for the growing Ming-English trade in recent years. More importantly, the Ming Empire showed serious distrust of Britain because of what happened in the New World. Moreover, due to the trade cooperation between Britain and the Ming Dynasty in recent years, many British merchants came to the Far East to pursue their interests. The British who had made money by drinking soup or new merchants who had just joined the Far East trade were ready to buy new ships and try to expand their operations to make huge profits. Now they are suddenly restricted from trade, which is almost like a thunderbolt.

These days, George Churchill, who had originally gained weight, had obviously lost weight. The food he loved was tasteless when he was placed in front of him. Every day, he kept explaining to all parties with a pair of dark circles, and tried his best to balance the credit limits of all parties, which made him exhausted.

"George, don't think about those troubles, come and try this, this is the snack made by my bride of cooks." William Adams said, pointing to the exquisite snacks placed on the table.

This is William Adams's mansion in Nanjing. He is now wearing a flowing Taoist robe and holding his hair. He looks like he is dressed completely by Ming people. If he hadn't carefully looked at his different appearance and hair colors from Ming people, he would have no difference from Ming people at all.

Moreover, his current official language is extremely fluent, and if he closes his eyes, he can't hear that he was once a European.

That's right, once! Now William Adams can be said to be a real Ming person. Now he has been promoted from the original position of the sixth rank chief to the Associate Office. The so-called Associate Office was originally set up in the Ming Dynasty, and was originally used to deal with foreigners in foreign ports.

In the Wanli period, the Associate Department was incorporated into the Personnel Department, and the functions of the two departments were merged. Zhu Yicheng considered that with the increasing overseas trade and exchanges between various countries, a department that was specifically responsible for dealing with external affairs but was inclined to be set up outside the six ministries and the General Office of the Court, but was inclined to be commercial and economic functions, so the Associate Department was restored and placed under the Military Affairs Office, which was considered an independent small yamen.

Although this yamen is not as good as the sixth department, its position is not low. The chief official is a third-rank official, while William Adams's position as a fourth-rank officer is a fourth-rank officer, and it can be said that he is the deputy of the assistant chief official.

Looking at William Adams who was making tea with a smile, George Churchill was full of envy. George Churchill served as the Minister of the Ming Dynasty and did not have many friends to make friends in Nanjing, but William Adams was exactly one.

First, although William Adams' family is not as prominent as the George Churchill family, they are still one of the nobles. Second, they are all British, fellow villagers, and even alumni, and this alone is not something that others can compare with.

More importantly, although William Adams is a British, he has now been naturalized in the Ming Dynasty and has also been in the fourth rank of official position in the Ming Dynasty, which is unprecedented for the entire UK.

As the British Minister, it is very worthwhile to make friends and invest in such a person, not to mention his compatriots, both public and private. The same is true for William Adams. Most of his work in the Associate Office also deals with various countries, among which the British Minister is naturally an important figure. In this way, the two of them interacted with each other and soon became friends and often contacted each other on weekdays.

Just like today, William Adams knew that George Churchill was not having a good time these days, so he specially sent someone to invite him to have a tea house. George Churchill, who was struggling with the merchants every day, was about to hide, so he came to the appointment, and the two sat in the garden drinking tea and chatting.
Chapter completed!