This is indeed a good idea, which can be seen from the reactions of adults, but the problem is that Li Zhaoming is just a five-year-old child. He really understands the logic, or is it just a flash of inspiration.

Look at Li Zhaoming again, he was already holding a small cake, rolling roast duck the size of mint leaves carefully, and smearing the sauce bit by bit, and eating it carefully.

"This child has a bit of the style of my childhood." Li Junwei looked at his younger son, remembering that when he was young, he loved him more and more as he looked at him. He couldn't help but reach out and touch his head.

After the family finished their meal, the children went out to play. Li Junwei and his two older sons and son-in-law entered the chess and card room next to them and started playing mahjong.

"How long will it take for the General Affairs Office?" Li Junwei asked while playing cards.

Tan Tai Yunfeng said: "You are talking about this National Games. Now athletes from overseas provinces have arrived. They are preparing to hold an opening ceremony on July 1st, and there will be rehearsals in advance, and there will be a competition venue, and there will be drills. It will take place until mid-June to fully understand. Next, the Ministry of Education will take over......"

"That's good. In August, the Portuguese mission is coming. You have to serve on behalf of the cabinet. After thinking about it, it is still the most suitable for you." Li Junwei said.

"Yes, I will arrange something here." Dan Tai Yunfeng replied.

The Portuguese mission came because at the end of last year, a major event occurred within Portugal. The Portuguese King Pedro II, who laid the foundation for friendly relations with the empire, died and his second son Joao V succeeded to the throne.

His inheritance rights were not as good as his father who had imprisoned his brother and his sister-in-law, and there was no problem. But even so, Joao V still needed the support of the empire, especially because his father left him a large debt.

Of course, this debt is not the money that Portugal owes foreign countries, but the money that many European countries owed Portugal.

As soon as Joao V ascended the throne, he showed a different political tendency from his father. His father Pedro II had quite political ambitions. After he had a strong economic foundation, he intervened in European affairs on a large scale. One of the ways was to lend money to foreign countries. During the Spanish War of Succession of the throne, he also jointly attacked Spain with Irish Governor Fitz James. Unfortunately, he failed and allowed the French and Spanish troops to join forces to approach Lisbon.

Fortunately, the empire participated in it and peacefully ended the Spanish war of succession to the throne with the European powers, and Portugal was able to preserve it.

Although Joao V was young, he embarked on a different political path from his father. In his edict to the throne, he clarified the neutral national policy of Portugal.

In the six months after his succession, he issued consecutive statements, clearly reaffirming his friendship with the empire and continuing to deepen cooperation. On the other hand, he started cooperation with the United Kingdom and conducted trade negotiations between the two sides. Portugal was preparing to allow its advantageous wine to enter the British market, and to sell the interests of textiles, mineral products, and coal to the United Kingdom, and authorized the United Kingdom to enter Brazil and East African colonies to trade for a limited amount.

Moreover, Joao V actively promoted the establishment of the League of Nations and directly announced that he would support Spain to become a permanent member of the League of Nations. In exchange for the support of the Spanish king, the two sides negotiated equally on the demarcation of the American colonies.

Joao V's policy was inseparable from his three-year study abroad experience within the empire, but obviously, this neutral policy was a harm to the interests of the empire, but Joao V chose to lead a delegation to visit the empire in person to obtain understanding from the empire.

In other words, the most suitable person to receive Joao Fifth is Dan Tai Yunfeng, Pedro II and Li Junwei, and Dan Tai Yunfeng have good personal relationships, especially with Dan Tai Yunfeng, because when she served as the plenipotentiary envoy to Europe, her official residence was in Lisbon, and Princess Anhua also lived in Lisbon for a long time and even gave birth to a child there.

At that time, the union of King Joao V and the daughter of Dan Tai Yunfeng was once brought to the table for discussion. But in the end, Li Junwei decided that the imperial royal family would not marry any monarch, which was the idea of ​​breaking the Portuguese royal family.

"Joao V is very smart and realistic. Although he is young, he is not easy to deal with." Li Junwei commented.

Dan Tai Yunfeng knew very well about this. From the age of thirteen to fifteen, Ruo Ao studied abroad in Shenjing for three years. He lived at Dan Tai Yunfeng's house on weekdays. He was very familiar with this current Portuguese king.

After Joao V came to power, a series of policies really left the empire helpless.

The most important reason why Portugal had close ties with the empire in the past was that the empire was the world overlord and the ocean overlord. Only by seeking the empire could we preserve the colonies of Portugal overseas. But the problem is that after the war on the succession of the Spanish throne ended, Britain and France began to rise and quickly began industrialization. Everyone knows that Britain and France will be challengers in the ocean.

But Britain and France dare not directly attack the imperial colonies. In addition to seizing West Africa and North Africa, the most likely thing they are to challenge the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the Americas. Properly giving some of the benefits to both countries can save a lot of trouble.

What Portugal sold was not the interests of the Kingdom of Portugal, but the interests of the Empire.

In the pre-Imperial era and the early days of the establishment of the Empire, Lisbon in Portugal was the end of all the Imperial intercontinental trade fleets, and Lisbon once flourished due to East-West trade. Later, the imperial merchants invested on a large scale in Portugal, boosting Portugal's industry.

For a period of time in Portugal, the bourgeoisie began to awaken, and Pedro II accepted this situation. But soon, Pedro II felt the desire for political power by merchants, so he restricted the development of industry and commerce in Portugal.

At the same time, Pedro II gained the power to jointly develop the Brazilian gold and diamond mines with the empire. With this income, Portugal, a small country, was already very rich and did not need the little taxes of national industries.

Because there is no industry and commerce in the country, the products needed by the colonies are purchased from foreign countries. In the past, only the imperial side could provide industrial products, but now, Britain and France have gradually entered this circle.

The industrialization of Britain and France has just begun, and technology cannot be compared with the empire. Due to its own resources, the prices of industrial finished products are relatively high. But the problem is that the industrial area of ​​the empire is too far from Europe, and Portugal has absolute control over its colonies. It still has considerable benefits to purchase industrial products from Britain and France and sell them to the colonies.

Although the past interests of the empire were hurt, the empire was still helpless and could only persuade Joao V to attach importance to the traditional friendship between the two countries. Joao V did attach importance to it and still gave the empire the most favorable policies, and emphasized fair competition in business and equality between countries.

Obviously, if the empire insisted on its previous monopoly on the Portuguese colonies, it would not be fair competition or equality.

"Now there is a voice that when Joao V comes to visit, we will negotiate with him to protect the friendship of the former king when he was alive, and at the same time protect the traditions between us." Li Zhaocheng said.

Li Junwei put down the cards in his hand, picked up the tea, and said, "This voice is very tactful, but it is a tough attitude. Dan Tai, you have to tell the Prime Minister that not only the cabinet, but all senior officials must be careful when responding or declaring publicly, and we must maintain a gentle attitude.

You must know that this is the first time that a foreign head of state has visited the capital of our country with such specifications, and it will not be the last time, and everything must be handled perfectly for the first time."

Li Zhaocheng said: "But if this is the case, we must give up some of the interests."

"Is that true, do you think it's giving up? Zhaoyu, what about you, what about you?"

Li Zhaoyu thought for a while and said, "No matter what, this is the loss of the empire. I believe that many countries have faced similar situations, but we are different from other countries. At least this time, we are clearly capable of protecting our own interests, but we have not done anything. Assuming that we really do nothing, maybe this time it is the beginning of badness.

European countries, especially Britain and France, will think that we are weak and will increase our investment layer by layer and continue to challenge.”

"You are right. We do have the ability. As long as we show enough determination and strength, we can surrender to Joao V and return to our previous state. But the problem is that we have not found any available opportunities. Should we create an event, or find a small thing to take advantage of the problem?" Li Junwei asked.

Lee Zhaocheng said: "In Brazil, the Portuguese baron drove the Japanese to occupy our colony, which is a good reason."

"But it's just a reason. This is a colonial management and security issue, and what we want to solve is economic and diplomatic issues." Li Junwei said.

Li Zhaocheng and Li Zhaoyu looked at each other and felt that their father's attitude had changed. As children of the imperial royal family, they knew many secrets. The Empire had done what they said about taking advantage of the problem.

The most typical example is the first civil war in Japan, the anti-scene war. That war was a prelude to imperial unification, which was to resolve possible provocations that Japan might initiate through a war before the decisive battle with the Qing Dynasty. So we took advantage of the Nagasaki Incident. In order to create momentum, the Nagasaki Incident, which only a few victims, was directly named a massacre, which aroused the public's anger.

"We can't do nothing, right?" said Li Zhaoyu.

Li Junwei nodded: "In essence, Joao V is not offending or pleasing on both sides. He strives to achieve neutrality between Europe and the Empire, and gives the Empire and Europe a fair playing field in the colonies, in exchange for all countries capable of threatening their colonial dominance, supporting their rule over the colonies.

This is not aimed at the empire or exclude the empire. We do not have a legitimate reason to do this. If we do it and put pressure on Portugal, we must put pressure on Spain, because Spain is even more excessive than Portugal.

But that will make the two countries disconnect from us from Germany. Now Britain and France are just challengers and cannot threaten our maritime status. If one day, the strength of the two countries will be improved to a certain extent and have the strength to compete with us, will it cause Portugal and Spain to completely surrender to Britain and France?"

"This...at least there should be no such possibility at the moment, father." Li Zhaocheng said.

Li Junwei stood up and said, "Children, you are no longer children. In the future, you will play an important role in the politics of the empire, maybe the emperor, the prince who governs the country, or the prime minister.

Therefore, you should have a clearer judgment on the future and should not blindly imitate your predecessors. Different eras have the norms of different eras, and we must always stand at the forefront of the wave of the times. When the empire entered the colonial era, we should use the power of the country to explore immigration to the outside world.

When the empire entered the era of expansion, I expanded the territory for the empire with an attitude of no bottom line. But this does not mean that we are a nation without bottom line. On the contrary, we must be a noble nation. So when European countries are still engaged in slavery, we abolished slavery.

I tell you all this, I hope you should learn to walk out of your own path. This world is a powerful world. Powerful countries always have the biggest voice in the world. In the past, now, and in the future, but the problem is that the voices of weak countries will become louder and louder. When they gather together, they will even be stronger than an empire.

And you cannot always look up to these small countries, and cannot always put them in a humble position. If you always stand above and never take other countries into consideration, you will fall into a situation without self-discipline.

You should know that our country is too big, just like a person standing in a pile of ants. Perhaps your unintentional action will kill a group of guys. And other countries cannot limit us. The more you are at this time, the more you should learn to be humble.

I tell you that with the current strength of the empire, as long as the force is used, any country can surrender. But children, force to a country is like drugs to a person, this simple, crude and effective method will be addictive, and no country can afford the price of using force indiscriminately."

"It's my father, I understand." Li Zhaocheng nodded and said.

Li Zhaoyu and Dan Tai Yunfeng also expressed their compliance, but Li Junwei said: "You may understand, but you still won't have personal experience without personal experience. It doesn't matter, the empire has great achievements and is not afraid of taking wrong detours. There is one thing you must do. When you do something wrong, you may not necessarily admit it, but you must correct it."
Chapter completed!