Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 507: Officially Joining the Ranks of Powerful Countries
The impact of the victory in the war on the country was reflected in all aspects. Not only were the formal citizens and new immigrants in the native areas jubilant and looking forward to sharing the dividends of victory in the war, but even high-ranking imperial officials like Tang Jingsong felt a sense of pride.

As a traditional scholar who was born, raised and started a family in the Far East for most of his life, and who rose from a scholar, a juren, and a jinshi step by step to enter the Qing officialdom and served as a reserve minor official in the capital for more than ten years, he was frustrated. Coincidentally, when the Annan Incident happened, he was dissatisfied with the Qing court's weak and traitorous behavior of bowing to foreign countries. In anger, he went to Annan alone to fight against the French invasion. Later, he witnessed the strong fighting power of the Nanyang Legion and the prosperous and rapidly developing emerging scene of the South American Han Kingdom behind it. This prompted Tang Jingsong to make a decision opposite to that of traditional literati. He gave up fame and official position, moved to South America with his family, and then started as a grassroots official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and step by step worked his way up to the high position of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

One's own career, like the development of the country, is full of hope and possibilities.

As a diplomat, he was more confident in representing the Han government in negotiating cooperation in economic, political and other fields with local officials from countries such as Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary and France.

Confidence comes from national strength and victory in wars.
In the Far East, the Qing court was always forced to kowtow and beg foreigners for peace talks, and the diplomats who participated in the talks were regarded as traitors who sold out national interests. Few people with conscience were willing to sell out national interests, and Tang Jingsong was unwilling to do so.

However, in the Han Kingdom, when facing Western diplomats from Britain, France, Germany and other countries, Tang Jingsong was able to stand up straight and confidently put forward the demands of the Han government to safeguard the interests of the Han Kingdom.

In the Far East, British diplomats faced the arrogant and proud Qing officials, but in the Han country of South America, their attitude became friendly and polite.

One of the reasons why Tang Jingsong went to Xianghe City was because Britain took the initiative to propose to upgrade the diplomatic level of both sides and upgrade the diplomatic relations between the two countries from the minister level to the ambassador level.

Before the British Minister to Hanguo proposed it, Germany, Austria-Hungary and France had already made the same application.

The war was not over yet, but in the Paraguayan War, ten years after the Argentine Unification War, the Han Dynasty once again demonstrated its military combat effectiveness and national strength, especially the application of new weapons such as smokeless gunpowder, mortars, and grenades.

All of these left a deep impression on the Western powers and prompted them to decide to upgrade the level of diplomacy with the Han Dynasty.

In the 90s, most diplomatic relations between countries were at the minister level. Only between a few major countries such as Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Italy and the United States, the diplomatic level was ambassador level due to their emphasis and recognition of strength. As for the Qing court, when the Qing Dynasty fell, Britain's diplomatic level with the Qing court was still at the minister level.

Britain, Germany, France, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire upgraded the diplomatic level of the Han Kingdom to the ambassadorial level. In addition to the importance they attached to the diplomatic relations between the two sides, it also represented that the Western powers formally recognized the Han Kingdom's status as a great power. In principle, the status of the two sides was at the same level. Even before the outbreak of the Paraguayan War, the comprehensive strength of the Han Kingdom jumped into the top ten in the world and had the strength to be called a great power. However, Western countries still regarded the Han Kingdom as a second-tier country.

War is the most direct choice to win national status. Defeating the Republic of Brazil and actually occupying the entire territory of Paraguay made Western countries recognize Han's status as a great power. Even in the eyes of Britain, Germany, France and other countries, Han was only a second-rate power, but compared with before, it was still a major progress and achievement in the field of diplomacy.

With the significant achievements made in the diplomatic field, Tang Jingsong naturally had to rush to Xianghe City in person to report to Li Mingyuan in person.

The distance from the city gate to the front-line command post was not far. Twenty minutes later, the carriage stopped at the gate. After the guard reported, Tang Jingsong and his assistant carrying a briefcase walked in together.

In the front-line command, officers from the functional departments such as the Army Department, the Army General Staff Headquarters, the Navy Department, and the Navy General Staff Headquarters were also transferred to Xianghe City to assist Li Mingyuan in handling military affairs. Walking on the road, officers from different departments and different ranks came and went. Tang Jingsong did not pay attention to observing the officers on the roadside around him, but quickened his pace and concentrated on rushing to the meeting room.

"Mr. Weiqing, you have come all the way from Chang'an. You must have worked hard on the way. Come, sit down first and have a cup of tea to refresh yourself."

Li Mingyuan looked at Tang Jingsong and his assistant who came in, left his desk, walked to the reception hall, and asked the servants to bring a few cups of tea.

"Your Majesty is concerned about military and national affairs, and you have to go to Xianghe City to personally command and coordinate the wars of all parties. This is hard work. Compared with Your Majesty, it only takes me two or three days to take the train from Chang'an to Xianghe, which is not hard work."

Tang Jingsong took the tea brought by the attendant and placed it on the table. Then he took out a stack of documents from his bag, took out a few sheets first, handed them to Li Mingyuan, and explained: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been overloaded with a lot of things in recent times, some of which have a great impact. I dare not make a decision on my own, so I rushed to Xianghe City to ask Your Majesty for instructions."

"Well, let's talk about it first."

Li Mingyuan took the official document and replied while reading it.

"The first thing is that Germany, Austria-Hungary, France and Britain successively proposed to upgrade the diplomatic relations between the two sides from the minister level to the ambassador level, and proposed to strengthen the cooperation between the two sides in the fields of economy, industry, military and politics."

"There are many benefits to winning a battle. As soon as the Paraguayan war came to an end, the Western powers were well-informed and rushed over immediately."

After reading the official document in his hand, Li Mingyuan smiled and said, "It is a good thing to upgrade the diplomatic relations between the two sides. We can agree to it. After the diplomatic level is upgraded, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will also have to make adjustments to its external work."

"Your Majesty, please give me your instructions."

"I currently have a preliminary idea to divide the Chinese embassies abroad into four levels according to their importance.

The first level includes four countries: Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary and France. The level of embassies abroad is ambassadorial level, the level of diplomatic ambassadors is director general level, the level of military attachés abroad is deputy division level, and the military rank is colonel.

The second level includes the Empire of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Japan and other countries. The level of embassies abroad is minister level, the level of diplomatic ministers is deputy director level, the level of military attachés abroad is regimental level, and the rank is lieutenant colonel.

The third level is Colombia, Venezuela, Hawaii, Thailand and other countries. The level of embassies abroad is minister level, the level of diplomatic ministers is director level, the level of military attachés abroad is deputy regimental level, and the rank is major.

The fourth level is for colonial countries or regions such as Korea, Annan, the Philippines, the Middle East Peninsula, and the East Indies (Korea was still a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty at that time, and according to Western international practice, it was considered a colony of the Qing Dynasty). The level of the embassy abroad is the consul general level, the consul general level is the deputy director level, and the military attaché level is the battalion level, with a military rank of major. Different manpower and resources are allocated according to the level of the embassy to safeguard the interests of the empire in the local area. "

"Your Majesty has been thoughtful in establishing embassies at different levels abroad, which will help reduce the cost of overseas missions and improve the efficiency of various departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

Tang Jingsong nodded in agreement.

"Foreign relations are the focus of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Immigration issues also require cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other ministries. The gender imbalance of local immigrants has gradually improved. The current gender ratio of immigrants has increased to 100:80, and will increase further in the future. However, due to the increase in the number of immigrants, the total number of unmarried male youths of marriageable age is still increasing. In addition to increasing the number of Chinese female immigrants of marriageable age in the Far East, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs to coordinate with embassies in North Korea, Japan, Thailand, Annan and even the Middle East Peninsula to increase the number of female immigrants of marriageable age from local areas and solve the marriage problems of local unmarried men."

"In North Korea and Thailand, officials have recently proposed restricting local women from migrating to the sea. As the Annan Army withdrew from the northern region, its influence on the local area declined, and the number of female immigrants gradually decreased. Japan is stepping up its industrialization reforms. Because the country has a small land area and a dense population, and lacks mineral resources, the Japanese government encourages its women to go to Southeast Asia to earn money and provide funds for the country's industrial development. Therefore, the difficulty of migrating female immigrants from Japan has been reduced a lot. We can try to increase the efforts to migrate Japanese women of appropriate age."

"Solving the imbalance in the male-female ratio is a long-term task. The work of migrating women of marriageable age from East Asian countries cannot be interrupted. For countries such as North Korea, Annan, Laos, and Cambodia, we should bribe and buy off as much as possible, and try our best to support our representatives in local government. If we need cooperation and assistance from other departments, we can directly raise it, including mobilizing troops stationed in the Nanyang region and armed intelligence personnel.

As for Thailand, the Thai royal family is not very honest. When the Paraguayan war is over, the empire will have time to clean up the mess. This will teach Thailand a lesson, increase Songkhla's territory, and also gain some women of marriageable age."

"Your Majesty is preparing to use force against Thailand?"

"We have this plan. Songkhla has developed rapidly in the past decade or so, and its economy has prospered, which has attracted the attention of Thailand. If Thailand behaves honestly, it will be fine. But if it takes the initiative to provoke trouble, don't blame the Han Kingdom for bullying the weak."

Li Mingyuan said coldly.

The decision-making power of the war lies in the hands of Li Mingyuan, while the specific execution power of the war lies in the hands of the military. As a civilian official, Tang Jingsong was not in a position to express too many opinions, so after Li Mingyuan's explanation, he continued to report: "Your Majesty, British Minister Holmes suggested that the Empire end the war in a timely manner and promised to recognize the Empire's current victory."

"British used the Empire to achieve their goal of teaching the Brazilian Republic a lesson. Now that their goal has been achieved, they want us to stop. But it is not that easy."

"The British envoy warned that the US Atlantic Fleet had advanced to the Caribbean and could at any time ignore British warnings and head south to the coast of Brazil."

"Don't be afraid. What if American warships come? Can they drive the warships to the land? After we have eliminated the main force of the Brazilian Navy, even if the American fleet arrives along the coast of Brazil, the Imperial Navy will still be able to fight. There is no need to worry about the threat from the Americans."

The United States has not carried out a large-scale expansion of its military. Its standing army has tens of thousands of troops. Although the tonnage of its naval ships is higher than that of the Han State, the gap is not too large. The United States is not prepared for a full-scale war with the Han State. Of course, the Han State also needs to continue to digest the results of the war and continue to accumulate strength. A full-scale war between Han and the United States will not break out for a while.

At present, the dominance of South America is still in the hands of Britain. Both China and the United States must respect the rules of the game set by Britain. China and the United States are also constantly testing Britain's bottom line. However, as long as Britain does not clearly give up its dominance in South America, neither China nor the United States is willing to engage in a full-scale confrontation with Britain alone. The cost of a full-scale confrontation is unbearable for either party.

Considering the attitude of the United Kingdom, Li Mingyuan decided to make a tactful response: "It is not impossible to end the war, but the conditions for the peace talks must be changed. The Republic of Brazil took the initiative to expand the war to the mainland of the empire, and they must pay a corresponding price for this.

The British responded by demanding that the Republic of Brazil cede the States of Paraná and São Paulo, restore the border with the Kingdom of Paraguay to its pre-war level, withdraw the Brazilian army from the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, the southwestern State of Goiás, and the southern part of Mato Grosso do Sul, and pay 8000 million Han yuan to the State of Han and 5000 million Han yuan to the Kingdom of Paraguay.

These conditions must all be met. If any one condition is not met, the war will not stop for a moment."

Tang Jingsong understood Li Mingyuan's subtext. The armistice agreement he proposed was just to deal with the British. The Republic of Brazil would definitely not accept such harsh conditions.

"I will convey your Majesty's request to the Brazilian ambassador."

"We will first hold back the British. Once the Imperial Army has achieved its strategic goals, it will be time for formal peace talks."

Li Mingyuan explained, glanced at Tang Jingsong who was sitting solemnly, and encouraged him: "Work hard for a while, finish the Paraguayan war, and wait until February next year when Minister Hu retires, and Mr. Weiqing will officially take over the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs."

"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty. I will do my best to cooperate with the Paraguayan war and live up to Your Majesty's expectations."

Tang Jingsong stood up and promised solemnly.

"I believe in Mr. Weiqing's ability. He should work hard in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a few years. He will have the opportunity to enter the cabinet in the future."

Li Mingyuan encouraged Tang Jingsong again, then stood up and said with a smile: "State affairs are complicated. The army and navy will have a joint combat meeting later, so I won't accompany Mr. Weiqing for long."

"The war is urgent. I will not disturb Your Majesty. I will take my leave first."

Tang Jingsong bowed to Li Mingyuan, then left the reception room with his assistant.
(End of this chapter)