Daming 1805

Chapter 453 New Ideas for Austria and England
The news that Ming, Lucia, Prussia, and France signed a cooperation agreement caused a greater reaction in the Austrian royal family and court than in the United Kingdom.

Although the British feel great pressure and the possibility of being completely isolated, this is still a potential threat, and there is no direct confirmation of the possibility of being attacked.

As for the Austrians, when they heard the news that the four parties headed by Daming had signed the contract, they directly felt the deadly threat.

After the Austrian Emperor Franz II received the news, he immediately recruited his new Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Metternich, as well as his own brother, Archduke Karl, the military commander of Austria.

After Franz II explained the news to the two, Metternich said without any hesitation:
"Your Majesty, Austria must join this cooperation agreement, otherwise we will become the most passive country on the Europa continent."

Archduke Karl gave an explanation at the military level:

"If Austria does not join this cooperation, Prussia will immediately start preparing for war against Austria.

"Prussia will not hesitate, war may break out at any moment.

"They already had a war plan against us, but it was delayed by the years of world wars, the post-war alliance of nations, and the post-war technological revolution.

"The point is, there is a high probability that Ming and France, which signed a contract with Prussia, will not intervene. Lucia may even form an alliance with Prussia and jointly send troops to participate in the dismemberment of Austria."

Franz II's expression is also very ugly:
"I understand, but about how to participate in this cooperation, does Metternich have any specific ideas?"

Metternich briefly flipped through the invitation document sent by Daming, and carefully read the introduction of the main content of the confirmed cooperation agreement above:
"I think we can try to work with the Ottomans, Italy, and ask for another trade route.

"Starting from the south of Ming Dynasty, it will connect the southern region of Ming Dynasty, Tianzhu region, and the Principality of Persia in turn, enter Ottoman, pass through the entire Ottoman territory to Austria, and from southern Austria to Italy, all the way to France and Spain.

"In this way, setting up another route without Lucia and Prussia will strengthen our position in the cooperation.

"I think that with Daming's status and needs, he shouldn't want to put all his eggs in Lucia's basket.

"Da Ming chose two routes for his local trade routes.

"It's just... probably due to the consideration that the construction of the southern route is too difficult, and at the same time it is too close to the ocean, so the benefits are not high.

"But for us and for Osman, the political and diplomatic significance of such a course outweighs the economic interests.

"We should work hard to promote the selection and construction of this route.

"The next best proposal is to extend southward from Daming's existing Kazakh Principality route instead of going to the southern area of ​​Daming.

"Through the Principality of Persia, the Great Food Kingdom, the Ottomans, and arrive in Austria.

"Another option to bypass these proposals is to propose the Little Atlantic-Mediterranean Royal Trading Company.

"The royal families of Ming, Ottoman, Austria, Italy, France, and Spain established a joint venture to operate maritime trade from the Lesser Atlantic to the Mediterranean.

"This is a very potential trade route, and it is now the busiest trade route in the world.

"The Xihai Canal of Daming has already allowed cargo ships of more than [-] tons to pass directly.

"The corresponding free trade zones can directly choose seaports instead of inland cities."

After hearing this, Franz II nodded in agreement:

"Okay, let's do this, it's best to grab both hands, and start from both sides at the same time.

"Inland railway lines and maritime trading companies have to be built.

"Metternich contacted Ottoman and Italy as soon as possible, and contacted the French and Spaniards as well.

"Then prepare well and get ready to go to Daming as soon as possible."

The other countries in the western continent, the countries that received the notice and invitation from Ming Dynasty, more or less have similar concerns to those of the British and Austrians.

The ideas of the Ottomans and the Austrians are highly similar, that is, they hope to set aside the Lucians in the north and establish a cooperative system in the south and on the sea alone.

Besides, Osman is directly adjacent to Ming, or directly adjacent to the most special food kingdom, Osman has no need and does not want to take the route of Lucia.

Although the relationship between the Ottomans and the Austrians is definitely not good, they have a common language when facing Lucia. Now I feel that the Austrians' suggestion is very reasonable.

So the Ottomans also directly accepted Daming's invitation, and at the same time began to communicate with Austria to prepare follow-up cooperation proposals.

The people of the Netherlands (Netherlands), when they heard that Prussia and the French had signed a cooperation agreement, it was a bolt from the blue.

Immediately worried about whether they would cooperate, and directly divided up the existing Netherlands from the northeast and southwest.

The Netherlands at this time included the later Belgium.

The region has its own Dutch language, but there are also many people who speak French and German directly.

Even the difference between Dutch itself and Low German is not that great, and it may not be as big as the difference between the southern Ming dialect and Mandarin.

The text of both parties can also be transcribed according to certain rules, and then they can be basically read and understood.

According to the standards of Ming Dynasty, these places can have the opportunity to directly merge with the capital.

The Dutch people at this time were always worried about this.

So after receiving the invitation from Ming Dynasty, it was more agile than what Britain and Austria agreed to.

The Italians heard that both the Prussians and the French had joined, and had also received cooperation proposals and invitations from the Austrians, so there was no room for consideration, otherwise they would be completely blocked from land by the three countries in the future.

The most marginalized Spaniards and Portuguese hesitated a little, but they didn't hesitate for too long.

It's because it's too marginal, so I don't want to become more marginal in the future.

In the end, in the next month or so, representatives from various countries in Thailand and the West arrived in Xianbei City one after another.

All the representatives arrived. At the banquet before the official start of the meeting, Lin Zexu, the representative of Ming Dynasty, made a statement:
"This time, most of the world's powerful countries gathered together to discuss cooperation plans and programs on economy, transportation, and trade. This is an unprecedented feat.

"Our Prince Dashi, after you formally decided to participate in the agreement, once again put forward an idea:
"Since all participating countries are members of the League of Nations, we can establish an international free trade organization within the League of Nations institutions.

"After all countries sign an agreement to join the organization, they discuss and coordinate possible issues directly under the meeting of the League of Nations.

"If you have no opinion, then this meeting can also be called the International Trade Organization Conference."

The economic cooperation of a few countries has been raised to the scope of "world".

However, this proposal is indeed more realistic.

For the countries directly involved, this is a pure change of name and does not affect the actual content of subsequent treaties.

And this was proposed by Prince Dashi, so the representatives at the scene expressed their approval.

After the banquet, the representatives of each country took a day off.

Two days later, negotiations on the signing of the International Trade Organization formally began.

Lin Zexu, the representative of Daming, who was the initiator and leader of the alliance, once again gave a simple opening speech.

After the normal discussion began, the Austrian Prime Minister Metternich first asked to speak.

The urgency of the Austrians is seen by most countries and directly understood by most countries.

Austria may be the most pressured country among the major Western countries.

After being signaled by Lin Zexu, who served as the host, Metternich immediately explained his suggestion.

Proposals for the establishment of the Maritime Trading Company, and the Southern Land Bridge Railway.

Ottoman, Italy, and Spain have already communicated with each other, so they immediately stood up to express their commitment.

Although Austria's proposal was a bit unexpected, the diplomats and politicians present at the scene fully understood the intentions and ideas of the four Austrian countries after a little consideration and analysis.

That is to build another branch of relations outside of Lucia and Prussia within the system dominated by Ming Dynasty.

While Daming and representatives of other countries were analyzing and considering, the new British Foreign Secretary Robert Banks Jenkinson suddenly spoke unexpectedly:

"We in England support Austria's proposal for a joint maritime trading company.

"At the same time, the UK can open the port of Mumbai in South India, the port of New York in New England in Southwest Mexico, the port of Charleston in the United States, and the port of Southampton in the United Kingdom.

"The railways and highways in Southwest Mozhou can be connected with the railways from North Tianzhu of Ming Dynasty to the mainland, Persia, Dashi, and Ottoman.

"At the same time, the British side hopes that Ming Dynasty can open a free trade port in the new Tianfu area."

The British proposal was brought out, which directly triggered an uncontrollable low-pitched discussion at the scene.

Austria, Ottomans, Italy, and Spain just hoped to establish a maritime trade route in the south of the old continent.

The British went directly to the New World.

Not to mention whether there are still people in Mumbai, the opening of Southwest Mexico, the United States, and the British mainland is real.

The scene was noisy for a while, and politicians gradually understood the intentions of the British.

If they cooperate on the traditional old continent, the British, whose native land is an island country, are a marginal country anyway.

Maybe not even as good as Spain and Italy.

If the scope of cooperation and cooperation is extended to the whole world, then the British will have a relatively fair status and value.

At the same time, the Xihai Canal has been continuously expanded for nine years, and now it supports direct flights of all cargo ships around the world.

Even the second all-pass double line has to be repaired.

The efficiency of navigation in the future will be higher, possibly even higher than that of the Strait of Malacca.

The water in the Strait of Malacca is not particularly deep, and the water depth in many places is between 20 meters and 30 meters.

Since 2010, the depth of the Suez Canal has reached 24 meters.

In addition to being relatively wider, Malacca Seafood has similar navigation capabilities to large ships as the Suez Canal.

The world's largest cargo ship with a capacity of more than [-] tons is still being designed and prepared.

In other words, all merchant ships traveling from Daming to Taixi can use the West Sea Canal of Daming.

There is no need to detour to Cape Xiyang at all.

Of course, this affects Ming's interests in the Cape of the West Sea, but the West Sea Canal's income is even higher.

Xiyang Cape is a natural waterway. Although the local area belongs to the westerly belt, it is difficult to see when the weather is calm, but all the ships here are big ships, and the key is that it is free.

Daming Huangzhuang in the Cape of the West can only obtain pure commercial profits. Even if it is a ship supply transaction, there is also a port in New England not far from Southwest Mexico in the United Kingdom to compete with itself.

But you have to pay a fee to go to the Xihai Canal, and there are no competitors at all, an absolute monopoly.

As for the merchant ships going from Xiaoxiyang to Xintianfu, it doesn't matter whether there is a Xihai Canal or not, they have to go to the Cape of the West.

Therefore, these great Mings have been letting go of widening and deepening the West Sea Canal.

Correspondingly, the British in New England in Southwest Mexico were also directly affected by the expansion of the canal.

The British want to raise their hand in their Southwest Mexican colony.

This is the focus of the development and construction of the United Kingdom in recent years, and the young and middle-aged people in the entire South Tianzhu have been drawn here.

A New England, mainly composed of Tianzhu people, was built here...

At the same time, I hope that Daming will open up trade in Xintianfu.

In conclusion, according to the proposal of the British, they actually only plan to open one city in their home country.

In this era, the colonies were basically exclusive commodity dumping grounds for the Thais.

The local market is a more advanced private market.

Opening up the free trade of the colonies, of course, has a lower intensity than opening up the local area, but it can be regarded as a large degree of opening up.

Southampton in the United Kingdom, together with the important ports of the two overseas colonies of New York in Southwest Mexico and Charleston in the United States, the overall degree of openness can be similar to the opening of two local ports.

So it can't be considered completely insincere.

It's just that the British, following the rhythm of Austria and Spain, further pulled the trade cooperation on land to the sea.

The scene was noisy for a while, and the representatives of each country evaluated the proposals of the British, and considered their own interests and gains and losses from the same perspective.

Lin Zexu thought for a while and then said directly:

"With regard to cooperation outside the mainland, especially the opening of Xintianfu, I have not been authorized by the Ming court.

"So I need to communicate with the rear about related issues before I can make corresponding responses and requests.

"If representatives of other countries have similar ideas, they can first discuss them within their own countries and discuss them at the next meeting.

"If you have other types of suggestions and ideas, you can bring them up now to continue the discussion.

"Otherwise, today's meeting will come to an end."

After Lin Zexu finished speaking, the Spaniards followed up and said that they also needed to re-communicate with the royal family on the issue of opening the port.

Portugal and other major maritime nations are not far behind.

The purpose is very obvious, which is to prepare to consider whether to include colonial ports in the scope of opening up.

Purely increasing open ports is certainly not possible.

But it must be considered whether to use overseas colonial ports to replace and offset the local open cities.

Among the countries participating in the conference, only Ming Dynasty, Britain and France have colonies in Yinzhou.

But all countries have colonies in Mexico, and they are all connected together, so they all need to consider this issue.

Daming also needs internal communication. It has to consider whether to allow Britain to use overseas ports to make up the numbers, and whether to open Xintianfu.

So Lin Zexu directly announced the suspension of the meeting, and asked all parties to return to their residences to discuss and communicate.

The Austrians and the British did not communicate in advance, but at the beginning of the meeting, they came up with a problem with a biased direction.

(End of this chapter)