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Chapter 1291 Iron-Blooded Prime Minister 2
Rather than persuading the warring factions in various countries to give up some interests and reach a reconciliation, it is more accurate to say that he used the deterrent power of the great power in the distant East to prevent the warring countries from fighting recklessly.

What is even more frustrating is that the armistice agreement does not mean the end of the war. On the contrary, it is the prelude to another secret agreement. The core content of that agreement is that European countries temporarily put aside their past grievances and unite to jointly launch an eastward expedition!
That is to say, the whole of Europe is seamlessly transitioning from one war to another, and the war that is about to happen is likely to be larger in scale, more brutal in process, and more tragic in ending than the war that has just ended.

Anyone who led the signing of such an armistice agreement would not have much sense of honor or accomplishment, except the King of Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor.

The two were already a little desperate, and they were ready to grab at any straw that seemed to be able to stop the decline of the Habsburg family, regardless of the consequences.

France's attitude is rather ambiguous on the question of whether the great power in the distant East poses sufficient threat.

First of all, France’s most important goal was to get rid of the constraints of Spain and the Austrian Habsburg family and to separate the Spanish Netherlands from Spain as much as possible, so as to resolve the threat from the north.

Secondly, France also has to deal with several territorial disputes in the east and southeast. Only by fully controlling these places can it ensure national security to a greater extent.

In the end, Spain was badly beaten by the Ming Empire in the New World, which was not a bad thing for France and should have been secretly applauded.

The west coast of the New World is too far away. France has no interests there and will most likely not have any in the future. Love belongs to whoever it belongs to, as long as it doesn't belong to Spain.

But in foreign affairs, might is right. It is better to rely on Sweden, far to the north, than on the United Provinces of the Netherlands. This freak composed of profiteers and petty nobles does not conform to the centralized model. We must not allow it to grow bigger and stronger, otherwise it will become a serious problem sooner or later.

By this calculation, there is no other ally that can stand in the same camp with France and has some strength. If it fights against Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and England alone, it will be defeated without fighting.

Therefore, when Philip IV, Ferdinand III, Charles I and Christian IV came to visit together and formally proposed to form a coalition to regain the power to enter Asia, even though he was very unhappy in his heart, he had to bite the bullet and choose to support it.

Not only do you have to support, you have to be the dominant party, only in this way can you gain corresponding benefits after winning in the future. Since you have done it, you can't be content to lag behind others. This is my usual style of doing things.

It is easier said than done. But whether or not we can win and how to win is a big and vexing problem.

It's not like Europe hasn't fought with the Eastern powers before. The most recent example was in Damascus. Europe and the Ottoman Empire have been fighting for hundreds of years, and there is still no winner. If the coalition forces are also in this situation, then it's better not to fight this war as soon as possible. We can't afford to waste time.

Compared with the Ottoman Empire, the more distant Ming Empire seemed to be wearing a thick veil. Even if one had caught a glimpse of part of its true appearance inadvertently, one could not see its full picture, and it was difficult to specifically assess its strength.

What is certain at present is that the navy of the Ming Empire was very strong. Spain, England, and the Dutch Republic, which had been making unscrupulous money in Asia, all thought that it would be difficult to attack from the sea, so they cut off an attack route before they even had the evidence. Fortunately, Europe and Asia are connected not only by the sea, but also by land. The British have always been close to the Ottomans, and they did persuade Murad IV to join the European coalition to fight against the Ming Empire together. It was the joining of the Ottoman Empire that made it possible to form a coalition to march east.

Then Ferdinand III persuaded Władysław IV of the Polish-Lithuanian Confederation, and together they sent envoys to Moscow. After more than a month of arduous efforts, they finally persuaded Michael I, adding a new route to the Eastern Expedition and further increasing the chances of victory.

But he did not think that with the participation of the Ottomans and Russia, the chances of victory in the Eastern Expedition would be much higher. Not to mention the combat effectiveness of the Ming Empire Army, the consistent behavior of these two countries alone made it difficult for people to believe that they could become firm allies.

The Ottoman Empire was Europe's mortal enemy, and in all aspects, from culture to religion to geographical location, there was no peace between them. It was precisely because the Emperor of the Ming Empire had just led tens of thousands of people to rampage across the country and attack cities and strongholds that they had to compromise and join the coalition.

But can such an Ottoman Empire be trusted? Would Murad IV really regard the European coalition as an ally? He was using the power of the coalition to avenge the Ming Empire, purely for personal grudges. Once he encountered setbacks, the first thing to dissipate was also personal grudges. It was too unstable.

Let's look at the Russian Empire. It was excluded by European countries from the beginning to the end. They called it barbarians and kicked it from time to time. It was huddled in the bitter cold land of the far north. Except for Sweden and the Polish Federation, no one was willing to go so far, otherwise it would have been destroyed long ago.

The Russians also understood the mentality of the Europeans. Faced with a group of neighbors who did not treat them as human beings and cursed and beat them every day, Mikhail I would definitely not give his all to help them as long as he was not stupid.

In fact, the process of persuading Russia to participate this time was the most difficult. Mikhail I originally refused until several nobles were persuaded one after another and promised to redivide the border between Russia, Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Federation, and hoped to gain access to the Baltic Sea. Only then did he reluctantly agree.

However, both the Ottoman Empire and Russia made it clear that they would have no problem joining the coalition and sending troops, but they did not have weapons and food. It was not that they did not want to send troops, but that they were too poor and had a lot of famine, so they could not afford it even if they wanted to.

The implication was obvious: if they wanted to help, the European countries would have to provide enough weapons and food. Before the battle even started, they had already shown a greedy attitude, which had already had a negative impact on the coalition forces, and the prospects were becoming increasingly worrying.

A few days ago, the Prince of Orange, who was entrusted with a diplomatic mission to the Ming Empire, sent a handwritten letter on a Dutch merchant ship, and the content was almost all negative news.

The Emperor of the Ming Empire did not show up at all. The one who negotiated with the prince was the Minister of Rites. After two months of negotiations, not a single word was made clear. As long as actual interests were involved, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yang Shangshu, would be like a man with a sealed lip, and would not give in at all.

If this is not enough to explain the attitude of the Ming Empire, then the conscription order signed by the Ming Emperor himself is equivalent to a declaration of war. This shows that the Ming Emperor and his ministers were all ready for a fight to the death, and they were very confident in conscripting 20 soldiers at once.

(End of this chapter)