The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 126: The German Princes' Alliance

When the envoy of the Dutch Regent William V found the Ming fleet, Qin Nanxing had already sent 5,000 soldiers into Antwerp.

For the first time in more than a hundred years, foreign ships entered Antwerp again, causing a small sensation.

The new generation of ordinary residents in Antwerp have almost no concept of the seaport.

However, local intellectuals and elites have always been eager for Antwerp to restore its port function, so they are very excited at this time.

Many people hope to welcome the new fleet.

But some people are worried that the Netherlands will definitely not allow such navigation. This fleet must have forced its way in, which may directly lead to a war with the Netherlands.

However, the Habsburg garrison had made preparations in advance, so there was no major chaos on the market.

The envoy from the Netherlands arrived in Antwerp and took two days to meet Qin Nanxing.

The messenger carefully conveyed the Dutch ruling party's intention:
"The mouth of the Scheldt River belongs to the Netherlands, and according to the treaty it cannot be used as a shipping channel. Please do not allow the Ming fleet to come in again."

Qin Nanxing deliberately said after hearing this:

"This treaty was written over a hundred years ago. How many times have the things stipulated in it changed hands now?

"Such a good river, such a good port, you actually don't allow people to use it, aren't you wasting natural resources?
"Since you don't need it yourself, why don't you sell the land on both sides of the river to us in the Ming Dynasty?

"How much do you want? Just name a price, and we at Daming will buy it."

The Dutch envoy immediately said very seriously:

"It is impossible to sell our Dutch territory. The most important thing is that this river is not navigable."

Qin Nanxing seemed very confused and asked back:
"Why don't you allow navigation? If you really don't want to sell it, you can rent it to us. Anyway, don't let it go to waste."

The Dutch envoy explained very uncomfortably:

"Because the treaty prohibiting navigation is also a treaty that confirms the independence of our Netherlands, we will abide by it as much as possible."

Qin Nanxing's expression slowly changed this time:
“Since this is a treaty involving independence, if we are not independent, then we don’t need to care, right?

“I heard that when our Mr. Liu Quanzhi visited you in the Netherlands, he discussed the direction of future cooperation with you.

“Your leader said at the time that he would send someone to North America to discuss this matter with our King Wu.

“However, our Prince Wu has not waited for your people yet.

"Are you going to break the contract with our Ming Dynasty?"

The messenger heard Qin Nanxing's tone become cold and began to panic:
"General, don't be angry. We have not broken our promise to the Ming Dynasty. Our Regent, His Excellency William, has already arranged for an envoy to go to North America."

Qin Nanxing said without any expression:
“Then let’s discuss this after your envoys from North America return. Don’t waste your time here.

"We will temporarily use this waterway for a few months. Our fleet will not touch anything on your shore.

"Just let the officials and civilians on the shore not be so nervous."

The envoy wanted to say something, but Qin Nanxing ignored him and turned around and left the meeting hall.

The Dutch envoy had no choice but to hurry back to report.

William V felt a little relieved after hearing this:

"It's good that they didn't directly declare war on us. It would be even better if they can guarantee that they won't attack us. Let them use it for a few months..."

The messenger was very worried and said:

"The Ming people said they would use it for a few months, but they didn't say how many months exactly. We didn't sign an agreement either. What if they just keep using it?"

William V was silent for a few seconds:

"Don't worry about this for now. Let's wait for the North American envoy to come back and see the real conditions of the Ming Dynasty..."

Meanwhile, as time went by, the King of Prussia never declared war on the Habsburgs.

But Prussia did not lie down and give up. Now that it could no longer rely on the major powers in Europe, it could only unite the states in the German region.

Prussia, similar to what it had done historically in 1785, called for the formation of a "League of German Princes".

Together we fought against the tyranny and hegemony of the Habsburgs, together we fought against external interference in German affairs, and together we defended the laws and order of the Holy Roman Empire.

In particular, laws protecting the ownership and legal inheritance of territory.

But unlike in history, this alliance has a wider coverage, deeper cooperation and will last longer.

The German states were extremely panicked about the situation, and most of them quickly expressed their willingness to join the alliance.

On June 1783, 6, representatives from dozens of German states, led by Prussia, Saxony, Holstein, Mecklenburg, Hesse and Württemberg, formally signed an agreement in Berlin to establish the League of German Princes.

The core of the alliance was of course Prussia, the strongest state outside the Habsburgs, and the leader of the alliance was Frederick II, the most prestigious King of Prussia in Germany.

Superior powers are often shaped by common threats. The alliance of the Habsburgs, France, Britain, and the Ming Dynasty was already extremely threatening to the German states.

Now the members of the German Princes' Alliance agreed very happily that each state would jointly send troops to form an alliance army, which would be directly commanded by the most prestigious King Frederick.

However, on the issue of whether to declare war on the Habsburgs, most of the princes showed obvious hesitation.

Most of the states felt that even if all of these small states were added together, they would still be no match for the four monsters: the Habsburgs, France, Britain, and the Ming Dynasty.

The highest goal of our unity now should be self-protection.

In such a pessimistic atmosphere, after half a month of discussion, the alliance of imperial princes determined a bottom line.

Except for Bavaria, which had been actually occupied by the Habsburgs, if the Habsburgs invaded any state again, the League would formally declare war on the Habsburgs.

At the same time, as long as Bavaria cannot regain its independence, the German princes' alliance will not be dissolved and will no longer cooperate with the Habsburgs.

And all German states are welcome to join the League of German Princes.

The alliance of German princes, led by Prussia, also sent special envoys to Paris, London, Vienna and New York to convey the first two public statements.

And three public statements were sent to all German states.

This approach is actually a verbal surrender, and the country has to accept the fact of the Bavarian deal.

But it also made clear their attitude of uniting to fight against the Habsburgs in the long term in the future.

Frederick's meaning was very clear. This time, the Habsburgs used some unknown method to get help from France, Britain and the Ming Dynasty at the same time.

But the next time the two sides have a conflict, the Habsburgs may not be able to attract so many allies.

It was impossible for Britain and France to allow the Habsburgs to continue to grow.

The Habsburgs finally succeeded.

But it also created a more powerful enemy.

The Habsburgs will certainly become more isolated in the future, and may even lose the throne of the Holy Roman Empire.

But the Habsburg monarch Joseph II didn't care much about this.

Joseph II finally got what he wanted and took over the Bavaria region, and immediately began to work on reform and merger.

Joseph II went to Bavaria personally and invited the original nobles of the Bavarian region to enter his court and serve as ministers and members of the Habsburg court.

The structure of the Kingdom of Bavaria was restructured in the Habsburg way, and preparations were made to gradually merge Bavaria with the original territory.

What Joseph II did was correct in itself, but he was too eager for success.

The final outcome remains unknown.

When the kings and ministers in Britain, Hanover and France received the news, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

There should be no need for a real war.

They also don't want to fight a war, because after the war, both countries feel a little empty.

Next, we will focus on handling the territory exchange with the Ming Dynasty.

Then you should rest and recuperate.

Everyone had to slowly recover from the losses incurred during the American Revolutionary War.

But they don't know that now is not a good time to recuperate.

May 1783, the 6th year of Xianning, June 8, in the Western calendar.

A 15-kilometer-long crack appeared in the ground in southeastern Iceland, quickly forming more than 150 lava vents.

Among them, the eruption of Laki volcano was the most violent, lasting until February 1784.

The longest eruption was that of Grimsvötn, which lasted until 1785.

The lava fountain in the eruption area has a record high of over one thousand meters.

A total of 14 billion cubic meters of lava were ejected, forming a lava river tens of kilometers wide, which converged into a lava lake of more than 500 square kilometers.

The volcano spewed out about 8 million tons of fluorine and about 120 million tons of sulfur dioxide, directly changing the air composition in Europe and North America.

Many people with fragile bodies were unable to adapt quickly to the air changes, and the death rate across Europe suddenly skyrocketed in the past two years.

Because of the heat from the continued eruption of the volcano, the summer of 1783 was exceptionally hot.

However, the huge amount of volcanic ash produced by the eruption drifted and covered the sky over most of Europe, forming an extremely terrifying smog and affecting the sunlight's heating of the ground.

So this winter, Europe and North America will become extremely cold again.

(End of this chapter)