The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 153: Bad News from Europe and America

American representatives including Liu Quanzhi, Adams, and Jefferson returned on the Ming fleet that sailed to North America that autumn, holding the order and agreement signed by Zhu Jianxuan.

In February of the 40th year of Xianning, the large fleet arrived in New York.

When Liu Quanzhi, Adams and others returned to the yamen, they immediately received two pieces of bad news.

Morocco agreed to release the captured American merchant ships and crew members, but still demanded that the US government pay a ransom.

And in the future, a tax will be paid every year in exchange for Morocco's protection of the American fleet.

At the same time, three more American merchant ships were hijacked by pirates in North Africa, this time near Algeria.

The admiral of the Ming escort fleet, who was traveling with them, received instructions from Zhu Jianxuan on the way here and was supposed to assist the United States in dealing with the pirate issue.

Now that he has received the latest news, he said to Liu Quanzhi in disbelief:

"Are these Arab pirates fools? Don't they know that the United States is the country of His Majesty the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty? Do they think that the Ming Dynasty will not help the United States deal with them?"

When Liu Quanzhi analyzed the situation, he had some other guesses:

"This may not just be a pirate issue... maybe some people just want the Ming Dynasty to fight these pirates..."

The fleet commander asked subconsciously:

"Who is it? Why do you have such an idea?"

Adams was the first to react:

“The Ming Dynasty is now trading directly with Europe, and it has certainly seized the market share of many traditional European merchants.

"American merchants followed the Ming fleet to trade with Europe, and continued to deliver food to Europe during years of disaster, also seizing the market of traditional European agricultural merchants.

"These people don't dare to openly become enemies of the Ming Dynasty and the United States, but they are very bold to instigate North African pirates to do things."

The fleet commander casually asked:

"So what should we do now? Ask someone from the West Factory to investigate?"

Liu Quanzhi thought for a while:

“First, do as His Royal Highness asks and send the American Expeditionary Force to Taranto.

“After that, whether it’s negotiations or warfare, we can always deal with it in Europe.

“I also went directly to Europe to handle European diplomatic affairs on the spot.

"I'm going to visit the Habsburgs and the Russians as well."

No one else had any objections, and the Ming fleet immediately took action.

The immigrants who came on the ship were let go, and at the same time, the US Army Commander Li Anbang dispatched the US Central Army and the Continental Army to board the ship.

In early April of the 40th year of Xianning, Liu Quanzhi and Adams arrived in Europe with the Ming fleet.

The great fleet split into two in the North Atlantic.

One group went to Antwerp and Rotterdam in the Low Countries, and to Hadlen in the Hanover region of Germany.

Jefferson traveled with the fleet and was responsible for meeting with Catherine II in St. Petersburg, Russia, to convey the invitation of His Royal Highness Prince Wu of the Ming Dynasty to jointly attack the Ottoman Empire.

Another team headed south to the Mediterranean port of Taranto.

Liu Quanzhi moved with this fleet at night. His mission was to deal with North African pirates and then go to Habsburg to invite Joseph II to jointly attack the Ottoman Empire.

Before entering the Mediterranean with the large fleet, Liu Quanzhi first went to Rabat, the capital of Morocco, under the escort of the fleet.

As the special envoy of King Wu of the Ming Dynasty and the King of America, he met with Sultan Mohammed III of Morocco.

They demanded that Muhammad III crack down on pirates in the country and release American merchant ships and prisoners.

Muhammad III had a good attitude, but he expressed regret and distress:

"Respected Ming envoy, as a sultan, I have no way to control the pirates in my country, otherwise there would be no pirates in Morocco."

Of course Liu Quanzhi didn't believe what the other party said. If the other party didn't condone the pirates, this kind of thing would never have happened.

Muhammad III's answer made Liu Quanzhi conclude that someone was indeed behind the scenes.

Liu Quanzhi thought about it for a moment, then reminded and warned:

“Your Majesty the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty and Your Majesty the King of America will not allow their people to be hijacked by pirates.

“If the problem cannot be resolved peacefully, the final result will most likely be the annihilation of the pirates.

“Since His Majesty the Sultan also hates pirates but cannot control them.

"For the sake of the safety of the route, His Royal Highness the King of Wu will help you completely get rid of these pirates."

Muhammad III seemed to want to say something but in the end he didn't say anything because Liu Quanzhi had already taken the initiative to leave.

The Ming fleet was then divided into two parts, one heading north.
Liu Quanzhi followed the fleet through the Strait of Gibraltar and sailed all the way to Tripoli, Algeria, North Africa, where he met Ali I Karamanli, the Pasha of Tripoli.

Liu Quanzhi, in his capacity as the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty and the King of America, demanded that Ali I release all of His Majesty the King of Wu's subjects.

After hearing this, Ali I asked directly:

"Will His Royal Highness the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty pay the ransom for their people?

“I heard he was the richest king in the world.

"All this king needs is one million silver dollars, and I will release all his people.

“And at the same time commit to keeping them safe for the next decade.”

Liu Quanzhi said slowly:
“The Ming Dynasty, the Ming Wu Kingdom, and the American Kingdom have no grudges against you, and once had continuous trade relations.

“No matter who has deceived you, you should not kidnap the people of these countries without reason.

"On behalf of His Royal Highness the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty and His Majesty the King of America, I ask you to release them immediately and promise that you will never kidnap them again in the future."

After Ali I heard the translation of these words, he began to chant in a mysterious way. Liu Quanzhi didn't quite understand the specific meaning, but he could fully understand the other party's intentions. They created a reason to kill and plunder anyone.

Liu Quanzhi said that he understood, and then left with great satisfaction and happiness.

After leaving Tripoli, Adams asked Liu Quanzhi with some confusion:

"Master Liu, we knew before we came here that these pirates must have been bewitched by someone.

"We believe that the Ming Dynasty is here to do business, so we will not start a war with them.

"Or maybe they thought that the Ming Dynasty didn't have the ability to cross three oceans to deal with them.

"Now that we have gone to meet them like this and have only made some light demands, there is no way they will release us.

"Since we have troops here, why not just attack directly..."

Liu Quanzhi looked at Adams and several other Americans and taught them earnestly:

"What has the king ever taught you? To punish without teaching is cruelty.

"The Ming Dynasty believes in doing things in an upright manner. Even if we know that the enemy is likely to be stubborn, we must give them a chance before we teach them a lesson.

"The fact that the other side still chooses to stick to the end can boost the morale of our soldiers.

“And with this warning, when we finally defeat and punish them, we won’t have to accuse them of being brutal and cruel.

"Tripoli is a vassal of the Ottomans. This can be a reason for the king to take action against the Ottomans."

After listening to this, Adams felt that he vaguely understood:

"Thank you Mr. Liu for your teachings."

The fleet that Liu Quan and his entourage were on sailed towards Taranto.

After the fleet docked at the port of Taranto, while unloading cargo and combat troops, Liu Quanzhi first went to meet Xu Qing, the general manager of the Western Factory in the Mediterranean.

Liu Quanzhi explained his guess.

Xu Qing immediately went to check the intelligence on North Africa in the past two years, and then came back to introduce it to Liu Quanzhi:
“There is no clear intelligence to prove that these North African pirate leaders have directly colluded with any European country.

"However, there have been some cases in the past two years where the frequency of some European merchant ships heading to North African pirate lairs has increased a bit.

"But it is impossible to determine the specific identities of these businessmen, or what industries or people they represent."

Liu Quanzhi said quite disappointedly:
"So, you can only conclude that someone interfered with the decision-making of the North African pirates? You know nothing about the details?"

Xu Qing is relatively single:

“These are just pirates. We have done very little recruitment in pirate areas because we didn’t think there would be any important news there before.

"Now it seems that we may have miscalculated before. We still need some specialized personnel to collect intelligence within the pirate system."

Liu Quanzhi gave up temporarily after hearing this and just reminded Xu Qing:
"If you have a channel that can quickly return to Ming Dynasty via the Red Sea, then immediately send the relevant intelligence back to Australia for the king to evaluate and make decisions."

Xu Qing immediately said:
"No problem, we can go to the Red Sea."

After the discussion ended, Xu Qing arranged for someone to report to Zhu Jianxuan.

Liu Quanzhi took Adams to Vienna to meet Habsburg Emperor Joseph II.

When Joseph learned that Zhu Jianxuan's envoy was visiting, he warmly held a welcoming ceremony and banquet.

In the middle of the banquet, Liu Quanzhi talked to Joseph alone and explained Zhu Jianxuan's invitation to attack the Ottoman Empire together.

Joseph subconsciously asked back after hearing this:
"Your Majesty, King Wu, wants to control Egypt and build a canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea?"

Liu Quanzhi did not hide it, as such things could not be concealed:

“Yes, our king wants to completely open up the old shipping route, which will benefit all countries in the Mediterranean.

“This includes the Habsburgs, of course, and Russia in the Black Sea.

“Once the canal is opened, the Mediterranean shipping route will regain its prosperity before the Age of Exploration.”

Joseph II thought about it carefully and said:

“But certainly not all countries would be happy to see the canal opened unless they could also control it.

“For example, the UK, France, Spain, Portugal.

“Especially Britain and France, both had special interests in the Ottoman Empire, and they had commercial treaties.

“In fact, the Dutch and Venetian merchants also had it, but it’s not important anymore.

"Our declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire and the Ming's seizure of the Isthmus of Suez will inevitably lead to opposition from France and Britain.

“They will certainly support Osman implicitly, and perhaps even openly.”

After listening to Joseph II's explanation, Liu Quanzhi suddenly realized that those who instigated the North African pirates might be French or British merchants.

Needless to say, although Britain is now allied with the Ming Dynasty, it certainly hates the Ming Dynasty for seizing their colonies.

Although the French royal family had a good impression of the Ming Dynasty and had a good relationship with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu, the same might not be true for the French nobles, officials, and businessmen.

Within Europe, the only people who had the ability and motivation to cause trouble for the Ming Dynasty were the merchants from France and Britain.

Liu Quanzhi was thinking about something in his mind, and when he caught up with him, he asked directly:
"So your majesty will not participate in this operation?"

Joseph shook his head after hearing this:

“No, I will participate. This is a very good opportunity, and I will try to persuade Her Majesty Catherine to participate as well.

“Only when enough powerful countries participate together can there be a chance to exclude interference from countries like Britain and France.

“The Habsburgs formed an alliance with the Russians just to target the Ottomans.”

Liu Quanzhi heaved a sigh of relief:
"Then I wish your Majesty victory."

(End of this chapter)