The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 256: Britain's opportunity to cause trouble has come

"The French killed their king!"

Some British newspaper headlines were filled with shock and schadenfreude.

"The French 'also' killed their king—"

Some newspapers also carried a double meaning of irony and warning.

"It's more of a murder than an assassination."

British Prime Minister Lord Rockingham instinctively commented on the report after reading it.

According to the original history, the Marquis of Rockingham died unexpectedly of a cold shortly after the start of his second term.

In modern times, colds can be fatal if they are viral.

In this era, even a common cold may cause a fever, which can be fatal.

After the death of the Marquis of Rockingham, a series of chaos broke out in the already contradictory British political arena, and eventually William Pitt the Younger, the youngest prime minister in British history, came to power.

In this world, when the Marquis of Rockingham could have been catching a cold, he took a ship to Ming to participate in peace talks.

Things like catching a cold are inherently full of unexpected events.

Once the same person moves to another place, this incident may not happen again.

So the Marquis of Rockingham was lucky to survive.

Then, because of the peace treaty signed with the Ming Dynasty, it cooperated with the Ming Dynasty, Austria and France, participated in the territorial exchange operations to deter Prussia and support Austria.

Promote territorial trade between Hanover and Ming Dynasty, restore Britain's position in Europe, and regain the Canadian colony.

It then continued to develop African colonies and made many contributions and achievements to Britain.

He had accumulated enough reputation and prestige in the political arena, among the people and in front of the king, so he was able to continue to govern for a long time.

As a sufficiently compromising centrist, Rockingham was able to bridge the conflicts between the Conservatives and the Radicals and continue to maintain the operation of the British cabinet government.

The Marquis of Rockingham has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 1780, and it has been exactly 10 years now.

The Marquis of Rockingham has become the second longest-serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, second only to Robert Walpole, the first true Prime Minister in British history.

Although after stabilizing the situation, the Marquis of Rockingham gradually eliminated dissidents and consolidated his power during the process of governing.

He turned the makeshift cabinet that was originally pieced together into a cabinet under his control.

However, in the process he also constantly made political enemies and became increasingly suspicious of King George III.

Lord Rockingham's ministry was becoming increasingly untenable.

The Marquis of Rockingham had already been considering whether to find a suitable time to retire, after all, he was already in his sixties.

But now that something was happening in France, the Marquis of Rockingham suddenly felt that Britain's opportunity had come.

My chance has also come.

We should seize the opportunity to make France the public enemy of Europe and let the French feel the pain that Britain suffered during the North American War.

It also gives me another great achievement before I retire.

The subsequent news was not particularly favorable.

The French found themselves a king, the Duke of Orleans, the top noble in France. He seemed ready to compromise with the traditional nobles and follow the British revolutionary path.

But the chance still existed, for the Duke of Orleans was not the first choice heir to the French throne.

The Marquis of Rockingham called together the main members of the cabinet, and after a very simple discussion, decided to launch a diplomatic action first to win over enough allies.

The Marquis of Rockingham sat in the main seat and talked and gave instructions to his colleagues in the cabinet:
“First, two groups of diplomats were arranged to go to Antwerp and Austria respectively.

"The first legitimate heir to the French throne is Prince Louis Joseph, the nephew of Emperor Joseph II of Austria, who inherited the emperor's name.

“So the Austrian emperor had both the motive and the excuse to interfere in French affairs.

“Prince Joseph lived in the Ming city of Antwerp and was protected by the Ming. At the same time, the riots in France also tended to oppose the Ming’s interference.

“So if we want to interfere in France, we must involve Ming Dynasty in the action, and Ming Dynasty also has an excuse to interfere.

“Then arrange two more groups of diplomats to go to Spain and Prussia respectively.

“The King of Spain is also a member of the Bourbon royal family, and he and Prince Joseph are both descendants of Louis XIV. The Duke of Orleans is a descendant of Louis XIV’s brother.

"If it weren't for the fact that after the War of the Spanish Succession, Louis XIV's grandson Philip V inherited the Spanish throne in accordance with the Treaty of Utrecht, the current King of Spain would have been ahead of the Duke of Orleans in the order of succession to the French throne.

“Although there are restrictions in the Treaty of Utrecht, the King of Spain will certainly covet the French throne and will definitely not sit idly by and watch the Duke of Orleans succeed to the throne.

“So the King of Spain also had reasons and motives to interfere in France.

"Finally there is Prussia, now the leader of Germany outside of Austria.

"Prussia had an incentive to interfere in French affairs in order to keep the German states in the border regions under Prussian domination.

"If we can form an anti-French alliance involving Britain, Ming, Austria, Spain, and Prussia, it will be very helpful in improving Britain's position in Europe.

"The key is to suppress France's position and even further open up the French domestic market—"

Lord Rockingham's ideas were recognized by almost all cabinet members.

Since the North American War, Britain has changed its tradition of acting in isolation and has begun to have a strong desire to find allies.

This is also a completely correct idea. In the chaotic situation in Europe, those who just keep doing things will eventually be besieged.

Only by bringing more countries to its side can it ensure that its plans can be implemented, and the key is to avoid being isolated again.

The British do not want to experience the situation of being surrounded by enemies on all sides like in the North American War again for even a minute.

But I am particularly looking forward to letting other European countries experience it.

Especially the French.

So British diplomats immediately took action, boarding Britain's most advanced steam sailing ships and heading for the capitals of major European countries and the Ming Dynasty's strongholds.

The industrial revolution that originated in Britain originally had no direct purpose. It was a qualitative change that resulted from the slow accumulation of quantitative changes.

The British at that time had no concept of the Industrial Revolution at all, and naturally would not take the initiative to lead it.

Therefore, the progress of Britain's early spontaneous industrialization was actually very slow.

It was not until the 1760s, when the spinning jenny appeared and Watt began to improve the steam engine, that it was basically completed.

It took almost eighty years.

In this world, Britain lost most of its overseas colonies, and especially without the opportunity to control India, Britain's handicraft products lost their colonial markets.

The progress of Britain's Industrial Revolution should be significantly slowed down, and may even be stillborn.

However, the Ming Dynasty in this world has begun to industrialize, and the current situation of the Ming Dynasty has become a direct reference for the British.

Since the Ming Dynasty invented steam sailing ships and traveled all over the world, the key point is that it also banned the export of steam engines.

The British government, businessmen, and craftsmen all realized that the steam engine was a good thing.

It just so happened that there was also a Mr. Watt in Britain who designed a steam engine with high practical value, but its efficiency was slightly lower than that of the Ming Dynasty.

But it’s not unusable. At least the UK already has it, while other countries don’t have it at all.

They can’t even imitate it now.

The royal families, nobles, and businessmen of France, Prussia, and Spain spent a lot of money to hire craftsmen from Britain and the Ming Dynasty to try to manufacture steam engines in their countries.

As a result, their tools and materials did not meet the standards and they were ultimately unable to produce finished products.

This gave the British a clear direction.

Britain changed from a pioneer to a follower and also gained latecomer advantages in industry.

First, the cabinet and the navy took the lead and directly compared the Ming Dynasty's steam sailing ships to successfully develop their own military steam sailing ships, which greatly improved the strength of the British Navy.

At this time, there was no clear distinction between military and civilian technologies in Britain. The military developed the steam sailing ship, and the civilians naturally acquired the corresponding technology.

Currently, the only ships emitting smoke near Europe are those from the Ming Dynasty and Britain.

At the same time, British aristocrats and businessmen, that is, investors in the private market, all knew the huge potential of the steam engine.

The British government, navy, aristocracy, and businessmen invested huge amounts of money in Watt's steam engine company.

Watt's steam engine workshop was transformed into a large factory with sufficient capital.

With the assistance of the British government, navy and investors, Watt recruited a large number of Britain's top craftsmen.

Got nearly unlimited support from advanced tools and materials.

There is also theoretical support from mathematicians and physicists from the British Academy.

The efficiency of the British steam engine increased rapidly and was quickly spread to various suitable industries.

A large number of steam-powered factories quickly emerged in Britain.

Most of the cheap industrial products they produced were sold to the German region that was gradually unified under the leadership of Prussia through the king's Kingdom of Hanover.

A small portion was sold to Hanoverian Canada and the newly opened British colonies in Africa.

Although the Ming Dynasty also sold goods to the German region through Hanover's channels, they were basically traditional luxury goods.

According to Zhu Jianxuan's technology protection strategy, high-end industrial products such as bicycles, steam engines, and bolt-action rifles would not be sold to Europe.

At the same time, cheap industrial products such as cotton and linen fabrics will not be sold to Europe.

The markets in Ming Dynasty's homeland and surrounding areas are large enough, and the Ming Dynasty court also has a huge amount of materials needed for the development of its homeland and Africa.

Official manufacturers of the Ming Dynasty and private merchants had to pay more transportation costs to send low-end domestic products to Europe, and would not make more money than selling them to the court.

In particular, the Ming Dynasty has now completed the "state capitalism reform" and has also simultaneously completed the gold standard financial reform.

The Ming Dynasty has completed capital accumulation and does not particularly need money.

The materials needed for local development and construction are more important than money, and it is even more impossible to send the materials needed to Europe on a large scale in exchange for silver.

The internal market of the Ming Dynasty was too huge, and like the United States in its early industrialization period, it would naturally form an internal circulation.

Before the completion of the Second Industrial Revolution and the beginning of the era of monopoly capitalism or imperialism, the Ming Dynasty was not sensitive to the demand of the external low-end industrial product market.

As a result, the market for low-end, cheap industrial products on the European continent, including the German region, was gradually occupied by the British.

In order to fight against the more powerful Austria, Prussia began to integrate other German states in advance, and the gradually unified internal market allowed the British to take advantage.

On this basis, the King of England's identity as King of Hanover became more important than at the same time in history.

The authority of the British king therefore rose again.

Britain is also eager to gain a higher position in continental Europe and further open up markets in European countries.

France is naturally also a key target, and now the opportunity has come.

Edmund Burke, a close friend and secretary of the British Prime Minister, the Marquis of Rockingham, went to Vienna, the capital of Austria, as the British diplomatic representative to contact the Austrian Emperor.

Edmund Burke received a warm welcome in Vienna.

With the help of the Ming Dynasty, Britain and Austria once had military and political cooperation on the European continent, and the two sides currently have a relatively friendly relationship in name only.

Burke soon met the Austrian Emperor Joseph II.

Austrian Emperor Joseph II directly expressed his support for Burke's proposal on behalf of Britain to jointly interfere in the succession to the French throne.

There is no objection to getting Ming Dynasty and Spain involved.

However, he had no interest in getting the Prussians involved and made it clear that he wanted to exclude the German Alliance headed by Prussia.

Edmund Burke immediately persuaded the emperor:
"Your Majesty, have you ever thought that the continued confrontation between Austria and Prussia is actually more beneficial to Prussia and less beneficial to Austria?"

Joseph II asked in surprise:

"Why? You'd better give me a reasonable explanation."

Burke smiled and said:
“The Prussian-led German Confederation was established with Austria as a potential target.

"The other princes in the German region were willing to obey Prussia because they were worried about being annexed by Austria.

“So the more intense the confrontation between Prussia and Austria, the more trust the other states within the German Confederation had in Prussia.

"Correspondingly, once Prussia and Austria reconciled, or even showed signs of a possible reconciliation, the antagonism between Prussia and Austria weakened.

"Then the other German states would immediately doubt Prussia's position and whether Prussia would continue to protect them.

"Because Prussia is now actually weakening the independence of the states...

“So at this time, Austria showed its care and protection for the other German states and made a promise that it would never annex other states.

"It is possible to gain support from centrist states, and the centripetal force of the Prussian-led German Confederation will be weakened.

“At the same time, I think Austria must find a way to reconcile with Prussia.

“Because if Austria wants to continue to expand in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, it must exclude the interference of the German Alliance headed by Prussia.

“Otherwise, any military action by Austria in these two directions would inevitably be resisted by Prussia.

“Austria should look for opportunities to cooperate with Prussia and reduce the posture of direct confrontation between the two sides.

"Interfering with the French succession is a great opportunity."

As Joseph II listened to Burke's analysis, he gradually felt a sense of sudden enlightenment.

Joseph discovered that he had fallen into a misconception.

Joseph II had little interest in the affairs of the Holy Roman Empire, so he allowed Prussia to engage in the German Alliance.

At the same time, he regarded Prussia as his enemy, and an all-round enemy and competitor in the whole of Europe, the Holy Roman Empire, and Germany.

So Joseph never considered the possibility of actively cooperating with Prussia.

They have been thinking about how to defeat Prussia and how to destroy the so-called German Alliance. The key is that all ideas are focused on direct external confrontation.

He had never realized that the way to destroy the German Confederation was to actively cooperate with Prussia.

This matter is really a bit counterintuitive.

Joseph felt that if no bystander had directly reminded him, he might never have discovered it in his lifetime.

Now that his mind was opened, Joseph II had more ideas.

Not only can he try to cooperate with Prussia, he can also take the initiative to stick to his German Alliance.

Not only did he hold the title of Holy Roman Emperor, he also held the title of German King.

I should make use of these two titles and take a more active role in participating in and leading Shinra affairs.

Take the initiative to help small and medium-sized countries and help them uphold justice.

Make clear the fact that Prussia is restricting the autonomy of independent states and publicly prohibit Prussia from continuing to do so.

Prussia could refuse or even oppose, but as long as it continued to advocate and interfere, it could gradually reduce the hostility of other German states towards Austria.

Gradually, other small and medium-sized states came to believe that Prussia was deliberately making enemies with the emperor without any basis.

The key is to make them realize that they might not only be annexed by Austria, but also be sidelined by Prussia.

Even if he could not gain the trust of these states, he had to make them no longer trust Prussia.

Reduce the cohesion of the German Confederation and reduce Prussia's control over other German states.

(End of this chapter)