The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 258 Louis XVII's Journey

The French King Louis XVII, also known as Louis Joseph, and his brother, who were recognized by the Ming Dynasty, traveled to the Ming Dynasty on the Ming Dynasty's steam sailing warship.

With the introduction of the situation by officials arranged by the Ming Dynasty's European Governor and the comfort and guidance of the French court guards and maids who served Joseph, Joseph had understood and accepted the reality.

Knowing that his father had been assassinated, he was already theoretically the King of France.

He also knew that there were a large number of rebels controlling the situation in France, and he could not accept the decision to return to Paris to inherit the throne.

He is now actually a king in exile.

Louis Joseph lived in Daming City for a long time and was influenced by the Ming culture since childhood. He was not opposed to going to the Ming mainland.

But Joseph didn't understand why he had to go to Ming Dynasty at this time instead of Ming Dynasty directly arranging troops to come to Europe.

After the fleet entered the Mediterranean, the sea was much quieter than the Atlantic.

The fleet continued to drift forward on the sea. Louis Joseph came to the deck and stared at the sparkling sea for a long time.

Then he couldn't help but ask his personal maid again:

"The Ming Dynasty should arrange troops to help us quell the rebellion in the country and escort me back to Paris to succeed the throne, right?
The head maid actually didn't have very high expectations.

There were many so-called kings in exile in Europe, and some of them could even be passed down for many generations.

However, there are very few people who actually became king again after exile, and almost all of them were accidents.

In the opinion of the head maid, the fact that Ming chose to send Joseph away instead of arranging troops to come shows that Ming did not want to interfere in French affairs.

But in response to the little king's question, the head maid gave a positive answer:

"Of course they will. The relationship between Ming and France is very good, and cooperation between France and Ming is beneficial to both sides.

"The Ming Dynasty certainly doesn't want to see the rebels change the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and France...

"Your Majesty Joseph of Austria, your uncle will not allow the French rebels to do whatever they want."

Joseph immediately asked the obvious question:
"When will Ming and Austria send troops?"

The head maid was quite sad in her heart, but on the surface she said confidently:

"I heard that Ming is currently at war. Once Ming is done dealing with the current war, they will probably come to help Your Majesty."

Joseph was, after all, a child and did not yet have the ability to distinguish a white lie.

After listening to the head maid's comfort, Joseph's mood changed from worry and confusion to expectation.

The fleet Joseph was on continued to move forward and soon arrived at the Suez Canal controlled by the Ming Dynasty.

When the fleet entered the canal, Joseph and his brother, protected by guards and servants, once again came to the bow deck.

Joseph looked at the surrounding desert and the unusually wide canal, and couldn't help but admire it:

"This... is this river really dug by humans? This river must be more than twice as wide as the Seine in Paris..."

The head maid also looked at the width of the water and said with great emotion:
“Your Majesty is right, the width of this river… is indeed at least twice that of the Seine.

"There really wasn't such a canal before, so it must have been dug by the Ming people."

The interface of the Suez Canal is an inverted trapezoid. The average width of the water surface and the riverbed is two hundred meters, and the width of the water surface is about three hundred and fifty meters.

The width of the Seine River in Paris is only over 100 meters, less than half the width of the canal.

After listening to this, Joseph couldn't help but admire again:

"A river dug by man can be so huge. No wonder they say the canal is a miracle of human engineering and management."

Amid the admiration of Joseph and others, the fleet slowly passed through the canal.

Continuing southeast through the Red Sea, we refueled at Aden and then sailed east across the Arabian Sea.

Joseph would go to the deck every day to enjoy the scenery, mainly hoping to see the various ships appearing on the sea and then guess their purpose and destination.

Joseph soon discovered that after passing the Suez Canal, he could hardly see any pure sailing ships.

Almost all the sailboats he encountered were smoking.

Unlike in the Mediterranean, pure traditional sailing boats are still everywhere.

Most ordinary people in this world, including the indigenous child Joseph, do not realize that the world's navigation technology tree has skipped an important branch.

In the original history, the Industrial Revolution developed spontaneously and without consciousness.

The efficiency of steam engines improved very slowly, and the pace of promotion and application was even slower. The development of steam sailing ships did not begin to gain scale until the mid-nineteenth century.

So after Watt improved the steam engine, traditional sailing ships continued to develop.

It even reached a new peak in the mid-to-late 19th century, when the very famous clipper ship in history appeared.

Because clipper ships were efficient enough and steam engines were less efficient, and the layout of coaling stations was slow, steam ships had no cost advantage in ocean freight.

So in the mid-nineteenth century, when steam-powered ironclad ships were about to come out, the main ocean-going cargo ships were still purely sail-powered clippers.

Steamships of that era were mostly used in coastal waters or even inland rivers.

But in this world, under Zhu Jianxuan's deliberate guidance, the efficiency of steam engines rose rapidly and soon reached the level of the late nineteenth century.

With the support of the Ming Dynasty's official power, coal supply stations sprang up everywhere the Ming Dynasty's power reached.

The key point is that there are no clipper ships that are efficient enough at that time.

Therefore, the steam sailing ship, which was converted from the traditional sailing ship, soon became the world's main ocean-going cargo ship.

On the contrary, there are still many traditional sailing activities in the coastal areas of Europe.

After Joseph's fleet crossed the Indian Ocean and entered the Strait of Malacca, they were able to see traditional sailing ships again.

The number of ships on the surrounding waterways also increased again.

When we got close to Singapore Port, the various ships in this narrow strait were so numerous that we couldn't count them.

Among them, there are many huge ships that are far beyond Joseph's understanding.

When the fleet was replenishing supplies in Lion City Port, Joseph looked out at the situation in Lion City Port and saw densely packed tall chimneys and smoke filling the sky.

Joseph, the French King, truly felt the impact of the industrial world for the first time.

Joseph's fleet continued northward after replenishing supplies in Lion City.

In early June of the 44th year of Xianning, he arrived at Tianjin Port, went ashore and took a train to Shuntian Prefecture, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and was arranged by the Honglu Temple to the newly built Siyi Pavilion Protocol Office in the West Outer City.

After more than a year of construction, a large number of new buildings have been built outside the old city of Shuntian Prefecture.

According to the old emperor's plan, after the outer city wall of Shuntian Prefecture is repaired, the entire outer city area will be divided into four areas: east, west, south and north.

The original inner city continues to be called the inner city, the original outer city is called the South City, and the East City, West City, and North City are newly added.

According to Zhu Jianxuan's plan, as new buildings in the outer city are gradually completed, the institutions and personnel who were originally temporarily living in the inner city will gradually move out. The main buildings in the outer city must have complete water supply, drainage, electricity, telephone, telegraph, and heating systems, and unimportant buildings must also reserve space for installation.

After the Ming Dynasty completed its state capitalist transformation last year, the construction speed of Shuntian Prefecture has increased by leaps and bounds.

Now the entire outer city area of ​​Shuntian Prefecture is a huge construction site.

In the eyes of the French led by Joseph, this bustling and large-scale construction site means that huge amounts of money are being spent continuously.

Everyone was admiring in their hearts that the Ming Dynasty royal family was truly rich.

On the morning of June 12, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the Crown Prince met with the two brothers Louis and Joseph in the Wuying Hall.

The old emperor arranged for the two brothers to sit down, and then said in a serious tone:
“Since the North American War, Ming and France have worked together many times and have always maintained mutually beneficial trade relations.

“The Ming imperial family and the French royal family have also established a sincere friendship.

"Jian Xuan originally invited your father to visit Ming Dynasty, but unfortunately the trip never took place and he encountered an accident.

"Thankfully, you two have lived in Daming City for a long time, so you have avoided the murderous hands of the Paris rioters. You can be considered lucky."

Joseph followed the instructions given by the head maid and the guards, and at this time, he bowed vigorously to the old emperor:

"I also ask His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to suppress the rebellion for France. In the future, France must cherish and maintain its friendship with the Ming Dynasty..."

After hearing two sentences, the old emperor began to wave his hands:
"Don't be anxious, if the situation in Europe changes, if there is a more suitable opportunity.

"I will have Xuan'er send someone to escort you back to Europe and find a way to help you regain the throne.

“But the situation in Europe is too complicated right now, and Ming has its own things to do.

"You two brothers can rest assured and stay in Daming. You can enjoy the courtesy of Daming princes."

Joseph's idea was relatively simple. Hearing the old emperor's words, it seemed that he accepted his request, so he hurriedly bowed his hands again to express his gratitude:
"Thank you, His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty..."

Zhu Jianxuan also echoed:

"You guys stay in Daming for now, and if you need anything, tell the people at the Honglu Temple.

"When there are major changes in the European situation, I will also have someone inform you."

Joseph bowed again and thanked him.

Zhu Jianxuan now knows better than anyone that the situation in France cannot be stabilized until the French have completely finished their troubles and released their accumulated strength.

There is nothing these two kids can do now. They can only hold it as a card in their hands and wait and see if there will be a chance to use it in the future.

Zhu Jianxuan had no way of predicting what the future situation would be like.

The meeting between Zhu Jianxuan and his son and Joseph's brothers ended quickly, and Zhu Jianxuan asked the people from the Honglu Temple to arrange for them to go back and rest.

According to the old emperor's instructions, they should be treated as princes of the Ming Dynasty.

When the Ming Dynasty built a palace for the princes who stayed in Beijing, it also arranged one for the two brothers.

The two brothers Joseph, with their hearts full of anxiety, confusion and curiosity, settled down in the rebuilt Shuntian Prefecture.

What Joseph does every day now is to watch a large number of new buildings being completed, and a huge new city is gradually taking shape.

Time quickly came to the end of the year, and the Battle of the Japanese Islands was basically over.

The main generals and officials involved in this operation returned to Shuntian Prefecture to report to Zhu Jianxuan on the process and results of the entire war.

The Japanese king and daimyos came to Beijing to plead guilty, and the Japanese emperor and traitors were escorted to Beijing to surrender.

As for Zhao Hongli and the Qing royal family, Zhu Jianxuan actually gave them the treatment of surrendering enemies, because the other party did surrender as de facto emperors.

Zhao Hongli's identity and the orders he issued could help the Ming Dynasty quickly take back the land and subjects originally controlled by the Qing Dynasty.

However, as for the so-called emperor of Japan, Zhu Jianxuan decided to treat him directly as a traitor.

The Japanese emperor had no real political power.

Japan's existing ruling class has either been completely defeated or has been completely hollowed out by the Ming Dynasty's garrison in Japan.

Zhu Jianxuan no longer needed to rely on the name of the emperor.

It was precisely because the emperor had no real power and the imperial family did not directly rebel against the Ming Dynasty, but secretly rebelled against the Tang Dynasty hundreds of years ago.

Zhu Jianxuan did not skin Jianren alive for the crime of treason, but sentenced him to a conventional beheading, but also added the extermination of his entire clan.

All close relatives of the Japanese Emperor Kanehito within the five generations of mourning were beheaded, regardless of gender, age or status.

Apart from the five degrees of mourning, all other blood relatives who could still be traced were sent to the Liaodong coal mines to serve lifelong labor.

The Japanese emperor's influence in Japan comes from his entire imperial family.

Therefore, Zhu Jianxuan did not skin the emperor alive, but he wanted to exterminate all his family members to cut off the thoughts of all subsequent related personnel.

When Japanese Emperor Kanehito was first imprisoned in Japan by Tian Yiming, he still had some hope.

First, he hoped to rely on his influence to get local dignitaries to fight for him, and eventually gain some de facto status for himself.

Even when the Japanese feudal alliance suffered a crushing defeat and Kenjin's family was escorted to the Ming Dynasty, he still did not completely despair.

The Japanese emperors of the Edo period had no way of obtaining real power and were only allowed to study knowledge and rituals. Kanehito also dabbled in the local history of Shenzhou.

Jianren felt that as a monarch of a country, he should be given a title such as Duke Anle after being captured.

But he never expected that his entire clan would be exterminated.

Moreover, Jianren never met the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The officials of the Dali Temple came directly to the prison and read out the Crown Prince's decree.

After listening to this, Jianren was completely stunned:

"Why? Why? Why is it like this? Doesn't the Ming Dynasty know that prosperity and decline are the same as the continuation of the past?"

Amid Jianren's screams, which were completely incomprehensible to him, Jianren's entire family was dragged out by the yamen runners and executed.

The Japanese King Tokugawa Ienari and all the Japanese daimyo who chose to follow the king and be loyal to the Ming Emperor were received.

But it was not a private summons, but a direct and public verdict.

In the Wuying Hall of the Forbidden City, after a group of people paid homage to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the Crown Prince, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites stepped forward to announce the imperial decree.

First, let me enumerate their sins, the most serious of which was deceiving the emperor and deceiving superiors.

While paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty, they continued to accept the so-called enthronement of the Japanese emperor and did not take the initiative to capture the traitor and hand him over to the Ming Dynasty for punishment.

However, he eventually repented and successfully eliminated all the rebels, and captured the traitor alive with the help of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, everyone can be spared the death penalty, but still cannot escape the punishment of life imprisonment.

All moved to Africa.

(End of this chapter)