The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 27 Adams and Hancock
April 2, the 30th year of Emperor Xianning’s reign in the Ming Dynasty, Wuying Hall in the Forbidden City in Nanjing, Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Zhu Zhonglin of the Ming Dynasty, King Zhu Jianxuan of Wu of the Ming Dynasty, and John Adams, representative of the Thirteen Colonies in North America.

The three of them discussed and determined the cooperation plan between Ming Dynasty and the thirteen colonies in North America.

After both parties clearly expressed their respective positions and conditions, they had the interpreter translate and then confirmed with each other that their intentions were expressed correctly.

Finally, the plan was written down in both Chinese and English and signed and confirmed by Zhu Jianxuan and John Adams.

This is an official memorandum, not yet a formal treaty.

With the formal negotiations largely concluded, Adams proposed another verbal agreement.

It was requested that both sides should not make public the arrangement that Zhu Jianxuan would serve as the King of the United States before the war was won.

The intention is also very obvious, which is to avoid the reduction of France and Spain's willingness to join the war because the prince of the Ming Dynasty became the king of the United States.

The Thirteen Colonies would do their best to push these two countries to join the war against Britain wholeheartedly.

Zhu Jianxuan knew that the Americans had cheated the French in history.

When France entered the war, it agreed with the United States that after victory in the war, neither side would conclude a treaty with Britain alone.

In the end, although the United States did not sign a separate treaty with Britain, it negotiated with Britain alone and obtained very good conditions.

Except for Florida, all British North American colonies south of the Great Lakes were ceded to the United States, and the U.S. border was pushed directly to the Mississippi River.

After the talks, the United States went back and told France that it had negotiated very good terms and had decided to sign the contract.

France ultimately gained no substantial benefits.

It only strategically suppressed Britain's position in Europe, creating a situation where the whole of Europe jointly isolated Britain.

This restored France's position on the European continent.

But four years after the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolution broke out, and other Europeans began to join the British in isolating France.

There was only one anti-British alliance, but there were rounds of anti-French alliances.

Zhu Jianxuan agreed to Adams' request very readily.

You Americans can cheat the French however you want, but the Ming Dynasty will only provide limited participation.

It was already afternoon when John Adams left the palace.

Adams' experience today, the key is what he gained from entering the palace today, which can be said to be mixed.

The good news is that Ming Dynasty is very willing to participate in North American affairs.

The worry is that the Ming Dynasty may not necessarily support the Thirteen Colonies, and may also stand on the side of Britain.

Although it may just be a threat, it cannot be ignored.

After Adams returned to his residence, he immediately went out with his companions to gather information.

The primary target was the notices from various government offices, followed by official and private newspapers.

They soon confirmed that the Ming Dynasty had really begun to prepare for the enfeoffment of King Wu and was really organizing a new armed immigrant guard corps.

A total of five guards are to be recruited, each guarding 10,000 immigrant households, with no fewer than six immigrants per household.

And all of them must know how to use guns and receive armed training.

After Adams confirmed the news, his mood became even more complicated.

Because these armed immigrants may be your comrades or enemies.

Adams finally decided to return to North America first and let his companions continue to go to Qing and Shun.

The Qing Empire was already exploring North America and might well become an enemy of the Thirteen Colonies or of Spain.

Although Shun State had the opportunity to become an ally of the Thirteen Colonies, it could basically only fight in the Indian region.

The most critical thing is that the Ming Dynasty has already reached an agreement, and it is necessary to send the news back to North America as soon as possible.

It would be a waste of time to go to Qing and Shun in person.

So Adams said goodbye to his companions in Songjiang Prefecture, and Adams found a Dutch merchant who was doing tea business in America, and boarded a sailing ship that was delivering tea to South America.

We crossed the Strait of Malacca, rounded the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, changed ships in Suriname at the northeast corner of South America, and headed for the Thirteen Colonies in North America.

The journey took more than half a year, and when Adams returned to Philadelphia, it was already the end of 1776.

In the original history, the Declaration of Independence had already been issued at this time.

But it has not been published in this world yet, and it is waiting for Adams to find out the attitude of the Ming Dynasty.

After Adams returned to Philadelphia, he first met with John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress.

Hancock and Adams were childhood neighbors and most important partners.

Hancock was arrested for smuggling tea and tax evasion, and it was Adams, the lawyer, who came forward to defend Hancock's innocence. Adams' cousin Samuel was the founder and leader of the radical independence organization Sons of Liberty.

Samuel and Hancock planned the famous Boston Tea Party in history, and the specific executors were members of the Sons of Liberty.

Samuel and Hancock were also organizers of the Massachusetts militia.

The fuse of the American Revolutionary War, "The Gunfire of Lexington", was when the British army was preparing to capture Samuel and search the militia's ammunition depot, but was ambushed by Massachusetts militia who had received the news in advance.

Both the Hancock and Adams brothers were direct promoters of the North American independence movement.

Because they are also the beneficiaries of the original tea smuggling, as well as the victims of Britain's policy of restricting smuggling.

Actually what Zhu Jianxuan said was not wrong. They were highly utilitarian in their pursuit of independence at that time.

It’s just that later generations added the filter of national liberation.

Adams prepared two documents in advance on his way back to North America.

An introduction to Zhu Jianxuan and his inventions.

A memorandum of intent for cooperation signed with Ming Dynasty.

Hancock took the documents from Adams and first opened the top one. He looked at it for a while and then was stunned.

Hancock glared at Adams next to him and asked:
“Oh my brother, are you serious?

"You didn't write this on opium, did you?
"A six-year-old child has invented so many things...of inestimable value."

Adams sipped his coffee and sighed:
"I knew you would ask this, and I have asked myself this question more than once.

"Now I can only guarantee that I didn't lie to you. As for whether the Ming people lied to me, I can't judge it myself.

“And I can be sure that His Royal Highness the King of Wu is indeed born with great intelligence.

“The Ming Emperor does indeed favor this prince.

"Because he is the youngest son of the queen, he has 15 older brothers and ranks sixth in the line of succession. He has no chance of inheriting the throne.

“So the Ming Emperor prepared to create a kingdom for him overseas.

“As a result, we just happened to be preparing for independence, so they planned to interfere in our affairs and send this prince to be the king.

“His Majesty the Emperor has prepared 50,000 regular troops and 300,000 armed immigrants for this purpose.

“The question now is what choice we should make.”

Hancock stood there with his mouth open for a moment, then kept muttering "This is incredible" and continued to flip through the documents at the back.

After reading everything, Hancock put the two documents together on the table, and then after a few seconds of silence, he said:
"The conditions offered by the Ming Dynasty are not too bad, but they are definitely not very favorable.

“But this also shows that Daming is indeed sincere in cooperating.

"Otherwise, they will just prescribe the most advanced plan that we cannot accept."

Adams asked after hearing this:
"So do you think we can accept this cooperation? Which cooperation plan should we accept?"

Hancock pinched his forehead and said:
"It also depends on the situation in France and Spain. If France and Spain do not join the war, then we can only choose a compromise solution.

"Give two states to our king in exchange for Ming joining the war as soon as possible.

"If France and Spain join the war, then we can choose the bottom line option.

“And I think there is still room for compromise between the two options.

"Didn't His Royal Highness say that the support we can get depends on the price we are willing to pay?

“For example, Ming was required to join the war after France did, and the laws for the two colonies directly governed by the king had to be drafted by the locals.

"But this matter cannot be decided by the two of us, we need to call representatives from all the colonies to discuss it together.

“It depends especially on what His Majesty wants the New York and New Jersey representatives to say…

"Why does your Highness want these two northern colonies instead of the more fertile and wealthy southern colonies?"

Adams thought for a moment and said:
"It's probably because His Highness has a businessman's mindset and values ​​the port value of New York more."

Hancock did not delve into the issue further:

“Perhaps you are right. I will call a meeting of representatives from various colonies.

“I’ll give you the document of the Declaration of Independence drafted by Jefferson. As a lawyer, you can see if it is rigorous enough and whether it needs to be revised.

"After the Continental Congress discussed Ming's conditions, we formally signed and issued the Declaration of Independence."

Adams agreed immediately.

(End of this chapter)