The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 270 French Nobles and Commoners in New Orleans
The United States is the first independent country in the modern sense in the Americas.

In this world, the current status of the United States is considered independent in the eyes of Europeans.

It was just that they invited a prince of the Ming Dynasty to be king, and this prince of the Ming Dynasty happened to become the heir to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

The prince of the Ming Dynasty, who was also the king of the United States, signed an absolutely liberal power agreement with the independent states of the United States, making it acceptable to people in other places.

Historically, the United States had little combat effectiveness for a long time after its independence.

When Latin America first began to fight for independence, the Americans could only provide spiritual support at most, but had no ability to intervene directly.

But now the special relationship between the United States and the Ming Dynasty has made the Ming Dynasty a supporter behind the United States, and now we can seek asylum from the Ming Dynasty through the United States.

October 1791, the 11th year of the reign of Emperor Xianning of the Ming Dynasty, November 7, in the Western calendar.

Gabriel Francis de If, ​​a representative of the Haitian slave owners and a man of minor noble birth, arrived in New Orleans on a sailing ship.

New Orleans was originally built by the French, and after changing hands many times, there is still a group of French immigrants.

There are French people here, and it is also the ocean-river transportation hub of the southern United States, so it was natural for Haitian aid workers to come to New Orleans.

After the United States took over New Orleans, it established New Orleans County and set up a European House under the county government, which was staffed with clerks and clerks to be responsible for European affairs.

Those who were proficient in Chinese and French were selected from the local French immigrants and had to pass the examination of the county government to take up the position.

Charles Martin, the current European real estate clerk, received De Yves at the county government office.

The magistrate of Ao County did not meet Martin directly, but asked him to find out Deif's intentions first.

As a result, when the two met, they looked down on each other.

Just by looking at their names you can tell that one is a noble and the other is a commoner.

The French Revolution had just begun, and there was no inflation in the nobility, so the nobles naturally had a natural arrogance when they saw the common people.

But Martin's current position is that of the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty and a minister of the King of the United States.

It is in accordance with the system of the Ming Dynasty that appointments are made through assessment of actual ability.

I no longer look down on the "unlearned" nobles.

At the same time, news of the French Revolution had reached the United States, and Martin, as a French immigrant, naturally knew about it.

Martin knew that a large number of great nobles in mainland France had died. Do you, a small noble who had been active in the colonies for a long time, still want to put on airs in front of me?

Although Yves came here to seek help and not to travel or visit friends, he didn't have the time to put on airs.

But his subconscious behavior still reflects his attitude.

Yves did not take the time to greet Martin, nor did he wait for Martin to ask questions. Instead, he came up and started explaining the situation directly.

If the Ming Dynasty or the United States could help Haiti suppress the slave rebellion, the citizens of Haiti would be willing to pledge allegiance to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty or the King of the United States and recognize that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty or the King of the United States owned Haiti.

In Martin's eyes, Yves' current state is arrogant and domineering, and the key is that he does not respect himself.

After listening to Yves's explanation, Martin said with some disdain:
“You only have tens of thousands of people, managing hundreds of thousands of slaves.

“The key is that they don’t select the virtuous and capable, but only look at family background and title to appoint officials.

"It's not surprising if there's trouble, it's surprising if there's no trouble."

Yves immediately became furious:
"What kind of attitude is that! How did you become a servant of the king when you don't even know basic etiquette?"

Facing Yves's question, Martin just laughed:

“As expected, they are French nobles. They never consider respecting others, but only ask others to respect them.

"You came in this door, didn't even say hello, didn't even do a basic bow, and just gave orders carelessly, and you expect me to respect you?
"Who do you think you are? A governor appointed by His Majesty the King of America? Where do you think this is? Is this your own estate and farm?"

Yves was stunned for a moment, then immediately responded:
“Our etiquette is for the nobility, not for the commoners and servants.

“This is the territory of the King of the United States, and I am here to visit the Governor of New Orleans, to visit the King of the United States.

"As the king's servant, you should faithfully convey my meaning.

"Instead of pointing and insulting guests here—"

Martin couldn't help laughing again after hearing this, and then he began to organize his words, trying to find a way to make Yves face reality:
"I now fully understand that whether it is the revolution in France or the rebellion in Haiti, it is really what you so-called nobles deserve.

“I remember a game that was popular among the young nobles in Paris.

"A group of young noblemen surrounded a random civilian on the street and stabbed him in the back with swords.

"Because the laws of the Kingdom of France stipulate that when a noble speaks to a commoner, the commoner cannot turn his back to the noble and must face the noble.

“If a commoner deliberately turns his back on a noble, the noble will consider it an insult, so it is okay to attack a commoner without breaking the law.

“But this commoner is surrounded by young noblemen.

“After he was stabbed in the back, he immediately turned around to face the noble boy who stabbed him, but his back was immediately exposed to the noble boy on the other side.

“The noble boy on the other side would also talk to him and then stab him in the back with a sword.

“The common people could only keep turning around in the crowd, being stabbed by swords and wailing for mercy until the noble boys lost interest in this game.

“Even if this civilian eventually bled to death, most of his wounds were on his back.

“A court presided over by nobles will also find the noble boys not guilty.

“You have never put the common people on the same level as you, they are nothing more than talking animals in your eyes.

“So the revolution happened, so the nobles were executed, and the common people of Paris wanted to be human.

“They want to gain the status that is the birthright of the Ming people.

"The officials of the Ming Dynasty were selected through assessment and according to their ability, not based on whether their birth and bloodline looked nobler than others.

“This system has been in place for more than a thousand years.

“About nine hundred years ago, Huang Chao, a commoner from Shenzhou, led a revolution at the end of the Tang Dynasty, killing all the traditional nobles.

“Starting from the Han Dynasty, which was equivalent to the Roman era, many noble families in Shenzhou that had been passed down for thousands of years were completely destroyed by the anger of the revolutionary people.

“From then on, all officials in Shenzhou were replaced by civilian scholars.

“Although there were new nobles in the Shenzhou Dynasty after that, if nobles wanted to directly participate in government affairs, they had to pass assessments based on their abilities to obtain qualifications.

"The vast majority of officials in the Ming Dynasty court are of commoner origin.

“On the other hand, the vast majority of Ming officials were civilians before they became officials, including ministers who directly served the emperor.

“So the officials and nobles of the Ming Dynasty would respect the common people.

“Because they don’t know whether this commoner or the commoner’s child will become a minister of the king in the future.

“I am the son of a leatherworker. I passed the exam organized by the Ming Dynasty in New Orleans and now I am an official in charge of European immigrants.

“My colleagues and subordinates were also selected in this way. None of us are of noble birth.

"All Europeans, including French and Spanish, who want to live or stay in Orleans are directly under the jurisdiction of me and my colleagues.

“What you take for granted simply doesn’t work in the Ming court.

“So, I will convey your meaning to the Governor of New Orleans, Mr. Yves from Haiti, who is a commoner from the Ming Dynasty.

"You are arrogant and unreasonable, and you don't know etiquette, and you ask the Ming Dynasty to send troops to suppress the rebellion of hundreds of thousands of people.

"Is this what you are expressing now?" Martin had never been to the Ming Dynasty. His information about the Ming Dynasty was conveyed through books and Ming people.

His understanding of Ming society is not particularly in-depth, and he has a certain idealized psychological cognitive filter.

The social system that selected officials mainly on the basis of their abilities, without distinguishing between nobles and commoners, made him, as a European commoner, particularly yearn for it.

They themselves had passed the Ming-style examinations and became grassroots officials, so they were considered vested interests and therefore had a special respect for the Ming Dynasty.

Yves listened to Martin's chattering, and at first he didn't understand what Martin meant and felt a little confused.

Although the games played by those noble boys were cruel, they did not violate the laws of the kingdom.

What's so worth mentioning about this? Because you are also a civilian?

The talking animals metaphor isn’t bad.

Is it for this reason that you will start a rebellion and kill the noble nobles of France?

You are really too cruel and vicious!

Yves did not instinctively want to make excuses, such as "they are just bad guys", "they are still young", "they are ignorant".

Because this form of justification only occurs when the social rights of both parties are approximately equal.

The implication of this defense is that they are all good people as a whole, but some of them made mistakes under special circumstances and promised not to do so again.

If the social rights of both parties are completely unequal, and the inequality is open, legal, and long-lasting, then those in power will simply not have such thinking.

They do not believe they are at fault and will not promise not to do it again.

It was not until Yves listened to Martin's introduction to the Ming Dynasty's system of selecting officials that he vaguely realized the problem.

Yves had heard before that officials in the Ming Dynasty were selected through assessment.

But just like listening to stories from far away, it never really matters to me.

Occasionally, I would even feel a little contempt, wondering how officials of common origin could manage the country well?

No wonder most of the territory of the Ming Dynasty was occupied by the barbarians in the north.

It was not until Martin specifically mentioned that he himself was of common origin that all his colleagues were also of common origin.

The key point is that the Governor of New Orleans was also of commoner origin.

Yves finally understood everything and realized that his trip might have been in vain.

Hearing Martin's last two sentences, his summary seemed to be correct, but they felt completely wrong.

Yves finally realized that the other party might be threatening him.

If the European affairs of New Orleans were under the control of a group of civilians headed by Martin, then his position would be equivalent to that of the former Governor of New Orleans.

Now it seems to be at least the position of a full-time deputy governor.

This group of people were stuck between him and the American king. If he showed any bias when conveying messages for him, it might affect the judgment of Ming officials or even the king.

The key point is, he didn't seem to be lying. I was indeed rude to him and didn't even say hello.

I feel that he is a commoner, so I don't need to be like that.

But now the people who manage these things are all of common origin, and may not have any titles at all, not even honorary titles.

My disrespect for Martin would surely be seen as disrespect by others.

According to Martin, since nine hundred years ago, the government of the Shenzhou Empire has been a system similar to the current French Revolutionary government.

Then is it still useful to come to Daming myself?

Maybe it would only work if I went directly to the prince? Or other American nobles?

Yes, the King of America enthroned a group of new nobles in the United States.

These new nobles may not have real power, but they are nobles after all.

At the very least, they should be willing to stand on their side and convey the message in a way that is more beneficial to them.

So after much thought, Yves decided to go to another place to seek help.

Try going to New York or Richmond and visiting the local nobles directly.

So Yves reluctantly bowed to Martin, indicating that he had finished what he was saying and would leave.

Martin was a little surprised, thinking that this brainless little noble might not understand what he meant, so he reminded him again:
"The Ming Dynasty has special steam-powered sailing ships for sending messages between cities and strongholds. No matter where you want to go now, my report will definitely arrive before you."

Yves was completely furious and almost collapsed. He suddenly pointed at Martin and yelled:

"You are a despicable, shameless and short-sighted pariah. You are playing with power in a way that harms the interests of the Ming Dynasty.

“Haiti is the richest colony in the Caribbean, and the King of America must want to make this rich colony his territory.

"You have been obstructing and disrupting the meeting and negotiations between the Haitian nobles and the King of America. You will definitely be exposed one day and will definitely receive the punishment you deserve!"

Martin was stunned for a moment, and was indeed a little panicked in his heart, because Haiti was indeed valuable at this time.

But Martin still refuted it calmly on the surface:
“I told you that the things you take for granted simply won’t work in the Ming Dynasty court.

“You European nobles are pursuing pure monetary gain, so you think these Caribbean islands are worth a fortune.

"But the Ming emperor and the American king were after vast, fertile, arable land.

"It is used to resettle up to 400 million native Ming people.

“The Ming Emperor would rather claim a large piece of wasteland, and then allocate several hundred acres of land to each of his subjects, letting them reclaim and cultivate it.

"Instead of competing for tropical islands that produce sugar and coffee.

“In the years after the North American War, the Ming Dynasty took out all of its allocated Caribbean islands and exchanged them for land on the mainland with France and Spain.

"Don't you even realize this?

"But you can rest assured that no matter what the attitude is, I will fulfill my duties.

"Record your purpose accurately and have our county lord present it to our king, the Crown Prince of Ming."

Martin's attitude actually softened a little, but it was still very tough because what he said was indeed true.

This Yves was indeed rude and showed absolutely no respect to his servant, the King of America.

Compared with the islands in the Caribbean, the King of America did prefer the land on the mainland, and he did use the land to settle immigrants from the Ming Dynasty.

Martin, who was in New Orleans, knew that the number of Ming Dynasty immigrants who had moved inland from the great river of North America (the Mississippi River) might have been 700,000 to 800,000.

However, there were no large-scale immigrants from the Ming Dynasty in New Orleans because there was not much land suitable for cultivation around New Orleans.

The Ming Dynasty also only regarded New Orleans as a port for ocean and river transportation.

Deep down in his heart, Martin indeed regarded the Ming Dynasty, a divine dynasty, as the government after the French Revolution.

It is believed that the Ming Emperor is not the same as European kings and emperors.

He felt that the Emperor and Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty would approve of the French Revolution and would not care too much about the slave owners in Haiti.

(End of this chapter)