The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 295: The Emperor's Declaration

Zhu Jianxuan asked his ministers to reject Spain's request to renew the friendly alliance agreement.

At the same time, I also began to look through maps of various parts of the world, thinking about the problems I would have to face next.

How should this melee in Europe end, and what role should the Ming Dynasty play in order to obtain the most real and tangible benefits.

The Ming Dynasty will eventually participate in this war in Europe.

The purpose of sitting on the mountain and watching the fight between tigers is to intervene and end the fight at the right time to gain the greatest benefit.

If you just watch the show without participating at all, you may get nothing.

Now comes a critical time node.

After the friendly alliance agreement between Ming Dynasty and Spain expired, Ming Dynasty directly declared war on Spain and began to intervene in the European war.

Or maybe just wait and see.

France and Spain are now allies, and declaring war on Spain may lead to France's entry into the war, and the Ming Dynasty will actually join the anti-French alliance.

France’s strength is far from exhausted now, and it has just reached its peak.

Historically, it was Britain that consumed France's naval power at Trafalgar, and it was the vast space and winter of Russia that consumed France's land power.

It will not be easy to fight a war with such a country before France's strength is exhausted.

If it were the original history, the best time to join the war would be when Napoleon invaded Russia, but there is no certainty whether this will happen again in this world.

At the same time, it is possible that France and Spain will fall out again.

Napoleon had already controlled the situation in France and also controlled the states, large and small, surrounding France.

Napoleon was a tyrant, and if given the opportunity, he would certainly seek greater power and status for himself.

So although the current situation is different from that in the previous life, there is a high probability that Napoleon's coronation as emperor will happen again.

Napoleon's hometown, Corsica, belongs to the Italian cultural circle, and Napoleon has a strong sense of family.

When Napoleon became the Chief Consul, he gave important positions to their brothers and sisters.

After Napoleon became emperor, he would almost certainly confer titles on his brothers and sisters, and there was a high probability that he would arrange for them to be kings in various places, just as in history.

These things about concepts, backgrounds, and culture are likely to reappear even if the timeline changes.

Historically, Napoleon appointed his younger brother Louis as King of the Netherlands and his confidant and brother-in-law Murat as King of Naples.

He combined Hanover, Brunswick and the lands seized from Prussia to form the Kingdom of Westphalia, with his youngest brother Jerome as king.

Napoleon's elder brother Joseph was first the King of Naples and later the King of Spain.

In this world, Napoleon had no King of the Netherlands to crown, but he had Naples and the German region, and he might still find an excuse and opportunity to seize the throne of Spain.

When Napoleon seized the Spanish throne, it would be the most appropriate option for the Ming Dynasty to send troops to occupy the Spanish colonies at the same time.

But what needs to be considered is that if war is declared in this situation, whose side would the Ming Dynasty be on?

When France and Spain fell out, Japan attacked Spain, which actually meant that Japan stood on the side of France. This was the second time Japan did this, including the attack on Portugal.

Will the Ming Dynasty's actual participation in the interests scare other European countries so that they dare not organize an anti-French alliance again?

If European countries eventually accepted Napoleon's existence, Napoleon would have formed a new era of the Roman Empire and integrated most of Europe.

That would definitely not be a good thing for the Ming Dynasty.

Looking at it from the other side, it seems that the Ming Dynasty should give some encouragement to the anti-French alliance.

Take the initiative to deal with Spain that stands with France?
Following this line of thought, if the Ming Dynasty had left the European situation alone, the savior of Europe in the Napoleonic Wars would have been Britain at sea and Russia on land.

It is also not a good thing to allow Britain and Russia to expand their power.

It would be better for the Ming Dynasty to shoulder this honor.

The key point is that the Ming Dynasty now has a ready-made excuse to declare war on Spain.

In the political system of the Shenzhou Celestial Empire, the Celestial Empire would take the initiative to invite an overseas foreign country to become a vassal of the Ming Dynasty. If the other party refused, the Celestial Empire would send troops to conquer it.

Just by going through this question and answer, the war claim construction can be completed.

The main purpose of the claim is actually internal, and it is a propaganda tool for mobilizing production and combat forces.

Let the ministers, the people and the soldiers know why they are fighting.

Why do we deserve a place, are we worthy of a place.

For Europeans, this matter is more troublesome. In the Middle Ages, you had to check your bloodline. If you had the bloodline of a certain king, you would be qualified to own a certain place.

Modern Americans claim that they have a manifest destiny to rule America, and have spent a long time promoting and constructing this.

But for the emperor of the Celestial Empire, this matter is relatively simple.

During the Zhou Dynasty, there was a political logic that "All under heaven belongs to the king, and all within the four seas are the king's subjects."

Although this sentence was originally used to complain, saying that we are all the king's subjects, you can't let me work alone, and you can't favor other subjects.

It is said that the whole world belongs to the king. You can't give all the good things to one place. You have to treat everyone equally.

But this also shows that it is a consensus that the world belongs to the king.

In the Western Han Dynasty, another more concrete statement was formed: "Everywhere the sun and moon shine, wherever the rivers flow, is Han territory."

The Eastern Han Dynasty also said, "Han holds prestige and authority, and leads all nations. Wherever the sun and the moon shine, they are all its subjects."

Because of the monarch-subject and vassal system, the emperor of the Celestial Empire had to first ask, "Do you, a barbarian, submit to me?" If not, then he could fight.

In this discourse system, the emperor of the Celestial Empire had unlimited claims.

If the ministers were to oppose the war, at most they would say it would be a waste of money and manpower, or even that the war could not be won and was not worth fighting, so they would try to dissuade them.

No one would think that the emperor was not qualified to expand territory and conquer barbarians.

The emperor's unlimited claim power was, to some extent, also a driving force for promoting unification.

As long as more than one person claims to be a king or emperor, they must fight with each other. Theoretically, there is no possibility of coexistence unless one of them voluntarily submits.

However, this overly broad claim does not have a very good actual effect.

But the current situation in the Ming Dynasty, whether official or civilian, whether military or civil officials, are inclined to expand territory.

Military officers can be awarded titles for their military achievements, and can even establish fiefdoms and kingdoms.

The civil service system can have more vacancies. For each additional province, there will be a group of three or four yamen, and a large number of official positions can be assigned and placed.

When local officials go overseas, they must be directly promoted at least one level and transferred out to create vacancies, and lower-level officials must also be promoted.

The underlying practical logic is that the population of the Ming Dynasty was too large.

There are already 500 million people in the Ming Dynasty. According to the status of traditional feudal dynasties, the land carrying capacity has reached its limit.

Even though Zhu Jianxuan unified the world and actually completed a round of imperial reconstruction, the ratio of population to land did not change.

Moreover, the current population is still growing at a rapid rate of several hundred million per year, which is very frightening.

If the Ming Dynasty had not been in the process of full industrialization and absorbed the excess agricultural population, it would have been able to feed a larger population with fertilizers and food from overseas.

Otherwise, it would be difficult for the Ming Dynasty to maintain stability. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty had to continue to emigrate and open up wasteland overseas.

The people of the Ming Dynasty now all know that there are plenty of wastelands overseas, and many of them are suitable for farming.

In the Ming Dynasty, a family only had a few acres to more than ten acres of land, but overseas, a family could get at least a hundred acres of land.

After careful consideration, Zhu Jianxuan summoned all the grand secretaries and privy councilors.

He gave orders to start preparing the army for war and to prepare for a twenty-year war.

In the eighth year of Tiangong, the production efficiency of the Ming Dynasty's arsenals was fully utilized. The Privy Council and the Governor's Office came to recruit more soldiers and organize more immigrant groups.

Reduce the scale of resource delivery to Africa and prepare more warships, passenger ships and cargo ships.

The Ming Dynasty’s support for its African vassal states has ended, but its support for vassal states with special merit and relatives will continue for about twenty years at most.

However, the development support designed by Zhu Jianxuan is reduced proportionally, and there will be no large-scale fiscal fluctuations.

Time slowly came to the ninth year of Tiangong, which was 1802 in the Gregorian calendar. By the beginning of this year, it would have been two years since the main project of the Panama Canal was restored.

According to the agreement five years ago, Spain should now go to the project site to assess whether the canal construction can actually be completed and delivered to the entire Louisiana region.

So, under the arrangement of Cabinet Grand Secretary Liu Quanzhi, the Honglu Temple and the Water Department each sent one person to Spain to notify them to start the handover, and at the same time sent people to North America to prepare for the reception.

This was a notification, not a discussion or confirmation. Daming itself knew that the canal project was basically going smoothly and would definitely be completed before the scheduled deadline.

When the King, Queen, and Prime Minister of Spain received the notice from the Ming Dynasty's representatives, they were shocked and conflicted, but they quickly chose to accept the reality and ordered the handover of land.

They know the cooperation cycle with the Ming Dynasty, so they have been paying close attention to the construction status of the Panama Canal recently.

By the end of 1801, the canal project was almost half completed.

The existing canal was re-dredged and then further deepened and widened, while new channels were dug.

Thanks to the advance preparations, there were no problems after the canal construction resumed, and it went visibly smoothly.

It is expected that the entire Panama Canal will be open to navigation in another three to five years.

The key is that the Spaniards also know that Spain is now deliberately blocking the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty will forcibly take over on its own.

It's better to be straightforward to avoid unnecessary conflicts.

The Treaty of Friendship and Alliance between the Ming Dynasty and Spain will expire at the end of September of this Ming calendar, which is the end of October of the Western calendar.

If we have a conflict with the Ming Dynasty at this time, wouldn't that mean we are waiting for the treaty to expire and then give the Ming Dynasty an excuse to declare war?
In fact, it doesn’t matter whether Spain is happy or not, and it doesn’t make sense whether it will take the initiative to conflict with the Ming Dynasty, because the Ming Dynasty has already prepared for war mobilization.

In July of the ninth year of Tiangong, the expedition fleet organized by the Ming Dynasty set sail from four directions: Ming mainland, Africa, Australia, and North America, two to three months in advance.

However, before the war officially broke out, Zhu Jianxuan arranged for officials in the Mediterranean to deliver an ultimatum to the Spaniards on September 1802th of the ninth year of Ming Gong in the Ming Dynasty (October 10th, 26 in the Western calendar).

The King of Spain was required to surrender before October 1802, the ninth year of Ming Gong in the Ming Dynasty, or November 11, 1 in the Western calendar.

Paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and ceding all American colonies except New Spain (Mexico).

The King, Queen and Prime Minister of Spain were all shocked when they received the notice.

"What's going on? Why is this happening?"

"Declare war as soon as the alliance treaty expires? No preparations for the declaration?"

It can only be said that the Spaniards did not have a deep enough understanding of the Ming Dynasty’s cultural system and did not realize that the Ming Dynasty had already declared “war” against Spain.

The three of them were stunned for a long time. Godoy carefully read the notice sent by the Ming envoy again, and then said to him:
"This envoy, this is not right. How come this condition is worse than what I received in Shuntian Prefecture? At that time, Minister Liu Quanzhi said that he only wanted the Governorate of La Plata."

The Ming envoy Ruan Yuan immediately reminded with a stern face:

“You were an ally of the Ming Dynasty then, but now you are just ordinary overseas barbarians.

"If you don't accept it now, then once the heavenly soldiers arrive and the war is over, the conditions offered to you will change.

"At that time, you will be traitors who resist the heavenly soldiers, and your native territory will not be able to remain intact."

Godoy was a little annoyed and angry and blurted out an idiom:
"You Ming people should not go too far!"

Ruan Yuan didn't respond to this question at all, but just reminded him as a matter of course:
"I will stay in Madrid for seven days, and you have six days to consider Ming's conditions.

“Send someone to inform me after you’ve considered it.

“If you still don’t receive a response after the seventh day, it will be deemed as a rejection.

"That's all I have to say. I'll take my leave now."

After Ruan Yuan finished speaking, he walked out directly, without paying any attention to the Spanish senior officials who were extremely shocked and terrified.

The King of Spain was stunned for a few seconds and then said nervously:

"What should we do? What should we do? The Ming Dynasty really declared war when the peace treaty expired. What should we do now?"

The Queen was now at a loss for ideas, and looked directly at the Prime Minister and her favorite minister, Godoy:
"What can you say? We can't accept such conditions. We can't give up Cuba, New Granada, and Peru..."

Godoy was also stunned and frightened for a long time. At this time, he barely thought of some things he could do:
"We should contact the French right now. We are allies with France now. If Ming declares war on us, it is also declaring war on France!

"We can join France in attacking Ming's land and cities in Europe and demand that Ming revise their so-called conditions."

The Queen immediately said:
"Yes, yes, yes. Summon the French envoy immediately, explain the situation to the French, and ask him to contact Napoleon Bonaparte immediately."

The king was stunned for three seconds and then asked:
"What if neither we nor France can defeat the Ming army?
"As the Ming envoy said, once the war really begins, our surrender conditions will be lowered.

"At least we can keep New Spain now..."

In fact, many European monarchs and politicians have gradually realized that the Ming Dynasty Empire is superior to other European countries.

Even if all of Europe were tied together, it might not be possible to defeat them, let alone when there are only Spain, France and their vassal states.

Prussia, Austria, Russia and Britain would certainly not stand on their side in such a war. They are more eager to see France collapse.

The Queen said:
"But... Cuba, New Granada and Peru cannot be abandoned!
“We haven’t really fought the Ming Dynasty yet, especially since the main French army has been upgraded and transformed, it has never directly confronted the Ming army.

"We really don't necessarily lose, and Ming Dynasty doesn't necessarily win easily."

Godoy added and analyzed here:

“We don’t have to actually win.

"As long as we cause enough damage to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's war of conquest will become worthwhile.

"Then there's a chance to end the war on better terms."

"At the same time, we should find ways to strive for it, and hope that all European countries can truly unite under the pressure of the Ming Dynasty.

"The Ming Dynasty has just conquered Portugal, and now it wants to conquer Spain.

"Who will be next? Britain or Russia?
"Especially Russia. They are neighbors of the Ming Dynasty. If the Ming Dynasty marches westward on land, they will be the first to bear the brunt.

"On the other hand, Russia is also the only European country that can directly attack the Ming mainland and pose a threat to the Ming Dynasty."

As the saying goes, you won't cry until you see the coffin. In history, the Spanish lost all their American colonies, but they had to accept the reality.

Now that they still control colonies, their mentality and expectations are naturally different. It is difficult for them to accept conditions that seriously damage their own interests before they are really beaten up by other countries.

Although that condition may be the best condition at present and in the future.

(End of this chapter)