The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 306 Zhu Jianxuan's Decision
Zhu Jianxuan looked at Napoleon's letter of peace and felt it was a little unreal.

This so-called "Great Emperor", the strongest man in modern European history, actually asked for peace directly after confirming his great disadvantage, and gave a seemingly very good suggestion.

Currently, the Ming Dynasty and France occupy the French mainland, the German region except Austria, most of Poland, and most of Italy.

Napoleon surrendered at this time and handed over all the land directly to the Ming Dynasty, which seemed to be very sincere.

But if he was really greedy and really incorporated all these lands into the territory of the Ming Dynasty, it would mean that the Ming Dynasty would take over from France and continue to fight against all other European nobles.

It’s not that the Ming Dynasty couldn’t defeat them. Even without their intervention, Napoleon might have succeeded, let alone the more powerful Ming Dynasty.

However, this kind of war is too costly, and there is no need for Ming Dynasty to participate in it at present.

The key point is that it has no practical benefits to the Ming Dynasty at that time, because the population of mainland Europe is too large and should not be included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

The core goal of the expansion of the Ming Dynasty led by Zhu Jianxuan has always been to expand living space for the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, they always give priority to occupying uninhabited areas.

For places where there are foreign ethnic groups, we must consider the number of foreign populations and whether they can be covered and absorbed by Ming Dynasty immigrants.

The ethnic hierarchy system formulated by Zhu Jianxuan is not the ethnic division system of the United States in the past, but a concretization of the ethnic integration policy formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang in the early Ming Dynasty.

The ethnic divisions in the United States are basically “fixed and permanent.” If you are white, you are white, and if you are black, you are black.

Zhu Jianxuan established that the ethnic hierarchy in the Ming Dynasty was fluid.

No matter whether they are barbarians, Hu people or white people, they can enjoy a higher level of treatment for themselves and their children through marriage among the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Women are required to marry into a Ming family, and men are required to marry into a Ming family. The women and their children are required to settle in the Ming family and live in the Ming family.

When Europeans integrated into the Ming Dynasty, they had to choose a Ming surname, which was just right for them to use the surname of their husband or wife.

Even the lowest level white people among the four foreign races will be able to obtain the status of Ming people by the time their grandchildren and great-grandchildren reach their generation.

However, the prerequisite for absorbing foreign ethnic groups through marriage is that the population of the country's main ethnic group is large enough.

In history, neither the Yuan Dynasty nor the Qing Dynasty dared to do this because their own ethnic group had only a few hundred thousand people, while the Han people were dozens or hundreds of times their number.

There was no way they could adopt Zhu Yuanzhang's integration system.

They don't even need to specifically promote integration; as long as they completely allow people to live together and marry among each other, they will slowly disappear on their own.

Therefore, the Qing Dynasty implemented a system of ethnic segregation and prohibited intermarriage between Manchus and Han people. Even if Han people were absorbed, they were specially organized into the Eight Banners Han Army and a distinction was made in terms of household registration.

During the Qianlong period, Qianlong found that there were too many Han troops, and he forcibly removed a large number of them from the banner.

Within the current territory of the Ming Dynasty, there are approximately 500 million Ming people, and other ethnic groups have a total population of less than 100 million, which seems to be at least a five-fold population advantage.

However, most of the Ming people were concentrated in the mainland, and the speed of transporting population overseas was relatively limited, only in the millions each year.

Of all the overseas territories currently, only Australia is almost entirely populated by Ming people.

There are nearly 20 million white people in America, which is basically the same as the number of pure Ming Dynasty immigrants. In the future, we will continue to make every effort to immigrate to America.

The population of the Ming Dynasty in America must be at least twice that of the white population to ensure that a new ethnic group of mixed Ming and European descent will not be born, but that the white people in America will also be turned into Ming people.

At this time, there were too many white people in Europe, probably about 200 million.

If you want to completely suppress all white people in Europe, you must send at least 200 million Ming people to Europe. If you want to completely absorb the white people, you must send all Ming people to Europe.

Both of these are currently impossible to achieve.

Therefore, Zhu Jianxuan would not directly annex a large amount of European land and population.

They would only ask the local monarch to pay tribute and demand some strategically located locations.

Drive the white people in strategic locations to other places as much as possible, so that the number of local Ming people will be more than twice that of white people.

So Zhu Jianxuan would not directly accept these suggestions from Napoleon.

Zhu Jianxuan wanted to keep Europe in a "broken" state, while gradually forcing them all to submit to the Ming Dynasty and pay tribute.

Eventually, the divine vassal system of the Celestial Empire will be expanded to the entire world.

For the places occupied by Napoleon, but the original monarchs were still in power, most of the land was granted to the original owners on the condition that the other party would submit to him and pay tribute.

For example, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany of the Habsburg family and the Kingdom of Naples of the Bourbon family.

For example, the Hohenzollern family's Brandenburg, Pomerania, Silesia, West Prussia and other regions.

This changed the source of these lands, which were no longer their own ancestral territories, but were granted to them by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, a small amount of land was left as the military base of the Ming Dynasty.

If they refused to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, these lands would naturally not be given to them, but would be given to the Ming Dynasty's royal family and ministers to establish their own countries.

At the same time, all the states that had been completely destroyed by Napoleon, especially those whose original monarchical families had lost their direct line of succession, did not need to be restored.

Of course, the Papal States and all the bishoprics could not be restored.

Divide these lands into a group of states the size of prefectures, and place some Ming generals and officials as monarchs.

This part of the land can be divided among Napoleon's family.

Napoleon's analysis was basically correct. He bargained with the Ming Dynasty in an equal negotiation posture and lowered his profile to ask the Ming Dynasty for disposal, and instead was able to get some care.

The underlying logic behind Zhu Jianxuan's actions was that the Emperor of the Celestial Empire can reward you with things, but you cannot ask for them from the Emperor yourself, and you cannot be picky.

Zhu Jianxuan summoned the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, the Grand Secretary and the Privy Councilor and asked them to draft a batch of imperial edicts according to his wishes.

Napoleon was crowned the King of Poland, and his fiefdom was the Polish land currently occupied by Napoleon.

Napoleon's elder brother Joseph was made Duke of Corsica, and his fief was Napoleon's hometown, Corsica, making him a semi-independent vassal of the future French king.

Napoleon's third brother, Lucien, the former Speaker of the French Parliament, was granted the title of Marquis of Weimar, and his fiefdom included the former Duchy of Weimar and some surrounding lands.

Napoleon's fourth brother Louis, the father of the historical French Emperor Napoleon III, was the Count of Parma, and his fiefdom was the former Duchy of Parma in northern Italy.

Napoleon's younger brother Jerome was granted the title of Marquis of Brest County, making him a vassal of the Polish King Napoleon rather than the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Let Napoleon decide for himself whether to choose a piece of land from his own Polish Kingdom to give to his brother.

Other important generals and officials under Napoleon, such as Murat, Davout, Talleyrand, etc., were also given some titles of county prince and county baron.

Select some small fiefdoms for them in Italy, Germany and Poland.

At the same time, the Grand Secretaries and Privy Counselors were arranged to make a statistics of all the Vice Ministers, Chancellors, Grand Secretaries, Governors-General and Privy Counselors who were about to retire or had already retired.

Are you willing to go to Europe yourself, or arrange for an adult son to go to Europe and serve as the monarch of a vassal state?

After these tasks were arranged, Zhu Jianxuan asked the Honglu Temple to call the two sons of Louis XVI, and they were almost ready to return to Europe. Louis XVI's eldest son, Louis Joseph, was only nine years old when he came to the Ming Dynasty, and he is already twenty-six years old this year.

The second son, Louis-Charles, was only five years old when he came to Ming Dynasty, and he is already twenty-two years old this year.

In fact, before coming to Ming Dynasty, the two brothers had already lived in Ming City in Antwerp, and the two brothers could be said to have grown up in Ming Dynasty society.

After the two brothers came to the Ming Dynasty, the Honglu Temple placed the two brothers in a royal palace in accordance with Zhu Jianxuan's instructions.

The elder brother Joseph was regarded as the king of the vassal state and enjoyed the treatment of the Prince of the Ming Dynasty. The younger brother Charles was regarded as the Duke of the vassal state and enjoyed the treatment of the Marquis of the Ming Dynasty. They both received corresponding salaries.

When they were young, Zhu Jianxuan specially arranged for them to go to school with the children of aristocrats and bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty.

Now, except for the fact that the two brothers look like Europeans, their daily life and habits are exactly the same as those of the Ming people.

When the two brothers were just beginning to understand things, they often thought about whether they would have the opportunity to return to France and inherit the throne in the future.

But as they grew older, this idea basically died down.

The two brothers even found matchmakers and married the daughters of low-level bureaucrats and craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty. They were ready to spend the rest of their lives in the Ming Dynasty.

Since the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would occasionally summon them and inquire about their situation, no one specifically bullied the two of them.

The two were naturally grateful to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Although the Ming Dynasty seemed to have no interest in helping them restore their country, their current living conditions were among the best among the monarchs of a fallen country.

That afternoon, when Joseph was listening to music and playing with his cat at home, the head maid who had followed him from Paris came running over to report:

"Your Highness, there's a call from the Honglu Temple, saying that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is summoning you and His Highness Charles to the palace."

Joseph was not too surprised by the emperor's summons. The Ming emperor would meet with his brothers from time to time, and Joseph didn't know the specific reason.

But Joseph knew that this was also the key to maintaining his status, so he immediately agreed and went to prepare to take a shower and change clothes.

The palace now has fuel water heaters, running water, and a drainage system, making bathing much easier than before.

However, Joseph was a European, and after bathing he had to go through one more step than ordinary Ming people. He had to use the latest antiperspirant deodorant to prevent his sweat from emitting an odor and disturbing the emperor's carriage.

After packing everything, Joseph changed into the robes of a prince, met up with his younger brother Charles, and together they took the Honglu Temple's motor vehicle to the palace to meet the emperor.

The two brothers were sitting in the car, and Joseph reminded Charles:

"I have seen some interesting news recently. I am thinking about it carefully in my mind and thinking about how to tell His Majesty when I get to the palace."

Charles nodded seriously:
"I know, don't worry, brother."

The two brothers had no roots or base in the Ming Dynasty. Their only reliance was the Ming Emperor's recruitment, so they tried hard to find ways to please the Ming Emperor.

Every time they met the emperor and chatted, the two of them would take the initiative to talk about interesting things outside the palace.

Not long after, the two brothers met the Ming Emperor Zhu Jianxuan in the Wenhua Hall, and they bowed respectfully together:

"Your Majesty, Joseph/Charles, pays respect to His Majesty."

Zhu Jianxuan sat behind the imperial desk and waved his hand gently:
"Okay, please take a seat."

The servants of Wenhua Hall brought chairs and asked the two Joseph brothers to sit down.

Zhu Jianxuan got down to business:

“I called you here today to tell you something happy.

"The three armies of the Ming Dynasty in Europe have won victory after victory, and the rebels in Germany, Italy and other places have surrendered.

"Napoleon, the French leader, saw that the situation was hopeless and decided to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

"So you two brothers now have a chance to return home."

The Joseph brothers were stunned on the spot.

The Ming Dynasty's participation in the European war was military intelligence, and the two overseas foreign nobles were certainly not qualified to know about it.

Now that I suddenly heard the result, I was naturally very surprised.

The key point is that the idea of ​​returning to China, which both of them had completely given up, is about to come true.

The two brothers were stunned for several seconds, and then Joseph was the first to react. He immediately pulled his brother's arm, and the two brothers stood up and thanked him again:
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for helping me to defeat the invaders and restore my country. This is a favor that is like a rebirth for me. My two brothers are deeply grateful and will never forget it."

Although life in the Ming Dynasty was rich and comfortable, the two had no real power in the Ming Dynasty, and their current status depended entirely on the attention of the Ming Emperor.

Once the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty loses interest in him, it is hard to say whether the nobles of the Ming Dynasty will still be willing to treat him as a human being, and whether the officials will treat him well.

The two of them fled to a foreign country after their country was destroyed, and over the years they have seen the fickleness of human nature.

Zhu Jianxuan did not respond directly, but signaled the Minister of the Ministry of Rites next to him to speak.

The Minister of the Ministry of Rites stepped forward and reminded:
"Joseph, are you willing to return with the Ming army and educate the French people with the laws of the Celestial Empire to make them civilized?

"And lead the people of France to pay tribute to the Ming emperor and become his vassal forever?"

Joseph was surprised and delighted to hear this question.

Although I knew after hearing Zhu Jianxuan's previous introduction that I had the opportunity to return to France to become king, it was not completely certain news.

It is possible that the Ming Dynasty would directly annex France, in which case I would just be a powerless noble if I returned.

Moreover, the words of the Ming Emperor said, "There is a chance to return to the country," but there was no promise, and even "there is a chance" does not mean "definitely".

Now that he had obtained accurate information, not only could he go back to being king, he should also have full power over the past.

The only condition was to pay tribute to the Ming Emperor and turn France into a vassal state of the Ming.

Joseph was already very familiar with the culture and system of the Ming Dynasty, and the overseas vassal states, which were mainly populated by foreigners, were extremely independent.

Apart from paying a certain percentage of tribute regularly and giving a small amount of land to the Ming Dynasty for building overseas military camps, the Ming Dynasty did not interfere in other civil affairs.

If a vassal state rebelled, the Ming Dynasty would send garrison troops to help suppress the rebellion and protect the vassal state's monarch.

The two Joseph brothers were actually protected by the Ming Dynasty.

Joseph felt that this was a natural request, and it was impossible for the Ming Dynasty to restore the country for him without any conditions.

So Joseph knelt down and bowed to the ground to thank God without any hesitation:
"I am willing to serve as a barrier for the Celestial Empire. I thank Your Majesty for his grace."

Zhu Jianxuan was quite satisfied and asked the Minister of the Ministry of Rites and the Cabinet to draft the imperial edict of enthronement and the agreement between the clans and the tribes.

Louis Joseph was officially crowned King of France, and all the lands of the former French mainland and Corsica were made his fiefdoms.

At the same time, Louis Charles was named Duke of the Rhine, and his fiefdom was Alsace and Lorraine, which, like Corsica, was an autonomous fiefdom under the King of France.

(End of this chapter)