The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 314: Being the Ming Dynasty's hound or prey
Zhu Jingjian told the Minister of the Honglu Temple about his choice. The officials of the Honglu Temple breathed a sigh of relief and then notified Britain.

The British king, queen, crown prince and prime minister all breathed a sigh of relief when they received the notice.

If the British royal family could marry into the Ming royal family, Britain's negotiations with the Ming would be much easier.

Zhu Jingjian is only fifteen years old and Charlotte is only twelve years old. Although they can get married at this age, it is still very early among European royal families.

The current King of England got married at the age of 25, and the Ming Emperor Zhu Jianxuan did not want them to have children too early.

Both parties' bodies have not fully grown yet, and having a baby is not good for either of them.

After some discussion, both parties finally decided to get engaged first, hold the formal wedding three years later, and consummate the marriage two years later.

Zhu Jingjian also stayed in the UK temporarily to continue deepening his relationship with his fiancée and waiting for the engagement ceremony.

The preparations for Zhu Jingjian's engagement will be handled by relevant officials.

Prime Minister William Pitt remained in Antwerp and continued to be in charge of negotiations with the Ming Dynasty.

Negotiations will continue, but the content will no longer be about territorial exchange and ownership, but the depth of people-to-people exchanges and trade.

First of all, we need to determine the degree of openness of the Hanover region to the British mainland during Zhu Jingjian's reign as King of Hanover.

Then there is the corresponding degree of openness of the British mainland and colonies to the Ming Dynasty.

Finally, on this basis, the methods and directions of adjusting the degree of mutual openness in the future, as well as the more important nodes, will be discussed.

These are relatively easy things to decide.

While Zhu Jingjian was on a blind date in London, England, a delegation from Habsburg Austria also arrived in Antwerp at the end of January in the 15th year of Tiangong.

The head of the Austrian delegation was Franz, the titular Grand Duke of Tuscany, nephew of the current Austrian Emperor Joseph II.

Since Joseph II himself had no children, his eldest brother, Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany, had also died.

So Franz, as Leopold's eldest son, first inherited the title of Grand Duke of Tuscany, and at the same time became the de facto crown prince of Joseph II.

In the original history, Joseph II and his brother Leopold had both died, and Franz had become the leader of the Habsburgs and the Holy Roman Emperor.

But now Joseph II is still alive, and the land of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany is controlled by the Ming occupation forces, so Franz only has the title of Grand Duke.

Taking back the land of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was one of the main tasks of the Austrian delegation headed by Franz.

However, according to Joseph's request, the more important task was to take back Bavaria.

When Napoleon's army was fighting against Austria in the south, although there was no large-scale long-distance raid, it had already occupied most of Bavaria.

The lands in the German region occupied by Napoleon have now been transferred to the control of the Ming Dynasty.

After Franz arrived in Antwerp, he originally planned to stay and wait for the formal meeting of the Ming organization.

However, Austrian Foreign Minister Metternich suggested that Franz visit the Ming envoy first, and Franz accepted the suggestion.

Franz brought Metternich to meet Wang Tingzhen before the formal meeting.

Wang Tingzhen knew that Francis II had a good relationship with the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and they had cooperated on European affairs.

In addition, Franz was the de facto crown prince of Austria, so Wang Tingzhen showed a little more respect when meeting him.

Instead of sitting down and receiving the greeting like other foreign ministers, he stood up and bowed to Franz.

Franz, reminded by Metternich, quickly bowed and greeted in return.

After a brief greeting, both parties sat down as host and guest in the living room of the provincial government's office, and the servants served them tea.

Then Franz got down to business first:
"Regarding the territories in Germany and Italy, how does His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty plan to deal with them?"

Although Wang Tingzhen was polite, he still did what was asked:

“The Emperor has said that the situation in Germany and Italy cannot be restored.

"Neither the Austrian nor the Prussian alliance can continue to exist.

"The Habsburgs should give up their titles.

"Neither the title of the monarch of the Holy Roman Empire nor the title of the King of Germany should exist anymore."

This was a request to the Habsburgs to completely dissolve the Holy Roman Empire and give up the titles of Holy Roman Emperor and German King.

Joseph II, Franz and Metternich of Austria had all anticipated that the Ming Dynasty would have such a request, so they were not too surprised.

Joseph II was not interested in the affairs of the Holy Roman Empire, so he didn't care much about this matter.

What is more important is the actual ownership of the land.

Franz subconsciously wanted to agree, but Metternich next to him spoke first:
“If Ming can return Bavaria, Tuscany, and other Habsburg territories in Germany as soon as possible.

"The Habsburgs could give up ownership of these titles if they acquired all the lands of Venice."

Metternich's words seemed to treat the Ming Dynasty's request for the Habsburgs to give up their titles as a condition that could be exchanged.

Wang Tingzhen was very surprised, and then looked at Metternich as if he were a fool:
"Looking at the relationship between Ming and Habsburg, I will take the initiative to remind you of one thing for the last time.

"According to Ming tradition, when the Ming controlled a piece of land, someone else claimed the corresponding monarch title of that land.

“For example, most of the German region now belongs to the Ming Dynasty, but your monarch claims the title of King of Germany.

"It is equivalent to your monarch demanding the German land from the Ming Dynasty, and then directly declaring war on our Ming Dynasty."

Metternich quickly apologized:
"I'm very sorry. Please forgive us. We didn't know about this tradition. We will study and understand the cultural traditions and systems of the Ming Dynasty carefully in the future..."

Wang Tingzhen felt that Metternich probably knew about it, and the two sentences just now might have been intentional, trying to test his attitude.

So Wang Tingzhen looked at Franz with a stern face:

"Crown Prince, I don't want something like this to happen again, otherwise there's no need for us to continue talking."

Franz also quickly followed suit and apologized and promised:

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. We won't do that again in the future. We will convince uncle to give up these titles. Let's just leave it at that, okay?
"Let's discuss the specific land ownership. When will the Ming Dynasty return the original territory of the Habsburg family?
"Especially Bavaria in Germany and Tuscany in Italy..."

Wang Tingzhen answered in turn:
“The Crown Prince is the eldest son of the former Grand Duke of Tuscany. As long as he pays tribute to the Emperor of Ming, he can obtain the status of Duke of Tuscany.

“The Ming Dynasty will also grant the Tuscany region to the crown prince, and the crown prince will naturally gain control of Tuscany.

"The same goes for Bavaria and the other Habsburg territories.

"The monarchs of the Habsburg family swore allegiance to the Emperor of Ming, and all their territories paid tribute to the Emperor.

"We can take back control of all the territories that Napoleon took.

"We can also gather all the scattered territories together through the territorial exchange within the Ming Dynasty's vassal system." "We can even get all the original territories of the Republic of Venice."

When Franz heard about those lands, his eyes lit up.

Franz knew that what his uncle wanted to do most was to consolidate all the territories.

At the same time, Venice is also a famous wealthy region in Italy, and it can also expand Austria's coastline on a large scale.

If such conditions could really be achieved, it would be the best thing for the Habsburg family.

However, the price demanded by the Ming Dynasty also made Franz feel complicated.

Metternich next to him felt the same way.

Franz said very tangledly:
“The Grand Duchy of Tuscany can become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and as the Grand Duke of Tuscany, I can also pledge allegiance to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

"However, the main branch of the Habsburg family...is unlikely to do so. My uncle probably won't be able to accept it..."

Wang Tingzhen now feels that these European monarchs are really refusing to accept the toast. They are reluctant to become vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.

So I asked directly in an unpleasant way:

"Why? Why couldn't the Habsburgs become a vassal of the Ming Dynasty?

"In the future, most of the land in France, Poland, Germany and Italy will become vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.

“Britain will also become a vassal of the Ming Dynasty through marriage.

"You Habsburgs still want to maintain your independence. Do you want to confront the Ming Dynasty as an independent country?

"If that's the case, why did you come to negotiate with Ming?
“You can fight the Ming directly and try to use your army to seize the land you want.

"Do you understand the current situation?"

Franz heard Wang Tingzhen's somewhat unhappy reprimand and questioning, and subconsciously began to defend himself:
"The Habsburgs and Austria certainly don't want to confront the Ming Dynasty. They just want to be able to decide their own diplomatic strategy, mainly to fight against the Ottomans..."

Metternich was aware of the current situation in France, Poland, Germany and Italy, but he did not expect that Britain was also about to vote.

"England also... How is this possible..."

When Wang Tingzhen heard what the two said, he directly refuted or asked back:

"Decide your own foreign policy? What other foreign policy can you Austrians have?
"All of Europe, the whole world, and most of the world have become vassals of the Ming Dynasty, or are about to become vassals of the Ming Dynasty.

"Britain is now beginning to integrate into the vassal system of the Ming Dynasty. They will first be able to preserve all their existing territories and interests.

“In the future, we will be able to trade directly with the Ming Dynasty and other vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.

"You still want to stay outside this system and maintain an independent or even confrontational diplomatic relationship with the Ming Dynasty. Do you think you will get any good results?

“Then the Ming Dynasty will not need to take direct action. It can order Poland, France, Britain, Portugal, as well as the German and Italian states to jointly contain and dismember the Habsburgs.

"The country that the Habsburgs had forcibly pieced together from their fragmented territories would simply fall apart and turn into dust.

“This is the general trend of the world. Those who follow it will prosper, and those who go against it will perish.

"Whether the Habsburg family can continue to exist and continue to be the monarch in Europe depends on the choices made by your generation."

The more Franz listened, the more frightened he became. The future situation described by Wang Tingzhen was too terrifying.

If the vast majority of countries in the world became vassals of the Ming Dynasty, the remaining few that remained independent would become extremely dangerous.

By that time, if the Ming Dynasty wanted to destroy these independent countries, it would no longer need to take direct action.

These vassal states around the Ming Dynasty are like hounds around a hunter's manor. When they encounter prey, it is not necessary for the hunter to shoot.

You can just let the hound rush forward, bite the prey to death and drag it back.

The hunters would keep most of the meat for themselves, giving the rest to the hunting dogs in action as a reward for their work.

Specifically speaking, in terms of operations between countries, the land of a country that refuses to obey will be divided up and distributed to other vassal states that participated in the war as a reward.

If you want to avoid such a future, you can only join the Ming Dynasty system and become a hound instead of a lone wolf.

The point is that this situation seems to have already taken shape. There are not many countries left in the world, and in the future there may be no chance to choose to be a hound or a prey.

Metternich, who was more quick-witted, spoke first:

"Don't be angry, Your Excellency the Governor. The Habsburgs will never be an enemy of the Ming Dynasty. The Habsburgs are very happy to cooperate with the Ming Dynasty.

“It’s just that… the world is developing too fast now. The Habsburg family and the land and nobles under their rule cannot immediately accept this new world order.

“We need some time to slowly adapt to the new changes in the world.

“Just like…just like you said, Britain will gradually integrate into the Ming system in the future through marriage.

"The Habsburgs also want a gradual solution with enough buffer time.

"The Habsburgs can also marry into the Ming imperial family..."

Franz has also reacted:
"Yes, the Habsburgs are very happy to marry into the Ming Dynasty..."

Wang Tingzhen waved his hand and said:
"The matter of marriage needs to be decided by His Majesty the Great Ming, I can only tell you what is within my authority.

"If you want to integrate into the Ming Dynasty's vassal system gradually, you can't directly obtain the lands we mentioned earlier.

"Ming will keep Venice in northern Italy, and you will exchange South Tyrol for Bavaria.

“You can assign the descendants of the Habsburg royal family to various places to be kings, and let these kings pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty in turn.

"The Grand Duchy of Tuscany could be the first, with a new kingdom in Bavaria as the second."

The South Tyrol mentioned by Wang Tingzhen belonged to Austria for a long time before the First World War.

The locals are mainly Austrians, the main language is German, and the area is located on the southern foothills of the Alps.

Since the Middle Ages, several famous valley passes through the Alps have been located in this area.

From the Holy Roman Empire to the Austrian Empire and then to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Habsburg family has always controlled South Tyrol.

From here, the Habsburg army could move directly south along the hillside to attack or seize important plains areas in northern Italy.

If southern Italy did not have South Tyrol, it would be like the Song Dynasty without the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, and there would be no place in the border area that was easy to defend.

An important reason why Italy defected during World War I was that even if Germany and Austria-Hungary won, they would not be able to obtain South Tyrol.

Italy's greatest geopolitical gain in World War I was the acquisition of South Tyrol, which finally closed the gap in its northern border.

(End of this chapter)