The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 377 King of Austria

The Ming Dynasty Austrian Empire, with Vienna as its capital.

Joseph, the former Roman Emperor, Austrian Emperor, and current Ming Austria King, is 75 years old this year. His health has been deteriorating in the past two years.

According to the diagnosis of the Ming Dynasty doctor, the old king was at the end of his life, so he asked the Austrian royal family and the court to be prepared.

In fact, in the winter of the 22nd year of Tiangong, the old king had difficulty moving on his own.

By the summer of the twenty-third year, things were a little better.

But when the summer passed and the weather turned cooler in the fall, Joseph found it difficult to move.

Soon I collapsed on the bed and couldn't get up.

Joseph knew he was dying, but he still paid attention to changes in the world situation.

Joseph's successor, his eldest nephew Franz, has now become the regent of Austria, handling Austria's internal affairs on behalf of his uncle.

Franz would visit his uncle every day and explain to him the latest major world and domestic news.

It mainly focuses on the progress of the war between the Ottoman Empire, Russia and the Shun Kingdom.

The coalition forces of European countries led by Joseph's other nephew, Archduke Karl, Franz's younger brother, launched an unstoppable attack in the Balkans.

The Christians, who had been conquered and ruled by the Ottomans for hundreds of years, were finally liberated.

But Joseph didn't seem to be happy at all. Instead, as the good news continued to come, his physical condition seemed to be deteriorating rapidly.

Perhaps Joseph felt that this war was not led by the independent Habsburg Empire, but by Austria, a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.

His nephew Karl's official position was also the Governor-General of the Balkan War Zone of the Ming Dynasty, but he was the combat commander appointed by him.

The Christians in the Balkans did escape from the oppression of the Muslims, but they fell under the control of the Ming Dynasty.

Although the Ming royal family and the imperial court were all pan-believers, as long as the religion did not oppose the imperial court or commit crimes, it would not be openly persecuted by them.

So as far as individual Christians in the Balkans were concerned, they were indeed liberated after this war.

Religion is no longer an issue in their lives.

However, at the national, ethnic and civilizational levels, it was impossible to establish a Christian state in the lands liberated from the Ottomans.

Nor would it be handed over to the rule of the Austrian Habsburg family.

At most, according to the promise of the Ming Emperor, a small piece of land would be allocated to Karl to establish his country.

This result is actually not the worst thing, nor is it what Joseph cares about most.

What he cared about was that the Ming Dynasty empire might continue to exist.

In Joseph's view, the Ming Dynasty was a truly alien civilization and had nothing to do with the Christian world in Europe.

In fact, civilizations such as Islam and the Ottoman Empire had closer relations with European Christians than the Ming Dynasty, which was on the other side of the world.

Now the Ming Dynasty has achieved absolute victory and is about to rule the entire world.

The entire Christian world will prostrate itself at the feet of the Ming Dynasty. This situation is even more suffocating than the Ottoman conquest of Eastern Europe.

Joseph had let it go in the previous few years, but at the end of his life he couldn't let it go again.

Joseph had no children, but he was actually fertile, but his first three children died young. The key point was that he never remarried after his wife died at the age of 27.

He dedicated his entire life to Austria, and his greatest ideal was to build a unified and powerful Austria.

According to historical records, Joseph issued a total of 11,000 formal laws and more than 6,000 administrative decrees during the ten years when he ruled Austria alone after his mother's death.

That means he has to make four to five official regulations on average every day, which are regulations rather than decisions.

In history, Joseph almost achieved his goal but failed. Now, thanks to the conditions created by Zhu Jianxuan and the Ming Dynasty, Joseph has almost realized his dream.

Austria annexed Bavaria, divided Poland, liberated and controlled Serbia, and achieved unprecedented success within the scope of traditional European monarchs.

By European standards, Joseph could already be called the Great.

But also because of the world situation constructed by the Ming Dynasty and Zhu Jianxuan, Austria, which was extremely powerful and even at its peak by European standards, had to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

This put Joseph into mental torment and damaged his already not very good spirits.

If it weren't for Ming Dynasty's magic medicine, he would have died long ago.

On October 3, the 24th year of Tiangong, the Austrian Crown Regent Franz went to visit his uncle Joseph again, bringing with him the news translated by the Telegraph Department.

Joseph lay motionless on the bed, his eyes half open and half closed, looking upwards.

Franz called out "Uncle" and waited for a while. When he saw no response from Joseph, he sighed and began to recite the message himself.

Mainly the troops from the Arab and Balkan war zones, they have basically taken over all local institutions in the Ottoman Empire.

The former Ottoman Sultan and the former Russian Tsar have both set out for Shuntian Prefecture.

Finally, there was news that Shun State formally surrendered.

After Franz finished reading, his expression was quite complicated. He did not expect his uncle in this state to give him any guidance. He just sat there quietly, in silence.

As a result, at this time, Joseph's eyes widened again, and he even said a few words:
"Russia on the edge of Europe is gone, and Shun Kingdom on the edge of Shenzhou is gone. This world... belongs to the Ming Dynasty..."

Franz was startled, and quickly stood up and went forward to observe, while asking anxiously:

"Uncle, are you awake? How are you? Do you have any arrangements?"

Joseph heard what Franz said, but did not answer his questions directly. Instead, he continued to say what he wanted to say:
"From now on there will be no Austria, no Europe, no world, only the Ming Dynasty—"

Franz was a little anxious. He had realized that Joseph might be having a last burst of energy and might die soon.

Now I should talk about something important while I still have energy. What's the point of lamenting like this?

"What do you want to say? What do you need from me? The future of Austria..."

But Joseph didn't respond. After shouting those few words, he closed his mouth. Although his eyes were still open, he had no response.

Franz was excited for a while, but when he found that his uncle had no reaction, he realized that the other party might have passed away.

So he quickly reached out his hand to feel his uncle's breath, and found that he was dead. He immediately withdrew his hand as if he had been electrocuted, and immediately called the servants and doctors around him:

"Someone come quickly, come and see my uncle...what happened to His Majesty the King?"

The doctor was mentally prepared, and he immediately came over and felt Joseph's pulse and breathing, then opened his eyes and took a look.

Finally, he sighed and bowed to Franz and said:
"Don't be sad, Your Highness... His Majesty the King has been summoned by the Lord..."

Franz actually knew it in his heart, but he was mentally unable to accept this reality all at once.

That's why we asked the doctor and other people to confirm it.

After hearing the exact news, Franz's entire spirit collapsed and he actually burst into tears on the spot:

"Uncle Joseph... My Lord, how could you go to heaven like this? What should I do? What should be the future of Austria..."

Apart from becoming a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, Joseph was a true emperor in the eyes of the Austrians.

Even the decision to become a vassal of the Ming Dynasty was considered the best one, as it directly gave China the entire wealthy land of Venice.

Joseph had been the backbone of Austria for many years. After his death, Austria lost its ballast. Franz really didn't know what to do now. It seemed that he could only lie low in the future.

Franz lay paralyzed beside Joseph's bed for a long time, until other royal nobles and officials arrived one after another, and then he gradually regained basic sanity.

A group of people began to prepare for the old king's funeral. At the same time, they had to report the news to the Honglu Temple of the Ming Dynasty and apply for the enthronement ceremony.

This matter, which did not seem to be a problem, soon caused disputes among the nobles and officials.

If the Habsburg family was completely independent before becoming a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, the heir should have directly succeeded to the throne after the old monarch's death.

As the heir, Franz would immediately become the actual monarch, but a formal coronation ceremony would have to be prepared separately.

But now Austria is a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and the new monarch must be enthroned by the Ming court.

Before the Ming Dynasty's edict of enthronement arrived, the heir Franz could only serve as the "tentative governor of state affairs" and be a temporary king in name only.

However, as a result, the identity of this generation of Austrian monarchs became simple and pure.

The former leader of the Habsburg family had a large number of titles, some of which were semi-independent and did not even have a clear hierarchy.

When Joseph II ascended the throne, he went through three sets of coronation ceremonies.

First the German King, then the Archduke of Austria and the Holy Roman Emperor, then the Kings of Bohemia and Hungary.

Now that these titles are gone, there is naturally no need to arrange a separate coronation ceremony. In theory, there is no need for a special organization. A Ming Dynasty enthronement ceremony will be enough.

The source of legitimacy for the Habsburg rule had changed.

Francis II was the first Habsburg monarch to face this problem.

If you look into it, they shouldn't even continue with the traditional coronation ceremony, otherwise it would be difficult to explain within the Ming system.

But now many old nobles and ministers under the rule of Austria and the Habsburg family still instinctively hope to continue the coronation ceremony at this time.

Instead of simply waiting for the Ming Dynasty's enthronement ceremony, which might affect the stability of the Habsburgs' rule over the existing territories.

Those Hungarians and Bohemians might be able to accept the new Habsburg monarch and continue to be their king.

However, making them local institutions of the Ming Kingdom of Austria might lead to inexplicable contradictions.

For these places, the safest option is to follow the traditional process directly.

But there were also some radical officials, or the Minghua faction officials, who firmly opposed the old coronation ceremony.

Some people even clamored that no matter whether they were Hungarians or Bohemians, if they dared to rebel, they would be suppressed, and the Ming Dynasty's military force could suppress everything.

It is just right to continue to rely on the power of the Ming Dynasty to destroy these local separatist forces and truly integrate the territories currently ruled by the Habsburgs.

Franz watched the argument grow more intense, and turned to look at Foreign Minister Metternich, who had performed particularly well in recent years.

Now dealing with the Ming Dynasty and other countries is indeed Metternich's responsibility, and his opinion should be sought:
"What do you think, Lord Metternich? What should we do now?"

Metternich knew that this was actually a conflict between reformists and conservatives, between Minghuaists and traditionalists, and that it could not be resolved in a few words.

The key is that we must not anger the Ming Dynasty, so Metternich started by trying to smooth things over:

“I think this kind of quarrel is fruitless, but the news of the old emperor’s death cannot be concealed no matter what, and we must immediately arrange for someone to notify the Ming Dynasty.

"At the same time, under the leadership of His Majesty, the Habsburgs have officially become a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, so the ceremony on the Ming side must be held.

“So the things that need to be done can be prepared right away, and we can continue to discuss other things during the preparation period.

"Regarding the situation in Hungary and other regions, we have directly reported it to the Honglu Temple of the Ming Dynasty.

"Places like Hungary and Bohemia can be considered vassal states of our Austrian vassal state in the Ming Dynasty system.

"We have a chance to convince the Ming Dynasty Honglu Temple to allow us to make special arrangements on this issue.

“We can apply for the Ming Dynasty’s Honglu Temple to prepare an additional ceremony for the enthronement of the King of Hungary, mixing the Ming-style enthronement ceremony with the European-style coronation ceremony.

"Maybe...it's possible that there will be a happy ending, but that's something for the future.

"We must prepare for the funeral and canonization immediately."

Franz felt that what Metternich said made sense. Now was not the time to argue. At least the revision should be completed before arguing.

The other nobles and ministers also knew that they could not delay.

Because the current Ming Dynasty is an invincible and irresistible existence, especially since the old King Joseph has surrendered, they are even more afraid to confront it head-on.

Everyone had no choice but to accept Metternich's advice, and Franz directly let Metternich be responsible for these matters.

Franz continued to handle Austria's daily government affairs, and at the same time paid attention to the situation among the people in his spare time, mainly reading official and private newspapers.

Newspapers have become the main channel for information exchange among intellectuals and upper-middle class people in various countries.

In addition to various objective news, people with different political views also began to write articles in newspapers to promote their own ideas and debate with opponents.

In recent days, public opinion in Europe has been particularly lively.

Apart from the areas directly ruled and developed by the Ming Dynasty, the most civilized place in the world is Europe.

Europe is another different civilization circle outside of the Ming civilization of China.

Therefore, many European intellectuals have a kind of bystander mentality towards the current victory of the Ming Dynasty and the direction of the current world situation.

They believed that the formal surrender of Russia and Shun was a symbol of Ming Dynasty's complete conquest of Europe and a symbol of true global unification.

European intellectuals, like Ming intellectuals, also believed that the remaining independent countries were not worth mentioning.

It’s just that the way these Europeans think and the logic behind their considerations are somewhat different from those of the Ming people.

They felt that since the Ming Dynasty had defeated the tripartite alliance of Shun State, Russia and the Ottoman Empire with great ease, it had demonstrated its irresistible absolute dominance.

In this situation, the remaining European countries will inevitably choose to obey.

They considered it in a pessimistic manner, believing that this was the end of European civilization and that the whole world was prostrating at the feet of the Ming Emperor.

All of Europe and the world has lost its freedom.

But the culture of the Ming Dynasty has been popular in Europe in recent years, so more new generations of Europeans have different ideas from their predecessors.

In particular, those Europeans who lived within the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, accepted Ming culture, and already regarded themselves as Ming people were now in a state of jubilation.

They believed that the world would soon be truly unified and that all people in the world would become subjects of the Ming Dynasty.

Many of them believed that since independent countries were about to disappear, there would naturally be no large-scale wars in the future world.

The whole world will usher in a new era of prosperity and development.

Such completely different and even opposing ideas appear very frequently in newspapers in European countries and Austria itself.

This is actually a direct reflection of the ideological contradiction between the ideas of the old conservatives and traditionalists and those of the new generation.

After all these years of reform and war, the Austria of this world is more united than at any time in history.

However, due to the cultural impact of the Ming Dynasty, a new split occurred on another level.

(End of this chapter)