The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 46: War Reasons, Objectives and Loans
The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty, and the American representative Adams reached a consensus on the power structure of the American Kingdom.

Then we entered into an informal discussion to deal with the French.

The Ming Emperor Zhu Zhonglin first asked his son, Prince of Wu Zhu Jianxuan, what he thought:

"The reasons why I gave you the throne of America cannot be made public. You must consider several other convincing goals and reasons.

"To prevent the French from doubting our true intentions.

“Why did we travel all the way to America to fight the British from Europe? What did we hope to gain from this war?

"Do you have any mature ideas now?"

Zhu Jianxuan couldn't help laughing when he thought about the situation in Britain and France:

“I think this reason is actually meaningless. The French will not care why the Ming Dynasty wants to fight Britain.

"As long as the Ming Dynasty really wants to attack Britain, they will definitely cheer for it.

"But I still have to make up a plausible reason.

“Officials, soldiers, and generals should be able to see the benefits, and ordinary literati and the public should be given reasons to claim to be righteous.

“In terms of interests, I think the first step is to seize the British colonies in India, and then seek the British colonial islands in Central America.

“To completely drive the British East India Company out of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and to control the main trade routes in these two oceans.

“As for the reasons of justice, it can be said that Britain has long condoned privateers, which has seriously disrupted the order of international trade.

“The British East India Company committed many atrocities, killing at least 10 million people in Bengal and persecuting the people of the colonies in North America and the United States.

“This crime is so heinous that it cannot be tolerated by justice.

"The Ming Dynasty Emperor could not bear to see the Indian and American people continue to suffer, so he decided to send heavenly soldiers to civilize these barbaric British people."

Adams couldn't help but laugh and echo Zhu Jianxuan's ridicule of the Anglo-French relationship:

“Your Majesty is right. Even if the French think so, the Ming Dynasty will not cause trouble for Britain over these things.

“They will never pass up the opportunity to cause more trouble for the British.

"Even if the French felt that Ming was not worth it, they would certainly not publicly question whether Ming should fight the British.

"So as long as there are some plausible reasons, the French should be able to believe it."

The emperor said with a stern face:

“What you said does make sense, but it would be better if the French could be truly convinced, and they would be able to play with more peace of mind.

"So we should try to be more serious and stop laughing!"

When Zhu Jianxuan and Adams heard the emperor's scolding, they quickly put away their smiles.

The emperor glanced at the two men and continued the discussion with them for several hours.

All kinds of ideas were brought up, opinions were exchanged, and external statements were prepared.

In the afternoon of the same day, the two parties directly signed a secret agreement to implement the contents discussed in the morning.

Adams left the Forbidden City with his copy and returned to the residence arranged by the Honglu Temple to rest.

Two days later, the alliance negotiations between Ming Dynasty, France and the United States officially began.

Zhu Jianxuan had a special status, so in order to avoid unnecessary worries on the part of the French, he did not attend the negotiations.

Zhu Jianxuan was not a real diplomat, but when faced with typical major events in history, he was able to point out the general direction based on historical experience.

However, Zhu Jianxuan could not help much in the negotiation of the specific details of the agreement.

Of course, the person who presided over the negotiations was the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming side was responsible for the negotiations with two cabinet ministers, three military governors' staff, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites and subordinate diplomatic personnel.

The French representative was Foreign Minister Charles Gravier, and the American representative was John Adams, who were also accompanied by their staff. The Ming emperor presided over the discussion but would not participate in the entire process. He only went there on the first day to express his willingness and attitude to cooperate.

Only after the details of the cooperation plan itself have been basically discussed will the emperor come forward again to make the final decision and approval.

Officials and advisers from the three parties discussed the matter for twelve days and finally determined an overall cooperation plan.

The three countries decided to jointly sign a mutual defense treaty against Britain.

And it leaves room for Spain and other countries, and other countries are always welcome to join the alliance.

The Ming Dynasty's publicly declared war goals were exactly what Zhu Jianxuan had discussed with Adams before.

Seize British colonies in India, expel British forces in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and seize several British islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

Control the trade routes in the Indian and Pacific Oceans and punish British privateering and the evil deeds of the British East India Company.

France's war goal was to recapture the colonies lost in the Seven Years' War and to strike a blow against Britain's growing influence throughout the world.

The United States' war goal was to achieve complete independence and the right to trade freely with other countries except Britain.

The French introduced Spain's war goal as the recapture of Florida and, more importantly, Gibraltar.

Gibraltar is located at the southernmost tip of mainland Spain. It is a small peninsula on the northern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar, guarding the gateway to the Mediterranean Sea.

After the War of the Spanish Succession in the early eighteenth century, it was ceded to Britain in accordance with the Treaty of Utrecht.

The Ming Dynasty provided low-interest loans of 5 million Ming silver dollars to France and the United States respectively.

However, they were not given cash directly. Instead, they were sent to Europe and America in the form of silk, porcelain, tea and spices.

After selling these things, the silver obtained was used as a loan to them.

If they are in a hurry, they can directly obtain these supplies from the Ming Dynasty according to the local market price and sell them in the market themselves.

The Ming Dynasty traveled all the way to Europe, and it had the main fleet to escort it, so it didn't have to worry about pirate raids at all.

If you bring cash directly to Europe instead of goods, you will suffer a huge loss.

The two countries used the trade licenses granted to them by the Ming Dynasty, as well as the Long Island region of the United States and the French colonies in India as collateral for the loans.

If the two countries cannot repay the loan normally, Ming Dynasty has the right to directly seize the merchant ships of the two countries and the right to occupy the two pieces of land used as collateral.

Until the two governments are able to repay the entire loan principal and interest.

After the signing of the covenant, Gravière and Adams arranged for their deputies to return home on a clipper to deliver the good news to their country's decision makers.

Gravier and Adams themselves continued to stay in Ming Dynasty and maintain their relationship with the Ming emperor and the court.

The key is to urge the Ming Dynasty to join the war as soon as possible and issue the promised loans as soon as possible.

However, preparations for war take time, and even if the two of them were watching here, it wouldn't be much faster.

Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty was already organizing the King Wu's guard corps, and the war resources and ships needed to organize the army to go to sea were ready.

Moreover, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty had already begun preparing for war when Adams came last time.

The key point is that the current Emperor of Ming Dynasty is indeed rich.

The imperial merchants who operated the business directly could already make huge profits, but the local vassal officials also had to pay tribute to the emperor every year.

All this money went into the emperor's own treasury.

Even if conservative officials disagreed, the Ming emperor could directly use the treasury to pay for military expenses and start a war.

In fact, most officials would not resist the emperor spending the treasury to fight wars, because the bureaucratic system could also share the benefits in the process.

So it seems that it only took four months for the Ming Dynasty court to complete the final preparations for war.

(End of this chapter)