The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 51 No Way to Cooperate

Qin Nanxing could not reveal his real purpose, as the key was to discuss it with several other generals.

So he let the officers and translators from the United States, France and Spain rest first, and then asked the other three generals for their opinions.

Lin Yongping, Chief of Staff of the Ming Dynasty's North American Fleet, spoke first:
“I think there is nothing wrong with the French plan itself. Although the plan of luring the tiger away from the mountain seems simple, the British have no good way to deal with it.

“If the British come to America in large numbers to rescue them, their homeland will naturally be in danger.

“If we don’t send enough main forces to America for rescue, then the Central American islands will all fall into the hands of our Ming Dynasty.

"The key is that the naval forces of our three countries are superior in all aspects. If the British choose to deal with one aspect, they may still have a chance of winning.

"If the British want to divide their forces into two routes and maintain the war in Europe and America at the same time, they may lose everything."

Zhang Beining, Chief of Staff of the Expeditionary Force, then asked back:

"The strategy is fine, but our goal is the North American continent and helping the United States to establish itself. Does it make sense to fight for these small islands?"

Li Anbang, the governor of the Ming expeditionary army, immediately reminded with a smile:

"Old Zhang, although we don't care about these islands, those European barbarians like them very much.

"We will occupy as much as possible, and then exchange it with them for land on the mainland."

Zhang Beining nodded and then shook his head and waved his hands:

“Exchange is indeed a good idea, but when you talk about occupation and exchange, I find that there is a big problem with this strategy.

"We look very different from the European barbarians, and our military uniforms are also completely different from those of the European barbarians.

“Even if we pretend to be French, we need to get enough French military uniforms and have the soldiers fight with their faces covered.

"Otherwise we won't be able to board and seize the ship, and the key is that we can't send land forces to directly occupy the island.

"Because if we get close to them, the British will recognize our true identities.

“Unless we can sink or capture all enemy ships we engage, and capture or outright destroy all enemies we encounter.

"That is to say, leave no one alive...

“Let’s not talk about whether this can be done or not. Even if we do it, there are still problems.

“Since no one could escape, who would send word back to England that we were the French and Spanish fleets?

"Then there's no way to attract the British fleet to Central America, right?"

Li Anbang also suddenly realized:

"If, in order to avoid being discovered, we deliberately do not capture enemy ships that have been paralyzed by us, nor occupy islands whose defenses have been destroyed, this operational limitation will be too great.

"Should we simply attack at sea and leave the capture of enemy ships and occupation of islands to the real French and Spanish?
"Then what are our Army Division going to do? Just stand by and watch you fight with the French?

"The French strategy seemed to be fine, but it overlooked the huge difference in image between our officers and soldiers. The French themselves may not have realized this problem.

Lin Yongping has also realized the problem:
"Indeed, I was careless just now. There is something wrong with your French plan.

“But what if we leave the task of occupying the land entirely to those European barbarians and they occupy it and refuse to leave?
"And they will not give up at the negotiation table. Our Ming Dynasty may have worked in vain."

Zhang Beining also understood:
“It’s not that these European barbarians are unaware of the difference in our image, but they are deliberately preparing to take on the task of occupation themselves.

"Perhaps the real purpose of these European barbarians is that they don't want us to occupy these islands in Central America?"

Several other generals couldn't help but frown.

Li Anbang even cursed directly:
"These bastards are plotting against you. You shouldn't have cooperated with them!"

Qin Nanxing also sneered and said:
"These European barbarians, before the battle even started, were already thinking about being on guard against us and how to divide the spoils.

"They don't want us to occupy those islands, and we don't really want them anyway.

“But since they take it so seriously, we might as well just take them all.

"Let's see how much they can finally pay for the exchange."

Lin Yongping continued to add the plan:

“In fact, given the current situation, it doesn’t matter much whether we deliberately conceal our identities after joining the war.

"Our biggest advantage at the moment is the national strength of our Ming Dynasty.

"If we directly reveal our identities and join the war, it should have a panic effect on the British." The British will not think that they can defeat the alliance of our Ming Dynasty, France and Spain at the same time.

"They can only choose to fight one of the French and Spanish fleets in Europe and our fleet in America, and they will lose the other.

“They should soon realize that as long as the Ming Dynasty officially joins the war, this war will no longer be able to continue.

“Another is surprise; the British probably don’t know we are going to join the war yet.

"We can launch a surprise attack on some important cities, such as New York.

“New York is where the British camp is located. Like Philadelphia, it is a place that His Majesty has specifically instructed us to visit. It may become the capital of the kingdom in the future.

“We have 30,000 land forces here, more than 200 warships, and more than 100 large armed transport ships.

"If there is widespread support from the militia in the northern United States, there is a chance that the New York camp will be trapped.

“Once the main force of the British camp is trapped by us and eventually forced to surrender, the morale of the British army may collapse directly.

“Then our fleet can attack surrounding towns and islands, which will be more efficient.

"Faced with the landslide situation, the British should take the initiative to ask for peace talks."

Qin Nanxing first agreed with Lin Yongping's plan:

"I think this is a good plan, what do you think?"

The other generals thought about it and felt that there seemed to be nothing wrong with this direction.

So everyone began to continue discussing Lin Yongping's plan and drew up a preliminary battle plan.

Finally, Qin Nanxing made the final summary:

"Then we will proceed according to the plan. We will first go to the northern United States to contact the United States Continental Army, and then we will lay siege to New York after delivering the supplies."

After the discussion, several generals of the Ming Dynasty called the envoys from the United States, France and Spain again the next day.

Lin Yongping, Chief of Staff of the North American Fleet, as the initiator of the final combat plan, explained to them the results of the discussion on the Ming side:
“The differences in the appearance and uniforms of our soldiers, and even the huge differences in the form of our warships, make it meaningless for the Ming people to pretend to be French.

"It's very likely that they will be discovered right away, so it's better to just go all out and put as much pressure on Britain as possible.

"Our plan is to try to lay siege to New York directly."

The American translators and officers were overjoyed when they understood the situation. Attacking New York was equivalent to a direct decisive battle.

After consulting with the officers, the French translator decided that the chances of success of a direct siege of New York were not high enough.

Then they proposed to mobilize the colonial troops of France and Spain to cooperate with the Ming navy to occupy the island.

When Qin Nanxing heard that the other party's meaning was similar to the staff's previous speculation, he did not explain to them directly:
“That would be too troublesome. We don’t speak the same language, so there will definitely be problems in coordination.

"Our staff believes that the best tactic is for both sides to stand out and make Britain unable to take both sides.

"If the British fight your fleet in Europe, we will occupy all the colonies in America.

"If the British main fleet comes to America, then the British mainland will naturally become a lamb to be slaughtered, and you can land easily.

"If the British try to have it both ways, they will be at a distinct disadvantage on both sides and may suffer heavy losses on both sides.

"The most important thing is to force Britain to give up struggling as soon as possible and accept the impossible outcome as soon as possible."

The French translator discussed with the officer for a while and seemed to want to persuade Qin Nanxing again.

But Qin Nanxing refused again very firmly:
"We Ming people like to be straightforward and don't like those roundabout strategies, so please stop wasting your time.

“If you really want to cooperate, then find a way to drag the British main fleet to Europe.

“You don’t need to defeat them directly, you just need to stick to them.

"Let the Ming destroy and occupy Britain's American colonial troops, and the war will be over."

The French and Spanish officers could see that the Ming generals had seen through their plans and were obviously unlikely to cooperate with their plan.

The personnel from the three parties had to say goodbye and leave, and then immediately arranged for people to board a neutral Dutch merchant ship and return to Europe to deliver letters to their own country's top leaders.

At the same time, the three parties also arranged translators and communicators to remain in the Ming army to facilitate the subsequent rapid exchange of information.

The Ming Dynasty's naval and land forces replenished and repaired in Suriname for more than half a month, and then set sail north again, heading straight for the east coast of the United States.

(End of this chapter)