The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 63: Britain’s foreign policy has finally come of age
On June 1780, 6, the British (Kingdom of Great Britain) delegation arrived in the capital of the Qing Dynasty and met with Emperor Qianlong after two days of rest.

Qianlong was not the emperor who unified China. In addition, he had more dealings with Europe, so he did not care as much about etiquette as people in history did.

Europeans were directly asked to greet each other as they would their own kings.

Byron, the envoy from the Kingdom of Great Britain, presented the gift list, and Qianlong showed no emotion after reading it.

Qianlong casually asked about Britain, and then ordered a banquet to be given, and ordered Ji Yun, Heshen and other Manchu and Han officials to accompany them to find out the British conditions.

Heshen had just turned 30 at this time, but he was already highly regarded by Emperor Qianlong.

Heshen's eldest son just turned five this year, and he was already married to Emperor Qianlong's daughter as a son-in-law.

Although Ji Yun was already 55 years old, his status was far lower than Heshen.

That afternoon, at the banquet in the palace, after three rounds of wine and five dishes, Heshen asked Byron very bluntly:
"What conditions are you British prepared to offer to invite my Eight Banners Heavenly Army to come south to besiege the Ming and rescue the British?"

Byron looked at the diplomatic translator beside him, who directly presented the prepared speech in Chinese:

"Minister, you should know that the Southern Ming court has always regarded the Qing Dynasty as its old enemy and has always wanted to recover its homeland and old capital.

"Now that the Southern Ming has transferred its main forces to North America, it is the best opportunity for the Qing Dynasty to go south and seize the Southern Ming capital and completely destroy the Southern Ming court."

He Shen immediately realized that the British wanted to get something for nothing, and said unhappily:
"What do you mean by the Southern Ming main force? The Southern Ming could only send 30,000 ground forces to North America at best, but their standing army was at least 200,000.

"This only counts the central army of the Southern Ming court. If you add the armies of the local vassal states, there must be at least 500,000,000.

“They still have a population of at least 20 million and can recruit hundreds of thousands or even millions of soldiers at any time.

"After hearing what you said, I finally understand what arrogance means.

"You'd better show some real benefits, otherwise my Qing Dynasty will not go south to attack Ming for you."

The British diplomatic interpreter held his breath and quickly translated Heshen's words to Byron.

Byron couldn't help but frown after hearing this:
"Then Britain can recognize the Qing Dynasty's ownership of all the lands west of the Rocky Mountains in the northwest of America."

The translator translated the words to Heshen.

He Shen suddenly became even more impatient:
"The land there is already the territory of our Qing Dynasty, and there is no need for you British to recognize it.

"Either these are Spanish territories that you cannot possibly seize, and you are not qualified to transfer them to the Qing Dynasty."

Byron had no choice but to ask directly:

"Then may I ask, sir, what conditions does the Qing Dynasty need in order to be willing to form an alliance with Great Britain and go all out to attack the Southern Ming?"

He Shen was not clear about Qianlong's bottom line, but the key at this time was to find out the British's bottom line. All he had to do was to ask for a sky-high price:

"Transfer your North American colonies to our Qing Dynasty. After our Qing Dynasty has provided manpower and resources to quell the rebellion, we will help you make peace with the Southern Ming, France, and Spain."

Byron was speechless immediately. He did have the idea of ​​luring the Qing Dynasty to move south without paying any price, simply based on the situation and interests.

However, this young minister of the Qing Dynasty also wanted to take the entire North American colony for free without paying any price.

If we are willing to hand over our North American colonies, why would we need your help in negotiations?

Wouldn't it be more direct to end the war by simply splitting North America and handing it over to Ming, France, Spain and the United States?

Is your relationship with Nanming much better than ours?

Byron and the translators knew that the King, Prime Minister, and MPs would not accept such a condition:

"Minister, this is obviously impossible. The most we can do is to admit that the land west of the Mississippi River belongs to the Qing Dynasty, but the Qing Dynasty needs to seize it on its own."

He Shen felt that it was almost done, so he directly confirmed:
"Is this your bottom line? You'd better tell me clearly so that I can help you convince His Majesty.

"Your Majesty is very busy and doesn't have the time to argue with you guys. You better tell me the truth."

Byron discussed this with several other diplomats and finally gave a serious reply to Heshen:

“This is our final condition.”

The British could actually offer more, such as the Great Lakes and the land west of the Appalachian Mountains, all of which could be traded. However, such a deal would not be made with the Qing Dynasty because the Qing Dynasty did not have the ability to take over these lands.

Even if Britain had to hand over those lands, they would be given directly to the future independent America, or to the Ming Dynasty, which was able to send a large fleet to North America.

Heshen nodded slightly, stopped discussing business, and started chatting about trivial matters.

After the banquet, Heshen and Ji Yun immediately ran to the harem to report the British attitude to Qianlong.

Qianlong did not answer immediately after hearing this. Instead, he asked someone to bring a map of North America and studied it for a while:

"Draft an imperial decree to declare war on Britain, send another person to Yingtian, and send someone to participate in the peace talks with Britain."

He Shen and Ji Yun were both shocked:
"Your Majesty? Do you mean that we should declare war on... Britain? Cooperate with the Southern Ming? Instead of the other way around?"

Qianlong reached out and tapped the map of North America on the table:
"Whatever the British could really give to the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty could have taken directly by itself, and there was no need to fight with the Spanish.

“The Qing Dynasty would never fight to the death with the Southern Ming for Britain, so there is no point in forming an alliance with Britain.

"Instead of helping the British to become enemies of the whole world, it is better to join the whole world in beating up the British."

Heshen and Ji Yun immediately understood.

This is indeed the truth. You British have already incurred the wrath of the people. Why should my Qing Dynasty stand on your side?

If a war breaks out with the Southern Ming, it could be a war that Europeans could hardly imagine, with losses and dangers that would be difficult to estimate and even difficult to control.

But now, if we want to fight the British together, maybe just a few shouts will be enough.

So, two days later, the British representatives headed by Byron were received by Qianlong again.

Byron originally thought that he would be able to get a response from Emperor Qianlong and confirm whether the other party was willing to surround the Ming Dynasty and rescue Britain.

After the ceremony, Qianlong asked the eunuch to announce the imperial decree, which was to declare war on Britain.

There was a long paragraph of nonsense before the imperial edict, but nonsense also had an attitude. It was all cursing the British, saying that Britain was doing all kinds of evil and was like a robber.

The British translator was confused after hearing a few sentences, and Byron next to him was also confused after hearing a few sentences of the translation.

It was not until the end of the imperial edict, in which the Qing Dynasty officially declared war on the Kingdom of Britain, that the translator and Byron were completely stunned.

"why?"

"Why?"

Finally, when the eunuch handed the imperial edict or declaration of war to Byron, Byron was still completely confused.

Not only did he fail to persuade the Qing Dynasty to surround the Ming Dynasty and save Britain, but he also received the Qing Dynasty's declaration of war to Britain.

If I go back to England like this, let alone being promoted to earldom, it's hard to say whether I can keep my current baronship.

After Byron and the translator recovered and wanted to argue, the Qing guards did not give them a chance.

A group of people carried them all out of the hall and arranged for soldiers to drive them out of the city.

They were supervised and escorted all the way back to Tianjin and boarded the Portuguese merchant ship they came on.

It was not until the merchant ship left the port and Byron and his crew read the declaration of war from the Qing Dynasty several times that they were forced to accept the fact.

The translator said to Lord Byron dejectedly:
"The Qing Empire has gone from being our lifeline to the straw that broke the camel's back.

"The war cannot go on any longer, and we in Britain cannot be enemies of the whole world.

"Now we can only go to Ming and find out Ming's ceasefire conditions."

Byron nodded weakly:
“We certainly don’t have the ability to be an enemy of all of Europe, let alone all the major powers in the world.

"We will never be able to unite the whole of Europe, let alone the whole world, against us."

As in history, after the diplomatic failure of the American War of Independence, the traditional foreign policy of the British finally matured.

(End of this chapter)