The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 80 Basic Conditions for Peace Negotiations
James Cook and his crew spent a winter in Yingtian Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty.

The following year, after the arrival of spring in the 35th year of Xianning in the Ming Dynasty, representatives from the warring countries began to arrive in Yingtian Prefecture one after another.

As of the 1781th and 8th day of the 5th month of the ... year of Xianning (August , in the Western calendar), all the representatives of the nominal belligerent countries had arrived.

The Ming Emperor Zhu Zhonglin attached great importance to this negotiation. On June 18, he received envoys from various countries in the Fengtian Hall and gave them a banquet.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was relatively "generous and tolerant" and did not deliberately find fault with the representatives of various countries. He asked the Honglu Temple to remind them at the same time that it was enough to bow when meeting each other.

The next day, before the formal public talks began, the Ming Emperor Zhu Zhonglin convened a royal meeting in the Wuying Hall where he worked every day.

Confirm the overall direction and bottom line of the Ming Dynasty negotiations for the last time.

The participants were the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty, the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty, the Minister of Rites, and the Minister of the Temple of Honglu.

Zhu Zhonglin flipped through a copy of the test paper submitted by Zhu Jianxuan and asked:
"King Wu, are you sure you want to do this?"

Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince and the two Ming officials looked at Zhu Jianxuan together.

Zhu Jianxuan turned eleven at the beginning of this year. According to the traditional Ming Dynasty age calculation method, he is now twelve years old and his height is close to 1.6 meters.

Really becoming more and more like an adult.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jianxuan bowed to his father earnestly:

"Your Majesty, I still think it is more appropriate to do this.

"It does seem to be more advantageous for us if we meet privately one by one and get all the countries to accept our proposal one by one.

“But the additional benefits we can get are very limited.

"Collectively and openly negotiating and distributing and exchanging spoils can greatly improve our external image.

“Fame is not useless.

“If we want to intervene in Europe’s internal affairs in the future, we need to lay a good foundation of public opinion and understanding in advance.

“In the future, I may be active in North America and have direct dealings with Europeans. This foundation is very important.

"More importantly, if we talk completely openly, we won't lose any obvious benefits now.

“The monarchs of European countries are more concerned about land that can directly generate profits.

"They were more interested in the islands in Central America, which could produce luxury goods such as sugar, coffee and tobacco in exchange for fiscal revenue.

“What’s more important to us in the Ming Dynasty is the large tracts of land on the mainland that are suitable for farming.

“We do not have obvious conflicts of interest with European countries.

"An open and honest collective discussion should also allow us to complete the negotiations as soon as possible and end the war as soon as possible."

The emperor put down the title written by Zhu Jianxuan without any expression:
“Anyway, everything in North America from now on will be your own business.

"If you are willing to sacrifice some of your own interests to enhance the overall reputation and image of Ming Dynasty, I will certainly not stop you.

"I believe you won't stop you."

Neither of the two ministers said anything. This was the emperor's family affair, and King Wu's suggestion was in line with traditional Chinese thinking.

As for the prince, he had even less objection.

The prince has now determined that his younger brother has little interest in local affairs, but has a very strong interest in overseas affairs.

It has now been basically confirmed that the Ming Dynasty will be able to obtain half of North America, and his younger brother will be able to become the king of North America.

The younger brother claimed that he would frequently visit North America in the future, and the prince completely believed him.

If I were in his shoes, I would also live in North America in the future.

North America is much richer than Australia. It has the southeastern coastal plains with abundant rain and heat, and the endless central Great Plains.

As for whether his brother occupied too much land, the prince didn't care at all. Although North America has a lot of land, it doesn't have many people. Population is the real wealth. The Ming Dynasty will give him immigrants in the future.

Moreover, the prince himself admires his younger brother very much. He is of top quality in both moral character and ability, and he deserves so much if he is capable.

Now that he is the eldest and legitimate crown prince, he will inherit the Ming Dynasty in the future.

As his most talented youngest brother, he had no chance of becoming the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but he could explore and rule overseas lands.

The prince also felt that such an arrangement and distribution was very reasonable.

The prince immediately expressed his approval:
"Father, your majesty is wise. What my brother Xuan said is absolutely right. As the Celestial Empire, our Ming Dynasty should naturally uphold justice and fairness for the barbarians overseas."

The emperor also responded casually:

"Then go ahead. I'll wait for your final news."

Zhu Jianxuan and the other three immediately took their leave and went to the Fengtian Hall together.

A meeting was held in a "Peace Treaty Affairs Office" temporarily set up in a side hall to make final preparations before the formal talks.

Four days later, on the 1781st day of the 8th month of the Ming Dynasty's Xianning reign (August 10, in the Western calendar), the peace talks officially began.

In the middle of the Fengtian Hall, six tables were arranged in a rectangle.

Zhu Jianxuan, along with the Minister of Personnel and the Minister of Rites, sat in the north, facing south, under the emperor's throne.

The British representatives were placed in the south, opposite Zhu Jianxuan.

Representatives of the Ming Shun Kingdom and the "Jianzhou Left Guard" sat on the east side, which was on Zhu Jianxuan's left.

Representatives from France, Spain and the United States sat on the west side, to Zhu Jianxuan’s right.

Representatives from various countries are still a little surprised.

Before they came, they all thought that the Ming Dynasty would first hold private talks with each country individually to privately agree on a future profit distribution plan.

Finally, the basically finalized plan will be brought to a public meeting for discussion and some detailed modifications will be made.

However, the Ming Dynasty did not communicate privately with other countries before the meeting, but directly convened the conference.

Amid the representatives' confusion and curiosity, the Minister of the Honglu Temple of the Ming Dynasty began to announce the identities of the representatives on the scene and the corresponding forces.

The corresponding representatives stood up one by one in the order in which they were called by the Minister of the Ministry of Rites and bowed to the other people present to confirm their identities.

After the identity confirmation session, Zhu Jianxuan, as the host representative, spoke first:

"In order to speed up the talks and avoid endless wrangling and back-and-forth, I first put forward a few basic principles.

“First, the Ming Dynasty played a decisive role in this war and should have obtained the most spoils and the dominant position in distribution.

"Second, the United Kingdom and all the signatory nations recognize the independence of the United States.

“Third, the Kingdom of Great Britain will give up all its territories outside Europe, which will be distributed through negotiation among all belligerent countries, including the United States of America, and the Kingdom of Great Britain will unconditionally recognize the ownership of the relevant territories formed after the distribution.

“Fourth, among the territories seized by the Ming Dynasty in North and Central America that originally belonged to other belligerent countries or were listed as important targets, the Ming Dynasty will transfer some of them to the relevant countries according to the circumstances, but will also reasonably retain a portion as the remuneration and compensation that the Ming Dynasty deserves.

“Fifth, the territories in other regions outside the Americas shall be based on the current actual occupation line, and the corresponding lands shall belong to the occupying party.

"If everyone can accept this principle, then we can start the talks based on this principle framework.

“If you have any opinions, please raise them now and we will continue to revise them.”

After the translators of each country translated Zhu Jianxuan's words, the representatives of other countries immediately looked at the British representative.

The most crucial of these agreements is actually one that Britain gives up all its land outside Europe.

The British Prime Minister and Home Secretary both had grim expressions.

(End of this chapter)