The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 82 Territorial Exchange between Ming and Spain

The British accepted their fate.

Representatives from other countries all breathed a sigh of relief, and many of them had happy expressions on their faces. All that remained was the distribution of the spoils.

Representatives from various countries began to discuss other principles among themselves.

When the spoils are divided after the war, who gets the most spoils depends not only on how much he has contributed in the war, but more importantly on how much strength he has left after the war.

Among the Ming Dynasty's several principles, the first is the legitimate requirement that the Ming Dynasty should get the largest share of the spoils.

Even if the land recaptured by the Ming Dynasty originally belonged to other allies, the Ming Dynasty would keep the part it wanted first and return the rest to the original owner.

Although the French and Spanish representatives had illusions, they longed to directly recover all the colonies lost in the Seven Years' War.

But they also understood that it was just a fantasy and that the Ming Dynasty would never hand over these lands for nothing.

At the same time, the Ming Dynasty also demanded the "right to distribute the spoils of war."

If in a war the main belligerents all got some spoils, there would certainly not be clear-cut rights of distribution, only various transactions.

But the result of this battle is that Ming Dynasty got most of the spoils, so it can only be divided by Ming Dynasty.

Other countries have no right to interfere in this special temporary power.

So after a short discussion on the spot, representatives from various countries expressed their willingness to accept all the principles proposed by Zhu Jianxuan.

Zhu Jianxuan nodded slightly with satisfaction:

“Since all the relevant countries have no objection, I will now begin distributing the spoils of war.

“First, the North American continent, the southernmost part of Florida, belonged to Spain before the Seven Years’ War.

“The Florida region itself is divided into two parts, east and west.

“Spanish colonial forces took back a portion of West Florida on their own.

“The Ming expeditionary force led the American militia and recaptured all of East Florida and part of West Florida.

“Now, the Ming Dynasty will return the western part of East Florida to Spain.

“Transfer the northern part of East Florida, the Appalachian foothills, to America, which has also contributed.

“The remaining areas and the Florida Peninsula will be left as compensation to Ming.

"On this basis, the Ming Dynasty is willing to exchange the Bahamas, which were formerly British, for the entire Florida region that Spain occupied and would receive.

"Spanish representatives, American representatives, can you accept this plan?"

The two American representatives immediately expressed their acceptance.

The North American militia has actually done nothing and has now directly expanded its territory.

Moreover, the lands in North America allocated to the Ming Dynasty actually belonged to the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty, and the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty was the King of America.

In the view of the American representatives, after Zhu Jianxuan’s exchange plan is completed, the entire Florida will belong to the United States. How could Americans have any objections?

The Spaniards briefly discussed for a few seconds, and the Prime Minister directly rejected Zhu Jianxuan's arrangement:

“The Florida region is connected to our St. Louis region, whereas the Bahamas is a patchwork of shallow coral reefs.

“We don’t want to trade the remaining Florida territory for the Bahamas.”

Zhu Jianxuan was a little surprised, but after thinking about it, he understood why.

In previous history, during the American War of Independence, the Spanish seized the Bahamas, which originally belonged to Britain.

After the war, the Spanish exchanged the Bahamas for East Florida from Britain.

This certainly shows that in the eyes of the Spanish and the British, East Florida and the Bahamas are of roughly the same value.

A swamp full of crocodiles and a shallow coral reef.

But the Spanish wanted Florida more because the Florida region was on the mainland, next to Spanish Louisiana.

Zhu Jianxuan thought about it and decided to change the terms of exchange:

"How about exchanging it with British Belize? Belize is a land on the Central American continent, surrounded by Spanish territories."

The Spaniards discussed for a while:

“The sovereignty of Belize originally belonged to Spain, and the British only controlled some land and logging sites there.

“The actual control that Britain has over the area cannot be directly compared to the value of half of Florida.

"If Ming wants to exchange Florida, we can accept control of Belize, plus Jamaica and the Cayman Islands in exchange."

Jamaica and the Cayman Islands were originally Spanish colonies and were ceded to Britain in 1670.

The Cayman Islands are located northwest of Jamaica and southwest of Cuba, and are a famous pirate den in the Caribbean Sea.

The King of England found a random excuse to completely exempt the Man Islands from taxes, handed it over entirely to the pirates, and allowed the pirates to continue plundering Spanish merchant ships.

In Zhu Jianxuan's previous life, the British Cayman Islands later became a so-called tax haven, which can also be said to have some historical origins.

The island of Jamaica was also a famous Caribbean pirate den in the late seventeenth century.

However, the island of Jamaica is large in area, and many coffee and sugarcane plantations have been gradually developed, gradually gaining high economic value.

After the island's "pirate capital" Port Royal was destroyed by an earthquake, the British took the opportunity to drive all the pirates to the Cayman Islands and built a new commercial port, Kingston, in Jamaica.

Before Zhu Jianxuan could speak, the Minister of the Honglu Temple of the Ming Dynasty heard the Spaniards' doubts about Belize's ownership and responded directly and raised the stakes:

"When there is an actual controller in the local area, the nominal ownership is of little significance. The actual control of Belize can certainly be traded." If Spain still wants Jamaica, then the value of half of Florida is totally insufficient. We can only offer the Cayman Islands.

"Alternatively, Spain could offer the entire Louisiana Territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for the entire Jamaican archipelago."

The Spanish representatives discussed for a while and put forward new demands:

"That would include the Bahamas and former British Nicaragua, and Spain's claim to the Port of New Orleans and surrounding lands."

The Minister of the Honglu Temple immediately responded:
"New Orleans occupies the only solid surface in the Mississippi Delta; the rest is mud and swamp.

"If you trade Louisiana and Florida but don't give up the New Orleans area, the trade doesn't make any sense."

Zhu Jianxuan watched as both sides continued to increase the stakes and wanted to exchange more and more things, and he felt that this was really too troublesome.

Wait until the railway is built in the Great Lakes region and migrate enough armed immigrants to settle there for a period of time.

If they find another opportunity during war in Europe, it would not be difficult to seize the Louisiana Plains, and there would be no need to rush to pay a price in exchange.

Retaining Jamaica as a stronghold in the Caribbean will also facilitate subsequent attacks from the north and south to seize Cuba and other places.

By retaining the former British colony of Nicaragua, Britain can also find opportunities to seize the entire Nicaragua in the future.

Then build a Nicaragua Canal and establish a direct route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

There is actually no need to exchange Florida itself, but in order to utilize the Mississippi River's water transportation, we have to trade half of the river bank first.

Zhu Jianxuan then interrupted the argument between the two parties:
"Don't bother with that. Let's not discuss the deal between the Great Plains and Jamaica any further. That's not part of this peace treaty.

"Ming used control of Belize and the Bahamas in exchange for half of Florida that Spain was supposed to get.

"Claims all the land east of the main channel of the Mississippi River, including all of New Orleans."

The Spanish Prime Minister thought for a moment:

"Then add the Cayman Islands. At the same time, Ming Dynasty must cooperate with Spain to eliminate pirates in the Caribbean region, and must not condone pirates in the future."

Zhu Jianxuan made a final counteroffer with some impatience:
"The Ming Dynasty can also cooperate with Spain to completely eliminate pirates in the Caribbean, but will not transfer the ownership of the Cayman Islands."

The Spanish Prime Minister saw that Zhu Jianxuan was getting annoyed, so he stopped worrying about the little piece of land in the Cayman Islands:

"If the Ming Dynasty is truly willing to eradicate pirates from the Cayman Islands, we can accept the current conditions."

Zhu Jianxuan responded without hesitation:

"We are certainly willing to eradicate local pirates. Our two countries can discuss this matter separately later."

(The illustrations use red and blue to mark the former British colonies that appear in this chapter. The red parts eventually belonged to Ming and America, and the blue parts eventually belonged to Spain.)
The negotiations between Ming Dynasty and Spain ended like this.

The relevant personnel did not give it too much thought, and the exchange of multiple territories was decided.

The overseas colonies at this time were not the concept of national territory in Zhu Jianxuan’s previous life, and their importance was completely different.

To the monarchs of that time, these colonies were no different from goods in warehouses.

It is normal to trade or give it away.

And most of the places for exchange this time are bad places.

Outside of New Orleans, Florida is just a vast swamp, and for a long time there was no clear northern border.

Historically, the Spanish and Americans simply drew a straight line on the map as the border.

The Bahamas is a coral reef island that is difficult to develop.

The Cayman Islands is even more of a pirate den.

Belize was only slightly more valuable, and ownership did indeed belong to Spain, having not previously been expressly ceded to Britain by treaty.

The Ming Dynasty was essentially exchanging control of Belize for New Orleans.

Once the truly valuable island of Jamaica is appraised, the trading target becomes half of the Great Plains of North America.

It would definitely be very troublesome to talk about it, so Zhu Jianxuan gave up directly.

In fact, the cooperation between Ming Dynasty and Spain in combating pirates was much more important than the few pieces of land in the territorial exchange agreement between the two sides.

The Pirates of the Caribbean became so famous in later generations because the area was really full of pirates in the early days.

Of course, there were pirates from countries such as France and Denmark, but more were privateers encouraged by the British government.

The bases of the Caribbean pirates are mainly British colonies. After all, even the "capital" of the Caribbean pirates is in British colonies.

The British were very poor at the beginning and had nothing, so they relied on robbery to obtain a large part of their original capital accumulation.

Both Ming Dynasty and Spain are completely different from Britain.

Spain owned half of America, with a large number of gold and silver mines and a large number of plantations.

The Ming Dynasty monopolized all high-end luxury goods from the East.

The two countries are in a buyer and seller relationship.

The attitude of both sides towards pirates cannot be said to be deep hatred, but only to be irreconcilable.

It is impossible for both countries to continue to condone the rampant piracy.

Now that the British forces have been driven out of the Caribbean by the Ming Dynasty, it is reasonable for the two countries to cooperate to completely eliminate these pirates.

(End of this chapter)