I want to be emperor

Chapter 1206: The Weird Civil War for the Danish Throne

The operation of the Kingdom of England has also allowed many elites from other indigenous countries who are actively trying to get close to the Chu State to see some shortcuts...

This kind of thing, except for the king and the royal family, is of great benefit to other powerful people in the kingdom.

The throne is not theirs anyway, so using the throne to exchange for friendly relations with the Great Chu Empire, and then gaining many benefits in trade and aid, is a huge profit no matter how you look at it.

Many indigenous countries wanted to follow this model, but not many were successful in the end. After all, not everyone could send their princess to the bed of the crown prince of the Great Chu Empire...

  However, even if the Crown Prince is not possible, the other princes may be able to do so... The other princes are also of Luo Chu royal blood. It would be nice to let the bloodlines of these princes become king!

Therefore, in the following years, the ruling classes of many indigenous countries tried every means to send their royal daughters to the harem of the prince of Chu...

  Then one by one they announced that the princess's son also had the right to inherit the throne!

During this process, there were even cases where the king's sons, grandsons and other heirs died inexplicably for various reasons.

Sometimes, the interests of the king and the nobles, new business groups and even ordinary people are inconsistent and even contradictory.

When the elites and even ordinary people of an indigenous country use the throne as a bargaining chip to exchange for preferential policies of the empire, even you as the king cannot resist!

Since there is no way to resist, it is better to just lie down and accept it to avoid the premature death of the royal bloodline... The Kingdom of Denmark is a pioneer among them.

In the 62nd year of Chengshun, as Christina, the second daughter of the King of Denmark, gradually grew up and became more and more beautiful, she had already caught the attention of the officials in the Palace Affairs Office and was expected to become a candidate for the harem of the Crown Prince of the Empire.

The eldest son of the Danish Crown Prince fell from his horse first, but luckily he survived. Only half a year later, the second son of the Crown Prince accidentally fell into the water again, and this time he was also fortunately rescued.

  But anyone with a discerning eye could see that a large number of nobles and business people in the Kingdom of Denmark were gearing up to eliminate the lineage of the Crown Prince and clear the way for Christina's son to inherit the throne in the future!

The struggle for the throne in the Kingdom of Denmark has reached a white-hot state... The royal family wants to keep the throne, while the great nobles, business operators and even bureaucrats all want to use the throne to exchange for the empire's preferential policies and become the second Kingdom of England.

  Ever since Elizabeth gave birth to a son and the Kingdom of England officially announced that Elizabeth's son became the first heir, the people within the Great Chu Empire were actually a little stunned at first!

The Ministry of Imperial Households warned England at the first opportunity that the titles, positions and even places of residence of royal family members were all internal affairs of the royal family and the vassal states were not allowed to interfere in any way!

At the same time, it was clearly stated that Elizabeth's son is now the emperor's grandson, but will become a prince in the future. According to the imperial royal regulations, the prince is not allowed to leave Beijing without an imperial order.

Therefore, even if Elizabeth's son inherited the so-called throne of England, it would be impossible for him to become king.

  But the Kingdom of England said that it was not a problem... Our future king is still in Jinling City and can still rule England!

Even though there was no precedent for this kind of thing, and Crown Prince Luo Jun didn't have any special feelings for his sixteenth son...but he was his son after all, so he had to pay some attention to him.

  When the title of the throne of a vassal state was offered to him, the crown prince was about to reject it outright... This was not in keeping with his status. How could a dignified grandson of the emperor and future prince of the empire serve as the king of an indigenous vassal state?

But the Kingdom of England requested, saying that they no longer have an heir to the throne... They could only shamelessly ask the emperor's grandson and prince to concurrently serve as the king of the Kingdom of England.

Considering that the English royal family is indeed dwindling, there are only two males left in such a large royal family, one is the king and the other is the prince, and the prince is also a man who cannot have children...

And most importantly, the Kingdom of England is a model of comprehensive rapprochement with the Empire, and is a positive example used by the Empire to appease, persuade, and deter other indigenous vassal states.

Therefore, we should also consider the other party's situation to some extent.

In the end, the prince neither opposed nor supported it, and pretended not to hear anything... and kept all the memorials regarding the matter without sending them out.

In fact, I just acquiesced to this matter... It's nothing more than adding a title to the Sixteenth Son in the future, it won't have any real impact...

After the prince acquiesced, the Kingdom of England was indeed moving closer to the empire, not only in terms of military, politics, and economy, but also in culture... They had even abolished the official language status of English and only used Chinese as the official language.

Moreover, England will belong to the royal territory in the future. In this case, you can't go too far and you have to give it some preferential treatment.

It doesn't need to be too much, just give some trade preferences and then increase a little aid.

But... these were just a few preferential benefits that slipped through the cracks of the empire's fingernails, but they were enough to feed the Kingdom of England from top to bottom.

For example, in the grain trade agreement, the Chu State agreed to increase the supply chain and reduce export tariffs.

For example, in the coal trade, the State of Chu lowered the tariff on coal imported from England.

These two items alone are enough to allow hundreds of thousands of English people to eat more fully and better.

Later, the Royal Assets Department also invested in the construction of a large woolen mill in England... Although the factory was owned by Chu people, the workers employed were all local natives. This large woolen mill alone directly and indirectly provided employment for more than 10,000 people.

Although it was difficult for the English government to collect too much tax from the factories invested by the Chu people (generally it was a tax-sharing system with a very small tax amount), they did obtain employment and tax revenue from many industrial chains surrounding the factory, including the supply of raw materials, the tertiary industry for workers' living consumption, and so on.

This is the driving effect of contemporary large-scale labor-intensive factories on the local economy!

All of the above has brought about a substantial growth in the economy of the Kingdom of England... In this situation, many people in the Kingdom of England, whether they are elites or ordinary people, are actually very grateful to Elizabeth's son, the Sixteenth Prince, who knows nothing yet.

The treatment of the Kingdom of England has also aroused the envy of many elite groups in indigenous countries...

We have a throne, too... We have a princess, too...

Why can't we follow suit and gain the political status of a royal territory?

I can't be a proper Chu citizen, but can't I be a subject of the Luo royal family?

So, there was the matter of the Kingdom of Denmark... In fact, what happened in the Kingdom of Denmark is just one of them, and it is quite typical.

One wants to give away the throne, the other wants to keep it.

Because the royal family and the nobles were unwilling to compromise, a war even broke out in the end.

In April of the 63rd year of Chengshun, the Danish Crown Prince was killed in a bomb attack. The Danish King finally lost his patience...

Of course, this intolerance was not directed at the empire, but at the nobles and businessmen.

It has become a foregone conclusion that Royal Princess Christina will be selected to enter the palace. The selection officials of the Palace Affairs Office began to pay attention to her a few years ago and sent education and etiquette personnel to teach her in advance.

To some extent, Christina had already been considered a Dane many years ago, but a Chu citizen. Even if her future was not to enter the Eastern Palace, she would enter another prince's palace. There was no other option.

Their royal family didn't dare to resist, and they didn't even have the slightest opinion...

Even if there were not a lot of people in the country waiting for Christina's son to inherit the throne, the royal family would actually be happy to send Christina into the royal family and strengthen the relationship between the royal families through this marriage.

But unexpectedly, the Kingdom of England set a bad precedent... The good idea of ​​sending a daughter for marriage turned into sending a daughter for the throne... In terms of the general direction, the Danish royal family cannot change, but they can still change the situation in Denmark...

Therefore, after the Danish Crown Prince was assassinated, the old king finally couldn't bear it anymore and directly mobilized the army loyal to the royal family to begin arresting a large number of nobles and businessmen... Otherwise, his remaining two grandsons would die sooner or later.

But the king began to use force to arrest people. The nobles and business communities were not the weak groups... on the contrary, they were the strong groups.

As soon as the king sent out the royal guards, they immediately pulled out a large and well-equipped national defense force.

Then civil war broke out in Denmark...

The war was raging, and even the Danish capital was hit by brutal street fighting, with the royal palace becoming a battlefield.

A small Tang-style palace on the outskirts of the Danish capital remains peaceful... Christina, the sixteen-year-old second daughter of the Kingdom of Denmark, has been extremely beautiful since childhood and received orthodox Chinese education. By the time she was twelve years old, she had already amazed everyone, and eventually attracted the attention and teaching of the Palace Affairs Office.

  But she was wearing a Tang-style Hanfu and playing chess with her tutor!

The sound of gunfire several kilometers away seemed to not exist!

After a long while, when the chess game was over, Christina turned her head and looked in the direction of the capital in the distance. There was a cloud of dust rising up there. After watching for a long time, she said in standard Jinling dialect: "Some people, after all, still lack enlightenment!"

"If I have a son in the future, why do they think that my future son will become the king of such a vassal state?"

A woman in her thirties with black hair and a West Asian face in front of her said, "Miss, what you said is very true... These are just some farces of self-imagination of barbarians. If you have children in the future, they will be the grandson of the emperor, the future prince of the empire. How noble is your status? How can you condescend to a vassal state..."

Christina said, "Father is the same. What's the point of fighting for the throne? I asked him to send his two nephews to the London Concession so that they could receive a proper education, but he didn't want to!"

As she spoke, she sighed… To be honest, she couldn't understand her father and former brother, let alone the thoughts of those nobles… Don't they know that the throne of a mere indigenous vassal state is not worth mentioning?

Not to mention the top leaders of the empire, even the governor in Europe and his subordinates can easily decide the life and death of a vassal state, let alone the so-called throne.

  Over the years, the agents of the indigenous vassal states in Europe have been changing all the time... As long as the Chu people are willing, they can easily support even a dog to be the king of a vassal state!

But some people just can’t see the reality clearly… or they see it and are unwilling to admit it.

What's so good about fighting for this crappy throne...

However, although she felt helpless, she was powerless to change anything... Although she had transcended and became a candidate for a concubine, she would be able to enter the royal family in the future. Not only would she be a citizen of Chu, but she would also be able to become a member of the royal family.

  But she also knew that other people were not as lucky as she was!

They could not even obtain the most basic identity of Chu citizens, and at best could only obtain permanent residence in the administrative territory.

  This world is unfair!

There was unfairness between the empire and its vassal states, and she was also unfair to everyone else.

Just as the Kingdom of Denmark was caught up in a somewhat ridiculous civil war for the throne, Christina also reached an important moment in her life.

In May, she was picked up by a team sent by the Palace Affairs Office and was taken to Cadiz, the residence of the European governor, along with more than 30 other beauties selected from Europe.

This was the first time that Christina and the other beauties set foot on the real territory of the Chu State... not those colonial administrative territories, but the real Chu mainland, the directly governed territory.

In fact, they are the third group of non-Chu indigenous people who can openly set foot on the mainland of Chu, except for a few diplomats and official visiting teams.

Even some Chu people who married foreign women had to go through naturalization procedures in the administrative territory before they could officially enter the country.

By the way, if a Chu woman marries a man of a foreign race, she will automatically lose her Chu household registration according to current laws and traditions... Of course, you can also circumvent the law, such as not registering. As for how many indigenous men you keep outside, that is your own private matter.

But if you officially register your marriage with a man of another race, you will lose your household registration and your Chu nationality.

After all, the Great Chu Empire was a society that had transformed from the traditional Chinese agricultural society. In fact, it still had very strong traditional cultural customs in many aspects, such as women obeying their husbands after marriage.

Industrialization only improves productivity, which does not mean it can change people's ideas.

The Chu State had very strict control over foreign immigrants. Apart from a very small number of natives in special fields who were granted special approval and could successfully become citizens, there were almost no other regular channels.

In special fields, you either have to make great contributions to the State of Chu, or you are an indigenous genius scientist whose talent is so great that the people of Chu will admire you and invite you to become a citizen.

Only a few hundred of these two types of people are approved each year...

At the same time, the Chu people did not allow ordinary natives to set foot on their native territory. Generally, only diplomats and official delegations organized by vassal states would visit.

And finally, there is the annual beauty contest of the vassal states.

These beauties were actually considered Chu people to some extent, but after all, they were not officially naturalized, so legally they were still indigenous.

Christina and her friends are one of these people.

After arriving in Cadiz, they rested for about a week, and then sailed east on a 10,000-ton ship arranged by the Palace Office.

This 10,000-ton ship chartered by the Palace Affairs Office will sail in the Mediterranean, pick up a group of native beauties from West Asia and North Africa at the port of Alexandria, then cross the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, and then head to the northwest Indian Ocean, where it will pick up a group of beauties and then head east to Songjiang.

This is also part of the selection process for beauties from vassal states organized by the Imperial Household Department... It must be emphasized here that the selection does not include central and southern India, central and southern Africa... In other words, all areas with dark skin are not within the selection range.

  The Chu people can't stand dark-skinned women!

So these beauties, no matter which vassal state they came from or what their hair color was, were actually all young women with fair skin and beautiful looks, who conformed to the aesthetic standards of the Chu people.

After arriving in Songjiang, these beauties will take a special train to Jinling City, enter the palace as candidate beauties, and then be presented to the Queen and the Crown Princess. They will then be assigned to the palace, the East Palace, or the various princes' palaces to serve as low-level concubines.

Of course, a few of the outstanding candidates had their destinations determined from the very beginning. For example, Christina had her destination determined from the very beginning: the East Palace!

This woman's beauty was so famous that she had long been reported to the palace by the Palace Affairs Office. The Queen had already seen the corresponding photos in advance, so she was determined to be assigned to the Eastern Palace two years ago.

However, the other concubines were not so lucky. Among the majority of the native concubines, only a few were selected to enter the palace, and a few joined the palace's dance troupe. The rest were all sent to the palaces of various princes and grandchildren to serve as low-level concubines.

It was actually very difficult for a woman of a different race to enter the palace or the Eastern Palace...

  You can't climb onto the emperor or the prince's bed just because you want to!

To be eligible as a candidate, one must have top-notch appearance and talent, and to be actually selected it depends on the opinions of the Queen and the Crown Princess. If they don't nod, don't expect it.

As for the emperor and the crown prince... this father and son have almost the same attitude towards the affairs of the harem: don’t care!