Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2358 The general trend is in mind
In addition to Tsarist Russia, the Spanish and Portuguese Empires and England, there are certainly other forces in Europe that deserve Gao Yousi's attention.

Take France for example. In 1602, France was under the rule of the Bourbon dynasty, and Henry IV was on the throne. Henry IV was a famous monarch in French history, and his reign was known as the "Golden Age of Henry IV."

During his reign, France experienced the turmoil of religious wars, but he ended the war by issuing the Edict of Nantes and achieved peaceful coexistence of religions in the country. In terms of economy, Henry IV implemented a series of reform measures to promote the development of agriculture and handicrafts and enhance the country's financial strength.

However, at this time, the degree of centralization in France was relatively low, and the aristocracy was still strong, which to a certain extent limited the unity and development of the country. However, also envious of Spain's huge overseas gains, France also began to invest part of its strength in colonial expansion.

Of course, France's colonial expansion has just started, and for the time being there is no conflict with the Ming Dynasty - or to put it bluntly, with southern Xinjiang, so Gao Yousi believes that all we need to do is keep paying attention.

After all, according to the general view of later generations, France's colonial expansion began in 1604, and it was not until 1676 that it arrived in India... Well, I should have been dead by then, he thought.

Next is the Netherlands. In 1602, the Netherlands was in the late stages of the Dutch War of Independence (Eighty Years' War). The United Provinces of the Netherlands had in fact broken away from Spanish rule, but the war was not over yet.

During this period, the Netherlands became an important commercial and financial center in Europe, and its maritime trade and colonial expansion brought it huge wealth. The financial system of the Netherlands was relatively developed, and Amsterdam became one of the financial centers of Europe. The Dutch navy was also quite strong, and they fought many fierce battles with Spain at sea.

The rise of the Netherlands marked the birth of a commercial and maritime power, and its overseas colonial expansion was much earlier than that of France. However, Gao Youshi had no fear of the Netherlands. The country did have some very good systems, which could be used as references by the Ming Dynasty or Southern Xinjiang. However, the Netherlands itself was too small to pose a direct threat to either the Ming Dynasty or Southern Xinjiang.

On the contrary, under the premise that both Ming Dynasty and Southern Xinjiang have sufficient military deterrence against the Netherlands, the Netherlands may even become a new trading partner. Gao Yousi is quite looking forward to this.

Then there is the Holy Roman Empire. In 1602, the Holy Roman Empire was still under the relatively strong rule of the Habsburg dynasty, with Rudolf II on the throne.

However, as we all know, the Holy Roman Empire had a very low degree of centralization, each state had a very high degree of autonomy, and the emperor's power was relatively weak. The so-called "neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire" was a mockery made by French Enlightenment thinkers to stimulate their own nationalism, but even if this mockery is not entirely true, it does make some sense.

This reality led to division and turmoil within the empire, and constant conflicts and contradictions between the states. For example, in terms of religion, the contradictions between Catholics and Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire remained sharp, which further exacerbated the instability of the empire. So in a dozen years, the European religious war, the "Thirty Years' War", with the Holy Roman Empire as the main battlefield, was about to begin.

[Note: The religious wars in Europe did not break out just because of religious conflicts. They were more of a war for interests among states and even other European powers under the guise of religious conflicts. This matter is too complicated to explain in a few words, so I will not elaborate on it here.]
Despite this, the Holy Roman Empire still had significant achievements in culture and science, and many artists and scientists were active in the empire during this period. In short, because their internal struggles were too intense, they were temporarily unable to involve overseas colonization, and there would not be many conflicts with the Ming Dynasty and Southern Xinjiang. Gao Youshi felt that there was no need to worry too much for the time being.

In addition to the countries mentioned above, Sweden will also usher in the reign of the most famous king in its history, Gustav II, nine years later, in 1611.

Under his leadership, Sweden, a once obscure Nordic country, would quickly come to the fore. His military reforms made the Swedish army one of the most modern forces in Europe at the time, enabling it to play an important role in the Thirty Years' War.

Although the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was full of internal contradictions, it still maintained a huge size and strength that should not be underestimated. It had a significant influence in Eastern Europe and continued to have conflicts with Tsarist Russia. Until its outrageous system of electing a king led to its "evolution" from powerlessness to incompetence at the national level, it was completely crushed by Tsarist Russia and finally divided up several times by Russia, Prussia and Austria, until there was finally "no Poland left".

Therefore, although the Boli Federation still had a certain strength at this time, Gao Youshi did not care. In Gao Youshi's eyes, its historical mission was only one: how much power it could hold back Tsarist Russia. After all, this was related to how long the western part of the Ming Dynasty could be stable.

As for Italian city-states such as Venice and Genoa, although they no longer enjoy the hegemony of the Middle Ages, they still maintain prosperous trade activities and naval power in the Mediterranean region. Venice is especially famous for its shrewd diplomacy and solid sea defense, successfully resisting many Ottoman invasions...

Oh, by the way, the Ottoman Empire, this country has been the protagonist in the "Europa Universalis" series for two or three hundred years, and we cannot forget it.

The rise of the Ottoman Empire began in the late 13th century as one of the many beyliks (feudal territories) in Anatolia (present-day Turkey). Under the rule of Sultan Orhan and his son Murad I, the Ottomans began to advance into the heart of the Byzantine Empire, eventually crossing the Dardanelles into Europe in 1354. This event marked the beginning of the Ottoman Empire's era of expansion and a key turning point in its gradual transformation into a superpower spanning three continents.

[Note: "Byzantine Empire" is not the official self-name of the country, but a name created by some European historians later. One theory is that it was to better distinguish it from the Western Roman Empire, and another theory is that it was deliberately used to derogatory terms. This book does not make a judgment on this issue. In short, for the citizens of the country, they always call their country the "Roman Empire" or the "Eastern Roman Empire", and call themselves "Romans".]
In 1453, Mehmed II led his army to capture Constantinople, which completely ended the thousand-year-old Byzantine Empire (or Eastern Roman Empire). This move not only symbolized the great victory of the XXX world over the Christian world, but also gave the Ottoman Empire an important strategic stronghold and controlled the Bosphorus Strait, the throat of the East-West trade.

In the following centuries, the Ottoman Empire continued to expand its territory to the east, south and west, and successively annexed most of the Balkan Peninsula, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, western Saudi Arabia and parts of North Africa, becoming extremely powerful.

For Europe, the rapid expansion of the Ottoman Empire brought great shock and threat: in terms of military, the Ottoman military strength, especially its cavalry and naval fleet, once made the whole of Europe tremble. Between 1480 and 1481, the Ottoman army even invaded southern Italy, forcing the Holy See to urgently mobilize Christian countries to form a coalition for defense. In 1529 and 1683 in the original history, the two sieges of Vienna almost rewrote the course of European history. The latter made the reputation of the Polish Winged Hussars reach its peak... but it may also be the swan song.

In terms of economy, the Ottoman Empire’s control over the Eastern Mediterranean shipping routes seriously hindered the traditional East-West trade routes, causing European commodity prices to soar and merchants’ interests to suffer. One of the most critical reasons why Europeans wanted to engage in the “Great Voyages” was that the original trade routes were cut off by the Ottoman Empire, and they could not buy the silk, porcelain, spices and other commodities from the East that were extremely popular in Europe and had huge profits. In addition, the heavy taxes imposed by the Ottoman Empire on neighboring countries also increased the local economic burden.

Cultural and religious conflicts...let's skip this one.

Finally, there is the political impact. The existence of the Ottoman Empire prompted European countries to adjust their foreign policies and form a changing alliance system. Sometimes, Christian countries even formed alliances with pagan countries to resist common enemies. You know which Catholic son I am talking about? Hey, Mr. France, sit down first and don’t get excited…

This situation of being unilaterally defeated by the Ottoman Empire did not gradually begin to reverse until the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. In that year, the Holy Alliance composed of Spain, Venice and the Papal States defeated the Ottoman Navy and temporarily - note, only temporarily - curbed the latter's expansion in the Mediterranean.

Until around 1602, the Ottoman Empire was still Europe's biggest foreign threat. Every military action of its could cause widespread panic and turmoil, forcing European countries to be vigilant and prepared to respond to the challenges of this powerful opponent.

Originally, Gao Youshi's attitude towards the Ottoman Empire was "well done, keep up the good work", because the stronger the Ottoman Empire was, the less likely Europe would have spare forces to expand outward. However, this attitude changed slightly due to a piece of intelligence sent back by Liu Jing after his western expedition.

To put it simply, Liu Jing discovered that the Ottoman Empire was providing military assistance to Burihatu and informed Gao Youshi. This not only caused Gao Youshi's dissatisfaction, but more importantly, it caught his attention - are you Ottomans so long-reaching?

However, Liu Jing recently discovered some new intelligence in the process of suppressing the rebellion. The intelligence showed that the Ottoman Empire provided arms and even technology to the Chahar tribe that occupied Yarkand at the time, and the primary imaginary enemy might not be the Ming Dynasty, but Persia.

This is actually a bit complicated. To make a long story short, when the Ottoman Empire was rising, a young leader also rose in Persia. This person started his conquest from a small area of ​​Ardabil, and in just seven years from 1502 to 1509, he successively occupied most of Persia, Armenia, Kurdistan and Iraq, and established the famous Persian Safavid Empire in later generations. This person was Ismail I, and in 1502 when he launched his conquest, he was only 15 years old.

But unfortunately, in the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, he was defeated by the Ottoman army because he underestimated the Ottoman artillery. A large number of his loyal ministers who had always followed him and even watched Ismail grow up like brothers and fathers to him also died in this war.

Ismail became increasingly depressed and drank heavily. In May 1524, he died on his way to visit his hometown of Ardabil at the age of 5.

In the following decades, the wars between the two countries focused on the struggle for control of Mesopotamia, the Armenian Highlands, and Azerbaijan. Both sides have achieved periodic victories, such as the Safavid Empire's counterattack during the reign of Tahmasp I, and the military reorganization and counterattack of the Safavid Empire under the leadership of Abbas the Great in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, which successfully regained a large amount of lost territory.

Although there were short-lived peace agreements during this period, such as the Treaty of Amasya in 1555 and the Treaty of Zahran in 1639, these agreements often only brought temporary calm because the fundamental conflicts of interest between the two countries were not fundamentally resolved. Once the time was ripe, the war would break out again.

So what does this have to do with the Chahar tribe? A lot. After Gao Youshi drove the Chahar tribe westward, the Chahar tribe occupied the Yarkand region. The official religion of the region was the same as that of the Ottoman Empire, but there were also many believers of the same religion as the Safavid Empire. This led to the Ottoman Empire and Persia both wanting to win over Yarkand as a "fellow sect" with them.

Under such circumstances, the Chahar tribe suddenly attacked and conquered Yarkand. Since it believed neither in the X faction nor the S faction, both the Ottoman Empire and Persia were more eager to win over the Chahar tribe and convert it.

After finding out the inside story, Buzhihatu also knew that if he wanted to stabilize his rule in the local area, he would have to convert his faith and religion sooner or later. Therefore, he took advantage of both sides and at the same time weighed "who to get along with" - of course, his "who to get along with" was only at the sectarian level, not the political power level.

As a result, Buzhihatu, based on the principle of "making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby countries", carefully weighed the comprehensive national strength of both sides and finally chose to get close to the Ottoman Empire. This is why Buzhihatu was able to get the muskets called "Rumi Guns" from the Ottoman Empire. [Note: Of course, Buzhihatu also conducted other trade exchanges, which have been written in the previous part of this book, so I will not repeat them.]
It is worth mentioning that with the Ming Dynasty's westward expedition, the Chahar tribe was once again driven away. Now the Chahar tribe has occupied the former Bukhara Khanate and is said to be continuing its westward expedition to the Khiva Khanate. In this way, it is really bordering Persia.

Not only do they border each other, but in fact if Burihatu was willing to become an ally of the Ottoman Empire, Persia's situation would be even more difficult, because it was actually sandwiched on three sides by the Ottoman Empire and Chahar's "Great Yuan".

Faced with this situation, Gao Youshi had to consider one thing: if the Ming Dynasty wanted to continue to attack the Chahar tribe, theoretically it could consider contacting Persia.

Coincidentally, just when he had recently resolved the internal factional problems of the Ming Dynasty and began to consider the international situation, a missionary suddenly arrived in Nanjing and brought him a "pillow".
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PS: Do you want to guess why the missionary is looking for him?