Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 903 Dawn of the Empire
"Don't expect too much from the League of Nations. This is just a liaison mechanism to facilitate communication and discussion."

At the office of Prime Minister Qianqingmen, Zhu Yihai explained that he was going to invite all countries to establish a national alliance.

Europe has just finished the Thirty Years War, and the Protestant League and the Catholic League have fought for 30 years. The civil war of the Holy Roman Empire has evolved into a great war across Europe. It started with a religious war and ended up as a melee in Europe.

In the 30-year war, [-]% to [-]% of the total population of the German states were wiped out, and half of the men in the German states were killed.

The German Protestant princes were on the side with Sweden, Denmark, and France, and received the support of the Netherlands, Britain, and Russia. The Holy Roman Emperor, the German Catholic princes, and Spain were on the side, and received the support of the Pope and Poland. They fought for 30 years.

In the end, it ended with the defeat of the Catholic Habsburg Dynasty Alliance, and the countries signed the Peace Treaty of Westphalia, which weakened the rule of the most powerful Habsburg Dynasty in Europe, deepened the political division of the German will, and delineated It changed the national borders of the countries of the European continent and changed the balance of political power in Europe.

This is the first multilateral treaty in Europe at the turn of the Middle Ages and modern times, and it is an important milestone in the development of international law.

At this time, Zhu Yihai took advantage of his abdication to invite envoys from major powers from the East and the West, not only to add icing on the cake to watch the ceremony for his son, but also to allow the major powers to sit down and divide their spheres of influence while he was still there.

Not to compete for territory, but to develop multilateral business and trade cooperation. Ming Dynasty rose rapidly. From closing off East Asia to now joining the world stage, this big oriental man who suddenly broke in has already attracted the vigilance and even hostility of many big countries.

Even Ming now has conflicts of interest with many countries. It declared war with Tsarist Russia before, seized the Far East of Siberia with them, fought with Portugal and took back Macau, fought with Spain and took back Taiwan, and even in Luzon Islands many times in recent years In the conflict, Ming Dynasty disregarded the opposition of the Governor of Manila, Spain, and made a strong landing on the islands, and began to colonize the Luzon Islands.

However, the Ming Dynasty supported the Sultan of the South, established the Longyamen Colony in Singapore, and built a free trade port at the eastern end of the Strait of Malacca, which also seriously damaged the interests of the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

The wars in Lakda, Guge, Kanjuti, Kashmir and other snow-capped plateaus also brought the Ming Dynasty into direct conflict with the Mughal Empire of India.

The Ming Dynasty supported Dawan and Khiva in the river, the Nogai Khanate on the Chincha Grassland on the northeast coast of the Caspian Sea, and the Turghut Khanate on the Volga River on the northwest coast of the Caspian Sea. There is a direct conflict of interest.

It can be said that, except for the German states, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, etc., which did not directly confront Ming Dynasty, the current Ming Dynasty has officially regarded Eurasia as the overlord of the East.

Even more powerful than the King of Spain, who is known as the king of the earth, the Habsburg royal family, the most powerful in Europe, is now defeated.

It is precisely because of the rapid expansion of Ming Dynasty, from the South China Sea to Central Asia, and even North America and Eastern Europe, it is necessary to strengthen the connection with those big countries in a timely manner.

Zhu Yihai still hopes to have more time to develop, just as although he is very powerful in the South China Sea, he has regained Macau and Taiwan from Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, and established a colony in Luzon, but he still hopes to avoid direct wars as much as possible .

Although the Spanish Armada was destroyed, the Portuguese were still independent from the Spanish king, Portugal and Spain were weakened, especially as the defeated party in the 30-year war, the Spanish king was also a branch of the Habsburg dynasty, They are very weak now, but the camel of the skinny horse is bigger than the horse, and the strength is still strong.

Zhu Yihai's strategy is to peacefully coexist with Spain, the Netherlands, and even the Portuguese in the South China Sea, and to strengthen trade cooperation. The Nanyang region is still so big that it has not been divided up yet, so there is no rush to start a fight. Of course, trade cooperation requires the consent of the other party.

The competition between the Netherlands and Spain in Southeast Asia and the Americas is already fierce, so as long as Zhu Yihai grasps this balance and stirs up their tension, Daming will be in a more favorable position.

At the right time, a fight can be fought, but the scale of the war must be controlled. Small fights can be used to show strength and determination to promote peace and strive for the status of Ming in Nanyang. At this stage, Ming mainly needs to fight. Focus on the Annan coast of the Indochina Peninsula and Myanmar, followed by Japan, Ryukyu, Luzon and Singapore.

After gaining a firm foothold in these places, they will continue to establish new colonial strongholds in Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and other places. At that time, they will definitely have to compete with the Netherlands and Spain.

Zhu Yihai does not want to provoke a full-scale war, otherwise the Netherlands and Spain will be pushed into a hurry. The South China Sea will be full of their warships, armed merchant ships, and plundering pirate ships. It will be very troublesome. Affecting the control of new colonies will also affect maritime trade routes, and even affect the industrial, commercial and manufacturing industries in the Central Plains.

Zhu Yihai doesn't plan to attack Manila in Luzon or Batavia in Java at all. These are the strongholds of the Netherlands and Spain in Southeast Asia. Not worth it.

Moreover, Zhu Yihai also hopes to open up trade relations with Spain and the Netherlands through these two Nanyang trade centers, especially to strengthen Ming's foreign trade with the help of their routes, merchant ships, and their trade networks and markets.

Between countries, there is nothing more than vertical and horizontal alliances.

It is optimal to use profit as a lubricant.

Just like France was originally a Catholic country, but in the 30-year war, in order to defeat the Habsburg dynasty of Shinra and fight for hegemony in the European continent, it joined the Protestant alliance.

The British and the Dutch teamed up to suppress the Spaniards at sea, and Sweden and Poland blocked Tsarist Russia's ambition to penetrate the Baltic Sea to the west.

And Persia and Mughal fought countless battles for the Afghan region, and the river has always been the second battlefield for them to wrestle.

Ottoman Turkey is also very expansive, and these guys who call themselves Turks are also very fierce. Back then, they destroyed Byzantium, the thousand-year-old empire, and occupied Constantinople, the European bridgehead, as their own capital. The European barbarians taught us a lesson.

The Russian grand duke married a Byzantine princess, and he regarded himself as the heir of Rome, added the title of Caesar to himself, and upgraded himself from grand duke to emperor.

In fact, the title of emperor is not much in the East and the West, and being able to have the title of emperor all represents a strong civilization circle.

For example, the title of Tsar in Tsarist Russia came from Caesar of Byzantium in Eastern Rome. After Byzantium was destroyed by Ottoman Turkey, the Grand Duke of Moscow shamelessly regarded himself as the successor of Rome because he married a Byzantine princess.

And Byzantium was separated from the Roman Empire, and there was also Western Rome, which was destroyed by barbarians.The title of emperor of the later Holy Roman Empire also inherited the legal system of Western Rome and Frank Charlemagne.

Of course, the later French emperors were arrogated by the French. Although they claimed that they represented the legal succession of the emperors of the Western Roman Empire, the church and the Germanic nobles did not recognize them.

After Eastern Rome was destroyed by the Ottoman Turks, the Ottoman Sultan also called himself the heir of Rome. He used Constantinople as his capital, added the title of Roman Caesar, and also called himself the emperor of the Romans.

It's just that the Russians have been competing with Turkey for this title, and they all claim to be the orthodox heirs of the Eastern Romans.

In addition to the two great emperors left by Rome, there are also Persian emperors in Central Asia. The ancient title of Persian emperor is also called King of Kings. The Persians established the title of emperor far earlier than the Romans.

The title of the Persian emperor was stereotyped as Asha in the Sasanian period. Later, many rulers in Persia, from the governor to the king who dominated one side, to the king of kings who controlled a large number of areas, all used the title of Asha.

Until the Mongolian expedition to the west, the Mongols conquered the Persian region and established the Ilkhanate, and then the Chagatai Khanate came out with Timur's lame God of War, who conquered Persia, spanning Asia, Africa and Europe, and established the A Timurid empire, after his death, the sons competed for the khan throne.One of his sons, Miransha, took Azerjan in the Persian cultural circle as his foundation, so he restored the title of Persian Asha.

A hundred years later, Babur, a descendant of Milansha, fought and failed repeatedly in Central Asia, and gained a firm foothold in southeastern Afghanistan, then invaded India, established the Mughal Empire, and continued to use the title of emperor Asha.

Actually speaking, there are actually three real emperors in this world, the Chinese emperors in the East, the Roman emperors in Europe, and the Persian emperors in Central Asia.

The Roman legal tradition has been passed down to the present, and it has been divided into three branches. The Holy Roman Emperor is inherited from the Western Roman Emperor, which is also the blessing of the Roman Church.

As for the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, which is the tradition of the Byzantine Empire, both Ottoman and Tsarist Russia competed to call themselves the heir of Rome. Ottoman occupied Constantinople and called himself the emperor of the Romans, but Tsarist Russia married a Byzantine princess by himself, so When Byzantium was destroyed by pagans, it was reasonable for his son-in-law to inherit Rome, and he also called himself Caesar.

Later in history even Bulgaria came out to compete for this title.

The Persian emperor’s legal system was interrupted after the Sasanian Dynasty. They were conquered by Arabia, and then the Mongols came again. After the Timur Empire conquered Persia, it also continued to use the title of Asha, the Persian emperor, but later the Timur Empire was in Central Asia. The descendants of the dead went to conquer India and continued to use the title of Asha.

In the original Persia, the Safavid Dynasty was established by the Persians, who called themselves the Third Persian Empire, and also continued to use the title of Emperor Asha.

Therefore, the legal system of the Persian emperor is actually two traditions today, one is in India and the other is still in Persia. The only interesting point is that most of the kings and nobles of the Mughal Empire who ruled most of India were Turkic Mongols. , or in favor of Persian culture, their court language is Persian.

The Persian Safi claimed to be descendants of the Sasanian dynasty, but they had long believed in Islam from the Turkic culture.

The Emperor of Ming Dynasty in China, this is the oriental emperor in the same line since Qin Shihuang.

Holy Roman Emperor, Ottoman Turkish Sultan Roman Caesar, Russian Tsar, Mughal Asha, Safi Asha of Persia.

There are a total of six emperors in the world today.

The rest, such as the king of France, the king of England, the king of Sweden, the king of Spain, the king of Poland and Lithuania, the king of Denmark, the king of Portugal, etc., are just kings, or even just grand dukes.

The Queen of England was able to have the title of emperor later, because Britain later occupied India, so it snatched the title of Emperor Asha from Persia from the Mughal Empire.

The French emperor was later Napoleon who forced the pope to crown himself emperor. .

Today's six emperors, Holy Rome was defeated in the 30-year war. Now it is neither holy, nor an empire, let alone Rome. This European country with Germania as its core had actual power at its peak, but early It was reduced to a loose political alliance composed of hundreds of small vassal states in the name of a country.

Originally, Emperor Shinra was to be elected by the seven electors, but later the Habsburg dynasty of the Grand Duchy of Austria monopolized the throne for as long as 400 years through royal marriages and money bribes. Vienna, the capital of Austria, also became the actual capital of the empire.

But after the 30-year war in Europe, the Habsburg dynasty was also overthrown, with no face, and Shinra naturally became more loose. The emperor of the Holy Empire had a name, and even the leader of the German state None of them count.

Now the Holy Roman Empire has a total of 314 states and 1475 knight manor territories. The Emperor Shenluo has actually become the Habsburg Monarchy that can only rule Austria as the center, not the German Emperor.

The Ottoman Empire was very powerful, and even reached its peak in this century. Under the leadership of Barbarossa Hayreddin, its navy controlled the Mediterranean Sea. They were the only Islamic forces that could challenge European countries, and they were also the leading brothers of Islam.

But by this time, they had also expanded to the top, began to flourish and decline, and tended to decline. Their current territory is very vast, spanning Asia, Africa and Europe. The lines of communication are hundreds of years old.

However, after Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands opened up new sea routes, the Ottomans inevitably began to decline. Their failure to participate in the opening of new trade routes in the New World of the Americas and the East was their biggest loss.

The bastion of the Europeans also made it difficult for Ottoman to expand, and was even overtaken by European military technology. At this time, the Ottoman young master was in power and the queen mother was in power, but the power was handed over to the great nobleman as the grand vizier. During the worst period of civil strife, young emperors, young queen mothers, powerful foreign ministers, Europe's military catch-up, and economic losses caused by new routes led to continuous rebellion in the huge empire, which is the Turkish version of the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

They also want to expand to the northwest coast of the Caspian Sea, support the Crimean Khanate to destroy Tsarist Russia, burn Moscow, and compete with Poland for Ukraine. However, the European countries that have just finished the 30-year war have united to retake the territory captured by Ottomans. European part of the plan.

Osman is now quite a bit like the Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty, strong on the outside but capable on the inside.

Not to mention Tsarist Russia. Siberia, which took decades to conquer, was taken away by Ming in a few years. The tens of thousands of colonists who conquered the east all became captive slaves of Ming. The Ming army directly built a castle in the Ural Mountains, and there were frequent cavalry invasions, so many Tatars and some Cossacks even turned to Ming, paid tribute to Ming, and accepted the canonization of the emperor.

The forced young tsar can only ask for peace from Ming Dynasty, and it will not work if he does not ask for peace. If he loses Siberia, he will also lose the largest financial revenue today. Siberia's fur brings one-third of their treasury revenue. After losing this income, their finances almost collapsed. How could they organize troops and horses to retake them eastward? If you want to take advantage of the fire, Moscow may be occupied again.

Mughal and Safi have been fighting for many years to compete for areas such as Hezhong and Tocharo. The Mughals also want to support the princes in Kashmir and other regions, accept the fugitive nobles of Yarkand, and compete with the Ming Dynasty for the east and west of Congling. They want to seize this strategic buffer zone, but the war has continued until now, although they strongly support it behind the scenes. , but never won.

The Ming army is in a state of invincibility. Although it is still carrying out the clean-up and maintenance after the occupation, the Mughals’ backyard is on fire, and the front is unfavorable. They can’t win at all. If they dare to continue to fight, the Ming army may come down like a tiger at any time. To the Indus River Basin or even the Ganges River Basin.

Safi was not much better. They fought the Mughals and the Ottomans at the same time, and they fought back and forth, getting weaker and weaker.

Looking around, in today's world, among the six great empires, five of them are actually weakened, and only the Great Ming is revived.

On the contrary, countries such as the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Poland are quite strong. These countries are characterized by capitalist mercantilism and sea power, but they are places where feudal kingship is not strong.

For example, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, they don’t call themselves a republic, they call it a United Province. The provinces are self-governing, united, and national affairs must first be approved by the provincial councils, but there are many autonomous cities in each province, and they have to be given to them first. The city council approved such a layered representation system, which is very special, but their lowlands are very business-oriented, and the sea coachmen are not just talking about it. They colonized everywhere. The Dutch East India Company is much stronger than the current British East India Company. .

"The Habsburg royal family, the Holy Roman Emperor, wanted to marry us, Daming, and the Habsburg royal families of Austria and Spain sent princesses and princes this time, which is also their intention."

The most remarkable thing about the Habsburg dynasty is their marriage. The whole of Europe is their relatives. It is not for nothing that the European nobles belong to the same family. Zhu Yihai is in favor of the marriage. Anyway, the inheritance system in China is different from that in Europe. Even if they marry, they cannot be like Europe, where the prince goes to another country to inherit the throne or territory.

"The envoy of the Protector of the Republic of England secretly proposed that he and Ming would jointly attack the Mughals and carve up India together."

Zhu Yihai smiled slightly. The English Republic is also very interesting. The 30-year war in Europe also promoted the British bourgeois revolution. The British Civil War began. Cromwell, a young officer from a family of declining new aristocrats, stood in the parliamentary camp. The army repeatedly made military exploits, and later defeated the royalist army. A few years ago, Parliament authorized Cromwell to reorganize the army. He formed a model new army based on the cavalry army, and commanded this army to finally defeat the royalist army. Five years ago, In the name of parliament and the army, he executed King Charles I and declared Britain a republic.

Last year, he dispersed the parliament and appointed himself Lord Protector. He wanted to be king, but he was afraid that his generals would not support him. He created a system of protectors. In fact, he combined legislative power, administrative power and military power into one. There is still more power.

It's a pity that he rose up as a representative of the anti-royal faction in the parliament, but now he is the protector of the country, obviously Yuan Shikai. Zhu Yihai has known him for a few years, and Charles I can be defeated and executed by the parliament. How long can he be the protector of the country? Years, there will be no support from inside or outside.

"He is a traitor who committed a rebellion and usurped the throne. How can Daming be with him?" Zhu Yihai knew that Cromwell had not been around for a few years. Restoration elements of the royal party, the people at the bottom, and even the parliamentary faction would not support Cromwell. you.

There's no need to work with someone who's about to betray everyone.

"The son of Charles I is in exile now, right? We can find him, support him, and burn the cold stove. In the future, when he restores and succeeds to the throne, we can also cooperate with him in a friendly way."

(End of this chapter)