Kangxi, your Qing Dynasty is dead

Chapter 402 Grand Alliance VS Grand Agreement (please subscribe, please vote)
Palace of Fontainebleau, Throne Hall.

After Sofia and Fuquan, a like-minded loving couple, left happily, four more French gentlemen wearing wigs, high heels, tight pants, and powder came in with elegant steps, and then stood up. They formed a row and bowed to the King of France.

The Sun King of France waved to the four pure French men dressed as LGBT in front of him and said with a smile: "My dear marquis and ministers, just now, I met with the Rakshasa Princess Sofia and her fiancé, who is from France. Prince Fuquansky of the Qing Dynasty, his Rakshasa name is Konstantin Fulinovich Fuquansky, his Mongolian name should be Aisin Gioro Wu Fuquan, and his Chinese name is Wu Fuquan."

"My lord, he has so many names!"

The person who commented on Fuquan's name was a fat French man in his 30s, with a round face and a mustache. He had a very cute smile and looked harmless to humans and animals.But behind his gentle appearance, there was a very dangerous soul - he was François Michel Tellier, Marquis de Louvoir, Minister of State for War under Louis the Great.

Louis XIV was able to launch so many wars and fight them well. Half of the credit must go to the Marquis who learned how to be the Minister of War from a young age - his father was the Minister of War, so he followed him when he was very young. His father studied to be War Secretary.And he studied well, got good grades, and was appreciated by Louis XIV. He simply made this very motivated young man a minister and his father a chancellor.

The Sun King nodded and said with a smile: "Not only does he have a lot of names, but he also seems to have a lot of money. It is said that he has deposited Chinese silver coins equivalent to 70 pounds of silver in Credit Suisse Hall, the largest bank in East Asia! Baptiste, have you heard that Through this bank? Can he withdraw the money?"

(I made a mistake about the exchange rate of pounds to silver before. It was not 12 taels per pound. The pound sterling had been depreciating in the 16th and 17th centuries. It depreciated by about one-third around 1680, so the exchange rate was 1:8. calculate.)
An old French man in his 50s wearing a fluffy brown wig and looking a little funny immediately answered with a smile: "Your Majesty, I remember this bank, Jean de Fontenay, who we sent to Dazhou ( Father John Ang mentioned the bank in his report.

This bank was actually founded by Prince Fozansky. After his fall, it was controlled by Duke Yang Qilong, another major shareholder of the bank. Duke Yang Qilong has now become the actual ruler of North Korea.Because under his leadership, Ruixin Church had launched business in the Qing Dynasty, the Great Zhou Dynasty and the Great Ming Dynasty, and developed well, so Father Fontner called Duke Yang Qilong the Medici of the East.

I think Prince Fuquansky’s deposit in Ruixintang is guaranteed. If his deposit is not guaranteed, will the dignitaries of the Ming, Zhou, and Qing dynasties still deposit their money in Ruixintang? "

This old man's name was Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who was Louis XIV's finance minister and navy minister. He was two ministers in one person, which shows the Sun King's trust in him.And this Colbert's minister was not "cultivated from an early age". He was only born in the middle class and worked as the personal financial controller of Cardinal Mazarin, who had many beautiful nieces in his family. Before Mazarin's death, he was recommended to Cardinal Mazarin. Louis XIV, and was quickly reused.

Under his management, although Louis XIV was aggressive in military affairs and liked to build palaces extravagantly, the financial revenue and expenditure could barely maintain a balance so far. He was really a master of financial management!

Louis XIV knew that he was right to listen to the old man in terms of finance, and immediately nodded and said: "Okay! If Fuquansky can really take out 70 pounds of silver from the Medici Bank in China, then I think we Can we first lend him [-] pounds of silver as start-up capital, and then send a few warships and armed merchant ships to China with his envoys and personal letters?"

"One hundred thousand pounds of silver?" Colbert frowned, "It's almost 16 silver crowns or 48 livres. This is a huge sum of money!"

The silver Ecu he is talking about is the silver coin minted by Louis XIV's father, Louis XIII, during his lifetime. One silver Ecu is approximately equal to three-quarters of the "one tael of silver" minted by Zhongshan Bank, Nanyang Bank, and Swiss Bank entrusted by the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty. .

France under the rule of Louis XIV, with the efforts of Colbert, adopted many sustainable methods of fishing, and the annual income finally reached about 400 million livres, which was converted into the Ming Dynasty's "one tael of silver" ( The name of the silver coin), which is about more than 1 million, seems to be a lot, but Louis XIV is also a "debt master". When his father Louis XIII passed the throne to him, he also left him as much as The debt of [-] million livres is equivalent to more than [-] million taels of silver!
After Louis came to power, he fought wars for many years. After the civil war and foreign wars, there was basically no peace.However, Colbert, with his excellent ability to sustainably catch all the money, still helped Louis XIV significantly reduce his debt.

However, after his death, Louis XIV's finances continued to collapse. By the end of his reign, the debt passed down to Louis XV amounted to 25 billion livres, equivalent to [-] billion taels of silver!
"My Chancellor of the Finance!" Louis XIV looked at his stingy Chancellor of the Finance, "Prince Fuquansky is a very rich man as long as he gets the 70 pounds of silver stored with Duke Yang Qilong, so we lent him the [-] pounds Pounds of silver are recoverable!
Moreover, we can also use the card of Prince Fuquansky to establish an alliance with the Ming Dynasty!If we become allies with Ming Dynasty, then we may replace the Netherlands as Ming Dynasty's largest trading partner.And overseas trade will bring huge financial resources to the French treasury! "

Louis XIV was also a liar, and he used all the profits from overseas trade that he didn't even mention to make a fuss!

However, Colbert was still a little moved. He turned to look at Louis XIV's foreign minister, the Marquis de Croissy.

The Marquis of Croissy nodded immediately and said: "His Majesty the King is right, we will definitely establish an alliance with the Ming Dynasty and make the Netherlands the Ming Dynasty's largest trading partner. Because the Netherlands, England, Spain, Portugal, the Holy Roman Empire and other countries, A grand alliance is currently being formulated to curb Ming's desire for expansion!
The members of this grand alliance almost overlap with the European anti-French alliance that William III is secretly promoting!And the Qing Dynasty, the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the Hindustan Empire may all join in!

In other words, we and Ming are likely to have a common enemy in the near future! "

"Oh, my God!" Colbert frowned, "Is there going to be another war?"

The Marquis of Loufoy, Minister of State for the Army, took over the question: "This is necessary! So now we must be prepared to first find external allies, and secondly to build a series of bastions in the border areas between France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany. In order to form a defense system that can defend the enemy from outside the country!"

Of course this defense system costs money!
Louis XIV's fortification director, the tall and strong Marquis Vauban, immediately took over the words of the Minister of War and said to Colbert: "Your Excellency, Minister of Finance, this fortification will ensure that the Kingdom of France can withstand the enemy's siege to the maximum extent possible." Protect the country from being ravaged to the maximum extent possible.”

Colbert frowned: "But where can we get so much income? Or...is there any place where we can save a little bit?"

save?

Louis XIV was not happy when he heard this - how could the mighty Sun of Europe, the resurrected king of the Western Roman Empire, and the great emperor of Europe, be economical?

"I have a way to make money."

Seeing Louis XIV's displeased expression, Colbert had to change his mind and find a way to find money for the Sun King.However, he looked like he was hesitant to speak, and he just refused to tell the solution clearly.

"Say it, my Chancellor of the Finance!" Louis XIV was a little impatient. "No matter what the method is, it is always right to say it."

"Okay, then I will say it." Colbert said, "Maybe we can let the Royal Sun go to China!"

"What? Royal Sun? That's the best battleship in the world!" Louis XIV immediately shouted.This Royal Sun is so precious!
With a displacement of 2400 tons (not deadweight), equipped with 110 bronze cannons, and a crew of 850, it was the most powerful sailing battleship in France and probably the most powerful in the world.

It was so powerful that Louis XIV was reluctant to let it go on a long voyage!
Colbert explained: "Your Majesty, it is time for the Royal Sun to go to sea to serve the interests of France! According to the intelligence we have, the Ming Empire's navy currently only has 500-ton armed galenic ships. There is even a 100-ton There are no first-class battleships with guns.

But the Ming general who covets land on the west coast of the New World will definitely want to get a great battleship like the Royal Sun as long as he sees this magnificent ship like a castle with his own eyes!

And we just took this opportunity to ask for an alliance with Ming Dynasty and obtain a preferential trade agreement.In exchange, we can let French shipyards accept orders from Ming Dynasty, let our naval schools train officers and sailors for Ming Dynasty, and we can even provide engineers for Ming Dynasty's shipyards to help them improve their shipbuilding standards.

Of course, our French help is very, very, very expensive! "

Louis XIV's eyes lit up, Colbert did have a way!
Although the Royal Sun is valuable, it will not give birth if it is left in the port. But if it is sent to China for a tour, it may be able to give birth - as long as the Ming Dynasty can order a few sister ships of the Royal Sun, Louis XIV will Earning two or three times the profit with tears in your eyes. If you sell one "Royal Sun" class ship, won't you be able to earn two or three new "Royal Sun" class ships?
Moreover, you can charge a fee to help Ming Dynasty train naval officers and sailors, help them improve the shipyard, and improve the level of shipbuilding. Charge fiercely!
More importantly, Ming must first form an alliance with France and provide a preferential trade agreement before it can purchase the "Royal Sun" class and related services
In addition, if the Ming Dynasty's naval strength really improves, it will not pose much of a threat to France.After all, France is not a maritime hegemon, nor does it control the trade routes to the East.

That was all the trouble of the Dutch East India Company, the British East India Company and the Spanish Empire!
This is really too high!
At this time, Louis XIV was impressed by his genius plan (he had forgotten that it was Colbert's idea). How could there be such a genius strategist in this world?I really can’t help but admire you!

"Okay! Just do it. Who can lead a huge mission to Ming Dynasty?"

Colbert immediately said: "My Majesty, my son Baptiste will definitely be able to fight for you to get the maximum benefit from the Ming Empire!"

Louis XIV glanced at the Marquis of Croisy, the Minister of Foreign Affairs - he still had to listen to his opinion on foreign affairs.

The Marquis of Croissy was of course unhappy with Colbert's proposal, but he also knew that this little Baptiste was very suitable for this trip. He was a guy who was smarter than a monkey, and was especially good at handling business affairs!
"Your Majesty," the Marquis of Croissy nodded, "Little Baptiste will definitely be qualified for this position. I think Father Silva can go with him as a representative of Prince Forzansky. Little Baptiste can also go with him by the way. Duke Yang Qilong, who rules North Korea, has reached some agreements!”

"Very well, that's it!"

Louis XIV nodded with satisfaction, and then ordered: "Marquis de Croissy, what I hope to conclude is a mutual defense agreement including France, the Rakshasa Tsardom, and the Ming Empire. If any of our three countries encounters other When a country attacks, the other two countries are obliged to join the war or provide assistance in the most powerful way before!"

"My Majesty, does this defense agreement include the Ottoman Empire?" the Marquis of Croissy asked.

"No, no. The Ottoman Empire is planning to attack Vienna!" said the French King. "We should not ally with them for the time being and wait and see what happens."

"Then what are other powerful ways?" the French Foreign Minister asked again.

The King of France said: "If we are besieged by England, the Netherlands, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire, the Ming Dynasty is obliged to provide financial support and send ships to Europe to help France maintain overseas trade, and the Rakshasa Kingdom is obliged to participate in the war or provide employment soldiers.

If Ming Dynasty was besieged by the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Qing Dynasty, Zhou Dynasty and other countries, France was obliged to send naval officers, sailors and engineers to help Ming Dynasty, and at the same time help Ming Dynasty maintain foreign trade.Rakshasa were obliged to join the war or provide mercenaries to help the Ming Dynasty.

When the Rakshasa Kingdom encountered attacks from the Zhou and Qing Dynasties, France and the Ming Dynasty also had to participate in the war or provide military and economic assistance. "

The King of France's attitude towards the "Mutual Defense Agreement" is obviously relatively conservative. He does not regard participating in the war as an obligation that must be fulfilled, but as an option. At the same time, he regards financial and military assistance as a must-have item - [-] Anyone must choose one.

Compared with the conservativeness of the French king, the attitudes of the Dutch ruling party and the Spanish prime minister towards alliance appear to be very radical!

In the ruling palace in The Hague, William III, the consul of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, was discussing a "Netherlands-Spain-Portugal-England-Holy Roman Empire-Greater Mongolia-Chagatai" with the Spanish Prime Minister's special envoy the Duke of Avar. Draft of the Eleven-Nation Grand Alliance Treaty between the Khanate-Indian Timurid Empire-Kingdom of Persia-Japan-Sweden.

"The Eleven-Nation Alliance. If the great general of the Ming Dynasty dares to declare war on our eleven countries, he must be crazy!"

The Dutch ruler tapped the draft treaty on the table with his fingers and said with a smile: "Even if Louis of France and the sick Tsar of the Rakshasa Kingdom were included, they would never dare to do this!"

The really crazy side is the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, the Holy Roman Empire, Mongolia, India, Persia, Chagatai, Japan, Sweden, plus England, which will be one of the "five permanent members" in the future.

On one side are Ming Dynasty, Rakshasa and France!

If there's a fight, it's not certain who will win!

The Duke of Alba, who suffered successive defeats in New Spain and was finally recalled to Europe by his old friend Juan Jose, was obviously not as optimistic as the Dutch consul. He shook his head and said: "Your Highness, our enemies are very powerful. I doubt they will. If you don’t want to give up the fat you already have because of our intimidation, I think we still need some substantive actions!”

"Substantial? Of course there is!" the Dutch ruling voice said sternly, "If Ming Dynasty refuses to withdraw from North America and the Strait of Malacca, our eleven countries will unite to implement a trade blockade against Ming Dynasty!"

(End of this chapter)