Anti-Qing: Starting from the Reincarnation of the Ming Dynasty

If the imperial court could collect taxes from Jiangnan and use them to pay the army or provide relief to the victims, the situation in the north would not collapse so quickly.

You must know that the reason why Li Zicheng's Dashun was able to grow so fast thirteen years after Chongzhen.

The fundamental reason is actually that in the last years of Chongzhen, a group of Ming border troops who were owed wages by the court and could not survive chose to join Lao Li and then ask for wages from Chongzhen's armed forces.

If there were not a large number of elite border troops of the Ming Army who chose to join the Shun Army, and only a group of peasant troops in the Chuang Army, how could Li Zicheng have swept across the entire north so quickly.

There is really no barrier to entry into the army!
Actually, in history, after the death of Li Zicheng, the Shun Army was able to smoothly choose to join the Ming Dynasty to resist the Qing Dynasty, and then accepted the Ming Dynasty's adaptation. This is also why.

Because most of the backbone of the Shun Army were once members of the Ming Army, they would naturally have no resistance to returning to their old club to continue working with the Manchus.

Hypothetically, if the capital of the Ming Dynasty had been in Nanjing instead of Beijing, and it had controlled Jiangnan nearby, tax collection would have been much simpler, right?

If the Ming Dynasty at that time could make up for the arrears of pay for the army, would the Bianjun army still rebel against the establishment and join the Shun army?
By then, maybe the Ming Dynasty will not die in the Jiashen year.

Of course, this is just Zhu Jing'an's own guess, and there is no certainty whether it is accurate or not.

As for what to do in Beijing?
How to put it, after Zhu Jing'an ascends the throne, he will start planning to build a railway network. Once there is a railway artery connecting the north and the south, it will be very easy to travel between the north and the south.

The time required will also be greatly reduced!
Besides, Zhu Jing'an is still thinking about asking the Ming Royal Academy of Sciences to research telegraph machines.

Once the telegraph is successfully developed, the efficiency of information transmission will also increase dramatically.

By then, both message delivery and traveling between the North and South Beijing will be much simpler.

Naturally, there is no need to worry about the imperial court's control over the north.

After writing the letter and stamping it with a seal, Zhu Jing'an asked people to prepare the letter and send it to Nanjing as soon as possible.

After the letter was sent, before Zhu Jing'an had time to rest, someone else came to see him.

"Your Highness, a representative of the British East India Company is requesting an audience."

When Zhu Jing'an heard this, he couldn't help but look thoughtful, but he finally said it.

"Invite people in!"

As he finished speaking, the secretary beside him clasped his fists and went out, and soon brought Charlie, the representative of the British East India Company, in front of Zhu Jing'an.

Perhaps he was asking for help. As soon as Charlie came to Zhu Jing'an, he knelt three times and kowtowed nine times without hesitation, and then spoke.

"Charlie, on behalf of all British businessmen in China, wishes His Royal Highness the Crown Prince good fortune and prosperity, victory in every battle, and the unification of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Jing'an nodded slightly, and then asked.

"Speaking of which, why did you come to see Yu Gu?"

Zhu Jing'an probably knew what the British wanted to do when they came to see him.

Since the Ming Dynasty regained Tianjin, Tianjin's customs has temporarily stopped opening to the British.

During this period of time, a large number of British merchant ships were floating on the sea outside Tianjin Port.

These merchant ships are full of all kinds of goods, just waiting to be unloaded.

Many of these goods are not durable for storage.

If the delay lasts too long, the losses to the British will be immeasurable.

Therefore, after discussion, the British chose to let Charlie, a representative of the East India Company, come to discuss the switch with Ming Dynasty.

When Charlie heard this, he did not beat around the bush and spoke directly.

"Dear Your Highness, Charlie comes to see you this time because he wants to represent the East India Company to discuss switching and trade matters with Ming Dynasty." "I also ask Your Highness to allow Ming Dynasty to open trade with British merchants."

When Zhu Jing'an heard this, his eyes flickered with flickering light, obviously thinking about the pros and cons of this matter.

After a moment, he spoke.

"The switch is not impossible, but you and the British first supported the Portuguese in their attempt to occupy Macau, the Ming Dynasty, and then in the Ming Dynasty's restoration war, they gave all their strength to the Manchu Qing Dynasty to fight against the Ming Dynasty."

"You have chosen to stand against Ming Dynasty more than once. If you cannot pay a price for this, how can Ming Dynasty agree to open customs to you?"

"If the Ming Dynasty rashly allows British merchants like you to come to trade, how will the dignity of the Chinese Empire be preserved?"

When Charlie heard this, his expression became uncertain for a while, but he still asked.

"Then, may I ask, Your Highness the Crown Prince, how will Ming Dynasty reopen its customs to our British merchants?"

Watching the French make a lot of money from trade with the Ming Dynasty in recent years, this makes the British feel more uncomfortable than losing money.

Especially after the fall of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the last way for Britain to trade with China was cut off.

This made British businessmen unbearable.

Eager to restart trade with China.

Charlie wanted to know what Daming wanted.

If the request is not excessive, the East India Company may consider agreeing to it!

As the saying goes, there are no permanent friends between countries, only permanent interests. The British know this best.

As long as the benefits are sufficient, there is nothing that cannot be discussed.

When Zhu Jing'an heard this, he smiled and said.

"It's very simple if you want Ming Dynasty to reopen trade to Britain."

"As a price, Britain will open the Indian market to the Ming Dynasty and allow Ming Dynasty merchants to freely trade in India."

"And the British Indian authorities needed to provide necessary protection to Ming merchants."

Zhu Jing'an's intention is very clear, he wants to get involved in India.

Since the opening of Guangzhou, the development of maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty has been rising steadily, and the footprints of the maritime merchants in the Ming Dynasty have spread throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia.

Ninety percent of the maritime trade share of the entire traditional Confucian cultural circle has been monopolized by the Ming Dynasty.

It is precisely because of the stimulation of this huge market that the industrial and commercial development of Ming Dynasty is now in full swing and quite rapid.

However, due to the bad relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the British, the maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty never had the opportunity to cross Malacca and go to India for trade.

This has also prevented Daming from entering the huge market of India.

Therefore, Zhu Jing'an planned to use this opportunity to exchange for Britain to open the Indian market to the Ming Dynasty.

Since the Indo-British Battle of Plassey broke out in June 1757 and India was defeated, India began to gradually become a British colony.

Britain's control over India is also gradually strengthening.

At this time, if Ming Dynasty wanted to intervene in India, it would obviously not be possible without British acquiescence or even assistance.

Therefore, Zhu Jing'an used open trade as a threat and asked the British to open India to the Ming Dynasty. (End of chapter)