"Your Majesty the King..."
Someone else saluted Cromwell respectfully and called him "Your Majesty the King." This person was Andrew Marvell, who had firmly opposed the Stuart dynasty in the past, and was also the envoy sent to the Ming Dynasty by the Republic of England who had just returned to London.
"Andrew, you call me that?" Cromwell looked at his confidant in surprise, "Don't you know what I'm thinking?"
"Your Highness Lord Protector, you want to truly unite England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, so that millions of people can all speak the same language, have the same beliefs, and obey the same government and king. There will never be an England again. People, Irish, Scots, Welsh, only Britons! In the future, there will no longer be Anglicanism, Presbyterianism and Catholicism in the land of Britain, only the purest Puritanism.
Never again cause fratricidal civil wars over issues of faith!
This is your ideal, the great Lord Protector of England! Am i right? "
Andrew Marvell did not know the story of the British bourgeois revolution. He had not read the history books of certain countries in later generations. Cromwell also didn't know anything about bourgeois revolution... The two of them only knew that the unlucky Charles I was killed by the endless religious conflicts in England.
The so-called British bourgeois revolution was actually a religious war! It was a religious war triggered by a series of sectarian conflicts and the mishandling of Charles I.
When Charles I took over, the United Kingdom was faced with serious sectarian and ethnic conflicts. On the one hand, there were conflicts between the four major sects: Anglican (Church of England), Presbyterian (Church of Scotland), Catholic (Church of Ireland), and Puritanism. . On the one hand, the three major ethnic groups, namely the English, Scots, and Irish, were hostile to each other.
James I, the father of Charles I, was caught in the middle of the struggle between the four factions and three clans. He had been fighting for a lifetime. He tolerated everything internally and externally. He was so aggrieved that he died. He finally maintained stability for more than 20 years and handed the country over. He married Charles I, who was not very bright but also smart (Charlie I was not the heir originally, but when he was 18 years old, his brother Henry died, so he became the heir).
After Charles I came to the throne, he regarded his "suffering" father as a negative example, hoping to integrate Anglican, Presbyterian, Catholic, Puritan and other denominations through his "religious integration" route... ...
In order to win over Catholics, Charles I initially tried to marry a Spanish princess who was a fervent believer in Catholicism, but the other party thought he was a heretic and wanted to keep him in Spain for a year of re-education. So Charles had to marry a French princess who also believed in Catholicism but was not so fanatical - but this French princess still did not convert to the Anglican Church, so she was unanimously opposed by the Anglicans, Puritans, and Presbyterians, and even the coronation ceremony ( The coronation of the queen) could not be held.
Under the influence of this French princess, Charles I showed a pro-Catholic tendency on issues of religious liturgy and priest appointment. This was of course a necessary measure to unify the various churches in England and gain understanding from Rome.
In order to appease the Anglicans, Puritans and Presbyterians, establish prestige at home and avenge himself for being humiliated by Spain, Charles I immediately joined the Thirty Years' War and became the enemy of Spain after he ascended the throne. However, the British Protestants (Anglican, Presbyterian, and Puritan) did not regard the king as one of their own and unanimously resisted, preventing the British from obtaining sufficient financial resources to organize an expeditionary force. As a result, for many years after the British entered the war, they could not be found on the German battlefield. They barely entered the battle until 1633, but were quickly defeated.
At the same time, the military operations to attack Spain from the sea were not very successful. They all failed after a few months...
After the war with Spain ended, Charles I supported the Hunot rebellion in France in order to please the various Protestants in the country... but failed because of the lack of support from the domestic Protestants and Catholics. .
While suffering successive defeats in the international arena, Charles I began to intervene in the conflicts between the two Protestant denominations, the Anglican Church and the Presbyterian Church (because the Anglican Church had a Catholic tendency under the king's promotion, it caused the Presbyterians to dissatisfaction) - he wanted to merge the Church of England and the Church of Scotland.
To this end, he appointed William Lauder, who was inclined to the Catholic model in religious liturgy, as the Archbishop of Canterbury (chief bishop), and with his assistance initiated the unification of the two state churches. As a result, the Presbyterians in Scotland were angered and formed a "sworn faction" to confront the king.
Faced with the resistance of the Scottish Presbyterians, Charles I chose to go to war and sent troops to promote his religious line. This triggered two episcopal wars, which were defeated again.
After the Second Bishops' War failed due to the resistance of English Protestants, Charles I had to convene the "Long Parliament" (the Parliament that killed him) to raise more funds to end the war with the Scottish Oaths. struggle.
But the nobles, squires, and bourgeoisie he summoned were actually allies of the Scottish Covenanters, and they all wanted to oust Charles I, the "heretical king" from power. However, they did not want a republic at first. They just wanted to oust Charles I and educate his son (Charles II) for Charles I, lest Charles I teach his heir to become a coward who secretly believed in Catholicism... This is what is called "The Great Protest Incident". After rejecting the great protest, the situation in London immediately got out of control. Charles I had to leave London and fled to Nonningham in the north to gather the royal army and launch a civil war.
Of course the result was that he was defeated again and lost his head!
The tragedy of Charles I actually had nothing to do with the bourgeoisie. It was entirely caused by his series of failures in dealing with religious issues.
Cromwell, who replaced Charles I, actually faced the same problems of sectarian divisions and ethnic conflicts. However, his response method was different from that of Charles I and James I. He did not seek to integrate the various factions, nor did he try to hide the conflicts between the various factions. Instead, he resolutely promoted Puritanism and wanted to establish a unified Puritan Britain!
But the problem is that although the Puritans are very capable of fighting, they are a numerical minority and do not have an advantage in Britain, so they can only rule by military dictatorship.
While under military dictatorship, Cromwell did not dare to go too far on religious issues - the coronation ceremony might have been a religious showdown. Whether it should be presided over by a Puritan priest and adopt Puritan rites, or whether it should be presided over by an Anglican priest and adopt Anglican rites will be a very serious question!
Cromwell looked at Marvell and sighed softly: "Andrew, we all know what are the problems in Britain? But it is not easy to solve these problems. I need time, but I am already 58 years old this year. , I don’t have much time left!”
"Your Highness the Lord Protector," Marvell fully understood Cromwell's difficulties, but his trip to the East gave him insights, so he had a way to solve the problem for the boss, "I am staying here in the East. During this period, I not only conducted in-depth research on China’s political, economic and religious issues, but also studied Japan, Ming’s neighbor.”
"Oh, really?" Cromwell didn't understand what Marvel was going to say, so he just nodded.
Marvell said: "In China and Japan, I found two solutions to the problems you face."
"What can I do?" Cromwell took a fancy to Marvell.
"The Imperial Arma System of the Qing Dynasty in northern China and the Great Government System of the Japanese Shogunate." Marvell said, "The Qing Dynasty that once divided northern China would select a shrewd and capable person from the royal family when their emperor was young. The prince acted as the emperor's adoptive father and married the queen mother. He was called Huang Ama and the emperor ruled instead of the emperor.
The shogun of Japan took the initiative to give up his throne to his son when he grew old, allowing his son to have the name of the general and part of the political power. He himself controlled the son of the general in the name of the great government office. This will ensure a smooth transition of power to the next generation. "
Cromwell's eyes lit up, "These Easterners are quite smart when it comes to power struggles! But the Tatar Imperial Armagh system is not suitable for today's Britain... Philip IV can consider it Just a moment! And we in Britain need a Supreme Protector!"
