"Papa, is this really God's intention?"
Queen Therese of the Spanish Empire seemed not to give up, and actually began to doubt His Majesty the Pope.
Louis XIV did not want to argue with this "mad woman" whose husband had just died, so he said to the Pope: "Your Majesty Urban, just ask God... Just ask here."
God has now become the "advisor" of the Frankish Emperor! And I have to listen to questions anytime and anywhere, which is really dedicated. But there is nothing we can do about it, the market is not going well! Before, God had "Spain, blessed by God" and "Holy Rome" that could restrain Louis, the "filial son of God". Now, "Holy Rome" has been swallowed up by Louis, and "Spain blessed by God" has been swallowed up by the Ming Dynasty, the Shang Dynasty, and the Aztecs. They were beaten to death together. Who else can God count on? The Great Peter of the Rakshasa Kingdom? It seems even more unreliable! So the old man could only wait for Pope Urban IX to come and ask questions.
But God only listens to the questions, not the answers…just silence!
Urban IX quickly found a seat by the window and knelt down. Just when he was about to ask a question in his heart, Queen Therese suddenly spoke: "Papa, please ask, does God want Joseph to be the emperor of the Spanish Empire?" ?”
Urban IX was taken aback, and quickly looked back at Louis. Louis nodded: "Ask, ask!"
Understood!
Urban IX quickly clasped his hands, closed his eyes, looked up out of the window, and muttered: "Father, do you want to use the failure of the Spanish Empire in Mexico to warn us humble believers that the power of the devil is still strong? We must be extremely vigilant and ready to fight the devil at any time? Amen!
Heavenly Father, now that the Spanish Empire has no emperor, Saint Leopold’s son Joseph is a devout Christian. Can he become the new emperor? Amen! "
Of course God showed his support through silence!
Urban IX waited for a while to make sure he heard nothing, then bowed to the sky again, stood up and said to Louis the Great and Therese: "The ascension of Saint Leopold is indeed God's will. He has become a saint and stands at the side of God with St. Philip.”
Louis and Therese quickly made the sign of the cross on their chests, both with pious expressions on their faces.
Urban IX added: "God appreciates Archduke Joseph's piety, supports him to become the new Spanish emperor, and will bless him and his people in heaven!"
As soon as Therese heard this, she cried and knelt down to God, and murmured: "My merciful Heavenly Father, thank you for forgiving Joseph's original sin because of his piety..."
Joseph was guilty of original sin!
Everyone is guilty of original sin!
So Louis and Urban didn't think much, they just congratulated Therese and once again declared their support for Joseph.
Although Louis XIV had previously imagined seizing the Spanish crown, the Spanish Empire is now on the most dangerous front line against the devil... so Louis also needs a Spanish emperor who has a blood feud with the devil to fight against the devil. Joseph was the obvious choice.
After receiving the blessings and support of Louis and Urban, Therese, who was promoted to the Queen Mother of the Spanish Empire, finally left France with satisfaction. Accompanied by the Marquis of Mendoza, she boarded a large sailing ship bound for Cuba. ...Although she lost her husband Leopold, she gained a huge empire!
Although the current Spanish colonial empire has lost most of its territory north of the Sierra Madre del Sur (it still retains two narrow areas along the Gulf of Mexico centered on the ports of Tampico and Veracruz), it still has Large tracts of Central America and most of South America, as well as most of the islands in the Caribbean and the Florida Peninsula. It is still a great country!
In addition, Joseph and Charles (Therese's second son) also had the right to inherit the Kingdom of Spain, which also included all Spanish possessions in Europe.
As long as we manage it carefully, the future of the Spanish Empire is quite promising!
...
Shortly after Therese left Europe, it was time for the French Foreign Minister Leonhard and the new Holy See Foreign Minister Cardinal Degas Magarra to set off for the East again, so they both came to the Palace of Versailles to pay tribute to Louis and Ursula. Class farewell.
"Now...we Europeans are going to temporarily lose absolute dominance over the oceans and the New World!"
In the gorgeous audience hall, Emperor Louis, who was sitting on the throne, said in slightly painful words to Leonardo and Degas Magala who were about to leave: "A unified, vast, powerful and progressive Eastern Empire. It has also achieved its revival... This is just like us Europeans reviving the civilization and ideas of the Roman Empire! But our Rome has not been completely revived, because Christendom is still divided. And they have defeated and expelled We have been enemies for hundreds of years, and we are still fighting hard to regain Vienna!
Under such circumstances, our European civilization is temporarily unable to dominate the entire civilized world! So we must change our thinking and seek a new world order that is most beneficial to us! "
Louis XIV is obviously going to shrink, not France, but the Western world led by France is going to shrink!
However, although the Western world in the 17th century encircled many territories around the world, most of the territories were only "encircled" and did not invest a lot of manpower and material resources in development. After all, the world is now in an era where "people are rare and valuable" - although the number of Europeans increased a lot after the Great Discovery, it was not enough to fill the entire Europe, and they were also eliminated in the process of colonizing the New World. Tens of millions of Indians! Because of the sparse population, the Europeans' investment in the New World was quite limited, and their demands were mainly in precious metals.
Therefore, the loss of Mexico will be limited to the entire Western civilization. If we shrink back, stop the rough expansion, and then focus on the development of the existing territory, we can still bring strong development momentum to Western civilization.
After all, their civilization is still on a rapid upward trajectory!
"My lord," asked the French Foreign Minister Leonhard, "what do you call a new world order that is most beneficial to us..."
Louis took out a hardcover edition and asked the attendant beside him to pass it to Leona. Leona took it with both hands and looked at the cover, which was printed in French: Strategy and Plot - Legend of the Three Kingdoms.
"Your Majesty, I have read this book. This is a book describing the history of the Three Kingdoms' struggle for hegemony in ancient China."
Of course Leonard has read Three Kingdoms, and this book is now a must-read for military and diplomatic officials of major European powers.
"Yes!" Louis XIV nodded, "It is also very enlightening for how we deal with the changes in today's world." He paused and then said, "In today's world, there is no doubt that the Ming Dynasty is the strongest... ....So the Ming Dynasty is equivalent to the Wei State established by Cao Cao and Cao Pi. And our Frankish Empire can correspond to the Wu State established by a man named Sun Quan. And the Great Ming Dynasty is equivalent to the Shu Han established by Liu Bei.
In the book, only the Sun-Liu alliance can fight against Cao Wei! Once the Sun-Liu alliance collapsed completely because Sun Wu attacked Jingzhou and killed Guan Yu, the balance of the Three Kingdoms was completely broken. No matter how hard Zhuge Liang tried later, he was unable to recover. Therefore, we must fully learn lessons and form a solid alliance with Great Mongolia. As long as this alliance is not destroyed, we can fight against the powerful Ming Dynasty! "
"My Majesty, do you want us to go to India to discuss alliance with Kangxi Khan? Are we trying to win over Mongolia to join the North Atlantic Alliance?"
Leonard obviously hasn't fully understood Louis' intentions.
"No," Louis shook his head, "It's not to win over Mongolia to join the North Atlantic Alliance... but to establish a new secret alliance between the North Atlantic Alliance and Mongolia!"
"A secret alliance?" Of course Leonard is familiar with secret diplomacy. Compared with open diplomacy, secret diplomacy is much more flexible. But at the same time, the binding force is much smaller!
Because there will be no public statements or treaties, there will naturally be no national credit endorsement. Therefore, this kind of secret diplomacy is necessary only when both sides have a powerful common enemy.
And the Ming Dynasty is now the common and powerful enemy of the French-Frank Empire and the Mongol Empire!
The Ming Dynasty was so powerful that France and Mongolia did not dare to form an alliance publicly, but they had to sign a secret agreement in private.
The French Foreign Minister said: "I understand... Your Majesty, I wonder what kind of secret alliance you need?
Is this secret alliance targeting the Ming Empire? "
Emperor Louis said: "The secret alliance is of course aimed at the Ming Dynasty. Only the Ming Dynasty can force Kangxi Khan and I to conclude a secret agreement! But even if it is a secret agreement, do not write in the content of joint opposition to the Ming Dynasty to avoid unnecessary misjudgment."
Louis is really scared now. The purpose of making the treaty with Mongolia is actually just to protect himself... He doesn't want to be like Leopold and go up to serve God so early!
"Your Majesty," Leonard was a little confused by Louis, "then what is written in the secret agreement?"
"The first thing is to write about how we can help Mongolia build a strong navy!" Louis said, "In order to contain the Ming Dynasty, we must support Mongolia in building a strong navy. Help the Rakshasa Kingdom to carry out necessary reforms and build a strong army. To Now, the Rakshasa issue needs to be discussed with Sofia. Peter I cannot be allowed to lead the Rakshasa on the wrong route. The Rakshasa country... belongs to the West after all! Peter's previous request can still be discussed. of."
Mongolia has been trying to build a powerful navy over the years - the Indian Ocean is Mongolia's Indian Ocean!
However, the Mongols' navy was not very successful, and the gap with the Ming Dynasty's navy seemed to be getting wider and wider! Moreover, Great Mongolia's military industry has been somewhat stagnant in the past two years - all of Great Mongolia's military industry is handled by Kangxi Khan himself. As long as he slacks off a little, he will soon be in trouble. Kangxi was a "magician" and was somewhat proficient in various explosives and flammable substances, so he could barely follow the progress of the Ming Dynasty. But for things like thunder mercury and nitroglycerin, Kangxi's "magic" attainments were much worse.
In addition, Kangxi did not understand shipbuilding and navy at all, so he could not focus on naval construction at all.
There is another issue that Louis XIV also has to pay attention to, that is, the reform of the Rakshasa Kingdom has also started with difficulty under the promotion of Peter I! However, Louis XIV had previously rejected the request to hand over the Baltic Sea outlet belonging to Sweden to Rakshasa - Sweden did not agree! Louis XIV couldn't do anything to Sweden? He also pointed out that Sweden was sending troops to help attack Vienna!
Moreover, Poland and Lithuania are also very tightly bound. Although they are willing to elect Louis as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, they do not agree that Louis should only be King of Poland and hand over the position of Grand Duke of Lithuania to the King of Sweden... and Poland is powerful. Cavalry is what Louis must obtain.
Therefore, the relationship between France and Rakshasa has also become cold. Without France's support, Rakshasa's reforms are going a bit... weird!
Yes, it’s just a little weird! It's not that it can't be changed. With Kangxi Khan's silver rupee transfusion, Peter I's reforms went relatively smoothly. But there is something wrong with the direction of the reform!
Because Peter I could not get the full support of Louis the Great, and he could not obtain the Baltic Sea entrance facing the west for a while, he had to turn to the east and south, and began to learn from the Great Mongolia in carrying out the "Great Qinghua" reform! For example, he planned to organize the nobles into the Eight Rakshasa Banners, and he also planned to borrow money from Mongolia to compensate the nobles in exchange for the abolition of serfdom. He also planned to conduct imperial examinations in the Rakshasa country! Take the test of eight-legged essay in the Bible. No matter who you are, if you write well in the eight-part essay in the Bible, you can become an official!
This Rakshasa Kingdom seems to have the intention of breaking away from the family of Western civilization!
Although almost all Westerners, including Louis, look down upon Rakshasa, a poor relative, they can't stand it if Rakshasa really turns into an Eastern country! The big guy from the Rakshasa Kingdom is there!
Therefore, Emperor Louis the Great had to send someone to have a good talk with Emperor Kangxi's wife, Sofia, so that Rakshasa could not really become the Golden Horde! Otherwise, Mongolia will become too powerful and threaten the hegemony of France, the Frankish Empire in Europe.
Louis added: "In addition, we also need to coordinate with Great Mongolia in order to adopt a common position when negotiating with Ming!"
The emperor paused and then said: "Hugo, Cardinal, after you complete your trip to India, you still need to form a mission with Kangxi Khan's envoy to go to the Ming Dynasty for negotiation... Establish a new international order that is more beneficial to us and Mongolia, but acceptable to the Ming Empire!"
To be honest, this new order is quite difficult to establish!
Because the foundation of any new international order is actually force, and the Ming Dynasty’s force is obviously superior, and may even overwhelm France, the two major powers of the Frank Empire and Mongolia!
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