Winter of 1698 AD, Palace of Versailles.
The Second General Assembly of the Council of Nations had been held for several days at the Palace of Versailles, where Louis XIV used to show off his wealth. Probably to highlight the glory and prosperity of the Frank Empire, this palace is extremely luxurious and far exceeds the two palaces in the Forbidden City of Nanjing (Nanjing of the Ming Dynasty and Nanjing of the Mongolia). The construction has not stopped in the past few years, and skilled craftsmen from all over Europe have , still working day and night to add more magnificent decorations to the already extremely gorgeous palace.
According to Louis' requirements, these decorations must not only be beautiful, but also luxurious and exquisite, and must also reflect the power and wealth of the Frankish Empire.
Thanks to the hard work of skilled craftsmen, the Hall of Hercules, the Hall of Harvest, the Hall of Venus, the Hall of Diana, the Hall of Mars, the Hall of Mercury, the Hall of Apollo, the Hall of War, the Hall of Mirrors, the Hall of Peace, etc. The magnificent halls are now displayed one by one in front of its visitors.
Not to mention the young men from Europe who worshiped France who were envious of the luxury of this palace. Even Guo Youde and Li Guangzu from the Ming Dynasty and Suo'etu and Longkodo from Mongolia saw this world-class palace for the first time. When I was in the most expensive palace, I couldn't help but admire it from the bottom of my heart: "It's so extravagant and lustful!"
However, when Louis XIV, who owned the most expensive palace in the world, sat in the Apollo Hall, which was too luxurious to describe its splendor, and looked at the envoys from various countries sitting on both sides, he was not happy at all. Can't get up.
Because he knew very well in his heart that no matter how luxurious his house was, it could not change the fact that his Frankish Empire was not the first in the world, not even the second in the world... but the third in the world!
Although Louis is very unconvinced by Great Mongolia, which ranks second in the world in all indicators, the Great Ming Dynasty, currently number one in the world and dominating the east, is really strong! In addition to the relatively small population, the current Great Tomorrow Dynasty is powerful in all directions and has no blind spots! Not only strong, but also full of vigor and stamina - this is a Chinese empire that has entered the threshold of modern times and has just experienced a very successful "restart"!
Although the long distance made it difficult for the Celestial Empire to directly send troops to Europe and America to compete with Louis for hegemony in the West, the Ming Dynasty had two very difficult agents, namely the Ottoman Empire and the Aztec Kingdom.
Among them, the Ottoman Empire could contain the main forces of the Frank Empire in Europe, preventing Louis from investing too much power in the New World. Even though the Frank Empire and the Ottoman Empire had reached an agreement on the main contents of the peace treaty at Versailles, Louis still did not dare A new war begins in America.
Because the upcoming "Versailles Peace Treaty" did not achieve its goal of seriously weakening the Ottoman Empire, with the support of the Ming Dynasty, the Ottoman Empire was able to use the equity of the Suez Canal that has not yet been dug to offset the compensation. This not only gave the Ottoman Empire the ability to rearm its arms in the future, but could even use the benefits brought by the Suez Canal to restructure the country's economy in the future.
In terms of territory, the Ottoman Empire lost Austria, the Czech Republic, part of Hungary (including the land of Croatia and Slovakia), the right bank of Ukraine, and the Black Sea and the northern coast of the Azov Sea except for the Crimean Peninsula. However, the Ottoman Empire still retained all the land in Transylvania (also part of Greater Hungary at the time), Wallachia, and Moldavia (the above two grand duchies plus Transylvania later became Romania) , Sudan’s territories in Serbia did not suffer any losses.
Therefore, the dangerous mountainous areas of the Balkan Peninsula were still firmly controlled by the Ottoman Empire, so the capital of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul (still called Constantinople by Westerners), which was sheltered by this mountainous area, was still out of reach for Louis.
Therefore, it is impossible for Louis the Great's Empire to defeat the Ottoman Empire with a quick attack... and a slow and protracted war will allow the Aztec Kingdom on the other side of the Atlantic to seize the opportunity to attack New France and The Appalachian Mountains near New England, as well as the Spanish and Portuguese American colonies exported the Indian Revolution!
And if Louis shipped a large number of armies to the Americas and attacked the Aztec Kingdom with the Spanish Empire... that country that could mobilize 300,000 Aztec berserkers would not be so easy to defeat. The Frankish Empire will also fall into a protracted war in Mexico! At that time, the Ottoman Empire will launch an attack on Vienna with the support of military aid from the Ming Dynasty!
After several days of the Versailles Conference, the Frankish emperor had realized that he was in a predicament of being attacked in his belly!
In addition, the European Christian camp he led was also very unstable. On the eve of the Versailles Conference, Britain actually had a "kowtow revolution" because of the upcoming investigation by the great powers of the twelve North American states...James II, who was supported by Louis XIV, was actually killed by his own daughter, Princess Anne. He joined forces with the Parliament to force the throne, and had to give up the throne and fled to Frankland.
What made Louis even more angry was that he, a dignified Frankish emperor, the leader of Christendom, and a supporter of James II, was actually powerless against such a blatant rebellion that took place under the flag of the cross... And As long as you have a little understanding of British internal affairs, you will know that this "Kowtow Revolution" is actually a coup against the Catholic Church!
James II was not overthrown at all because of the genocide that occurred in North America... This matter had nothing to do with him. It was all done by exiles who believed in Protestantism and Puritanism! What really cost James the throne was his loyalty to the Catholic Church.
And the Roman Catholic Church is now a very useful tool in the hands of Louis the Great, so opposing the Catholic Church is opposing Louis!
But in the face of the "Kowtow Revolution" of the British Protestants, Louis the Great was powerless... His army had just finished fighting the Great Southern War, which lasted several years, and the soldiers were exhausted. The finances also experienced a huge deficit due to rising military expenditures and the cost of building the Palace of Versailles. And there are the Ottoman Empire and the Aztec Kingdom waiting for trouble on both sides of the Atlantic.
If Louis sends troops at this time and Britain falls into quagmire, the consequences will be disastrous!
So Louis could only hold his nose and declare that he would not interfere in Britain's internal affairs...
Thinking of this, Louis sighed, raised his head and looked at both sides of the splendid Apollo Hall, only to find that all the envoys from various countries who came to have an audience had left. This morning's audience ceremony should have ended. Those care-taking envoys should go to the Peace Hall to dig out the details of the "Treaty of Versailles" word by word... As the emperor, Louis was not very interested in these details, so he handed them all over. Hugo Leonard, the foreign minister whom he trusted most, took charge.
Louis stood up from his throne, and when he was wondering whether to comfort the depressed King James II who abdicated the throne, Hugo Leonard suddenly walked in quickly.
Louis was stunned, "Hugo, have we already negotiated?"
"No, not yet." Hugo Lionel walked quickly to Louis and made a French bow, "My lord, a group of weirdos came to Versailles, saying they came to see your majesty."
"Weird?" Louis XIV was stunned, "How weird is that?"
"Your Majesty, they claim to be Indians from the Dominion of America and have come to Versailles to seek asylum from you."
Louis XIV was stunned, "Indians from the Dominion of America?" He looked at Hugo Leonard, who had a strange expression, "Should I see them?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, you should see them." Hugo Leonard gave a positive answer.
Louis XIV nodded, "Well, let's arrange an interview! I've never seen a living Indian!"
...
Although Louis the Great had never seen live Indians, he had seen Indians in paintings, so he was quite interested in the "weird" Indians' costumes. But he never expected that the "live Indians" who appeared in front of him were much "weird" than what he had seen in the paintings!
First of all, these Indians looked very pale, as pale as the white men in England!
Secondly, these Indians are all wearing European-style clothing. From their jackets and trousers to the collars and cuffs of their outer shirts, they are all Western-style, and they wear shoulder-length leather shoes. But they did not wear wigs, but headdresses full of feathers... They looked like palace aristocrats who came to the Palace of Versailles to attend a masquerade after dressing up casually.
Second, these Indians can actually speak fluent English, and two of them can also speak a slightly unfamiliar Latin - I really didn't expect that these Indians are still educated Indians.
"Hugo, are they really Indians?" Emperor Louis the Great couldn't help but ask his foreign minister as he watched a few strange Indians bowing to him in a very French style.
"Your Majesty, of course we are Indians!"
Before Hugo Lionel had time to answer Louis XIV's question, a young Indian answered in French for the French Foreign Minister.
"You are..." Louis looked at the young Indian and asked, "Where did you come from?"
"Your Majesty, I am Randolph from Virginia, a part of the American Dominion. On behalf of the Dominion, I came to Versailles to ask for your protection." This young man turned out to be Churchill's former adjutant, and his ancestor was Randolph, a Scottish nobleman.
Randolph and Jefferson, a fellow from Virginia, were the ambassadors and deputy ambassadors of the Dominion Mission of the United States who "went to Europe to recognize their father", shouldering the important task of recognizing the father of the United States.
Louis was stunned for a moment, "Virginia? Isn't that one of the twelve North American colonies that England belongs to?"
"Your Majesty," Randolph said, "we representatives from the twelve North American states held a meeting in New York a few days ago and passed a resolution condemning the British atrocities of massacring Indians in the twelve North American states. They also announced their separation from the United Kingdom, established the Dominion of America, and decided to submit to justice. And His Merciful Majesty the Frankish Emperor seeks refuge!”
Ah, it turns out it’s you heartless exiles!
Now Louis understood everything. The American Indians are clearly the exiles who exterminated the Indian race in twelve states... They actually betrayed their monarch and ran away to Versailles to join the Franks! And he calls himself an American Indian. He is obviously a white man, so why are he pretending to be an Indian? Do you think having two bird feathers on your head makes you an Indian? Who can be fooled by this?
Of course, Emperor Louis the Great did not like to see this traitor who betrayed his master and betrayed his country. He frowned and wanted to be expelled. But Hugo Leonard, who was standing next to him, came up and whispered: "Your Majesty, the Frankish Empire is in great need of these white Indians from the New World."
"Why?"
"Because their number is as many as 2.78 million...several times more than our total population in the New World! With them, the white population of our Frank Empire in America can reach 32,300 Ten thousand. Although it is not as good as the Shang Fang, Yin family, and even less than the Aztecs, it is still much more than before. Moreover, the land occupied by the twelve states of the American Dominion is further from Europe than the land along the Mississippi River. , and is warmer than Quebec, making it very easy to attract European immigrants.
Our colonies in the New World need more white people. Only with a large population can we finally win in the competition with the Yin Shang and the Aztecs. Especially now that the Indians have begun to awaken, if there is not enough white population, we will eventually lose New France! "
When Louis heard this, his expression suddenly became solemn.
To be honest, the economic benefits of New France cannot be seen yet, and the population growth is still very slow, so there doesn't seem to be much benefit. But Louis the Great knew very well that the vast New France was the living space of the Frank Empire and the future national destiny of the empire depended on it!
With the vast New France, even if the population of the Frankish Empire was saturated, the excess population would always have a place to go, and they would not have nowhere to stay.
To preserve New France, the white population of New France must be increased as soon as possible... However, the territory of New France is either far away from Europe, or it is located too far north and has a cold climate. Moreover, there was no gold or silver in those places, so they were not as attractive to European immigrants as the colonies of Spain and England. Even the French themselves were reluctant to go there.
Therefore, Louis wanted to quickly increase the white population of the Frank Empire in the North American colonies, and it was indeed a good way to capture the twelve states of New England!
"But how will the English, the merchants, the Yin family, and the Aztecs deal with it?" Louis asked in a low voice.
"Your Majesty, you can rest assured," Hugo Leonard said, "the Indians in the American Dominion have already figured out how to deal with it, and they should be able to pass... As long as your Majesty nods, the American Dominion can become Frank It is an autonomous colony under the protection of the empire. Tens of thousands of militiamen in the colony will fight for the interests of you and Frank!"
"Okay!" Louis the Great finally made up his mind. He shouted in French to several American visitors, "I can protect your Dominion, but there is a prerequisite... The American Dominion must speak French! French must be the only official language. language!"
