The Hague, Netherlands, has now become a center for exchanges between the two major civilizations of Western Europe and the East. The imperial envoys and ambassadors of Mongolia and Ming Dynasty in Western Europe all opened their offices in The Hague.
These two yamen are not responsible for the diplomacy with the Netherlands, but for the diplomacy between the two countries and the Netherlands, England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Portugal, the Holy See, Denmark, Sweden and other northwest European countries. At the same time, it also manages exchanges with German and Italian states.
It is also a window for exchanges between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia.
"Dongdongdong..."
The door of the study room in the third hall of the Imperial Envoy's Yamen of the Mongolian Empire in The Hague was smashed so loudly that it made a loud noise, and then the voice of Tong Jia Longkodo, the military attaché of the Imperial Envoy's Yamen, came: "Ama, Mr. Huang, Something big has happened! King James of England is going to gather the princes in London and raise his troops to defeat Zhou!"
In the study room, there were only the newly appointed imperial ambassador Tong Guowei and the Ming Dynasty imperial ambassador to The Hague Huang Zhisheng... There was nothing big going on, just discussing the trivial matters of sugar, cotton cloth and cotton.
Oh, although Mongolia and Ming Dynasty are still enemies, there is nothing wrong with getting together to discuss things in order to do business. Make money, not shabby.
Now the Indian Empire and the Ming Dynasty under the Great Mongolia are the only suppliers of white sugar in the world. Of course, the price of white sugar must be carefully discussed... Now the Ottoman Empire and European Christians are preparing for a war again. Both parties are working hard to reserve sugar!
In order to avoid too much damage from sugar-medicine weapons, the envoys of the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia should of course make a careful calculation. Should they raise the price together? Is this an appropriate increase of 30%? Or is a 40% increase appropriate?
In addition, the matter of cotton and cotton cloth must be carefully considered... There are only three main cotton producing areas in the world, one is Ming Dynasty, the other is India, and the third is England!
Don’t underestimate cotton and cotton cloth. Capitalism in England started from the cotton textile industry! Therefore, the British cotton textile industry has always been on the Ming Emperor's blacklist, just like the British North American colonies.
However, Daming’s cotton fabrics do not have a high share of the European market. That is to say, high-end purple cotton fabrics sell well, but ordinary cotton fabrics have difficulty entering the mid- to low-end markets in Europe due to shipping costs.
As for cotton, it is inherently mass-produced and cannot be turned into a luxury item!
Therefore, the European cotton cloth and cotton yarn market has always been dominated by India and England... If Kang Mazi's Indian Empire could formulate a policy to encourage cotton exports, it would cooperate with France, the Netherlands, Spain, the HRE, Portugal, Rakshasa, If Poland, Sweden and other countries sign cotton trade agreements and squeeze out the British cotton and cotton cloth market, then the Industrial Revolution may have to say goodbye to Britain completely.
But the problem is that Kang Mazi became the queen of the Indian Empire and only cared about the sugar industry and didn't care about cotton at all. So Emperor Zhu could only ask his ambassador to The Hague, Huang Zhisheng, to discuss with the new Qing ambassador Tong Guowei how to kill the British Industrial Revolution that was still gestating.
When two hostile imperial envoys were discussing how to use Indian cotton cloth to attack the European market, Tong Jia Longkodo shouted outside the door.
Tong Guowei and Huang Zhisheng were stunned when they heard Longkodo's words.
"What? King Zhan Er of England wants to attack Zhou?" Huang Zhisheng reacted first, looked at Tong Guowei, and hesitated, "Is your son... drunk?"
Tong Guowei's face was ashen. He knew very well his son's temper and temperament. He was a drunkard and a womanizer! It is perfectly normal to be drunk and talk nonsense, otherwise Tong Guowei would not ask Kangxi Khan to let him take his son with him... He was afraid that his son would get drunk and cause trouble by Kangxi Khan's side!
"Longkodo, come in and talk!" Tong Guowei said angrily.
"Here we come." Long Keduo responded, opened the door and walked in. When he arrived in front of Tong Guowei and Huang Zhisheng, he smiled and saluted and said hello, before he had time to report the official business. His father, Tong Guowei, spoke first: "Have you been drinking again?"
"Just, I just drank a little." Longkodo quickly defended, "Aren't I going to attend a drinking party held by the Dutch East India Company? A bunch of foreign barbarians came to me to fight for drinks. How could I not drink two glasses? Didn’t I lose the majesty of Mongolia? But I’m not drunk!”
After hearing his son's nonsense, Tong Guowei was really angry, "You're not drunk yet? You've already been defeated by the King of England... How dare you say you're not drunk?"
"I'm really not drunk!" Longkodo said, "Amma, there really is a British king who defeated Zhou! It was spread all over the East India Company's reception. It was said that King James of England had just given birth to a son. In order to divert domestic conflicts, he He is preparing to start a war with the newly discovered Shang Fang Kingdom founded by the survivors of the Yin Shang Dynasty in the New World, and he also said that he will attack King Zhou!"
Tong Guowei had just come to the Netherlands not long ago, and he didn't understand what was going on. "Why did Zhan Er have to divert domestic conflicts when he got a son? What does his desire to divert domestic conflicts have to do with King Zhou of Shang? King Zhou of Shang has been dead for so many years. Already..."
However, Huang Zhisheng had been in Europe for a long time and knew the nonsense in England, so he smiled and interjected: "Master Tong, it seems that your son is not drunk. King Zhan Er of England originally had no legal son to inherit. Of the throne.”
"What? A legal son?" Tong Guowei was stunned again, "Is there an illegal son?"
"Yes!" Huang Zhisheng said with a smile, "Illegal sons are those born outside the family. Zhan Er has three illegitimate sons in total, but his previous and subsequent wives have never given birth to legitimate sons who can survive to this day. But he My house-filling wife got pregnant again last year, and it was almost time to give birth, and now it looks like she has a son."
"That's a good thing!" Tong Guowei said, "There are three types of unfilial piety, and the worst is not having an heir. Now Zhan Er can finally explain to his Zhan family ancestors."
"But some people are not happy!" Huang Zhisheng said, "Zhan Er's throne was originally agreed to be inherited by his son-in-law, Wei San, the consul of the Netherlands, and his mother-in-law."
"What else is there?" Tong Guowei frowned, "But after Wei San inherits the throne of England, won't he become the son-in-law of Lao Zhan's family? What's so good about it? And Zhan Er has a son, so of course the throne will be passed on to his son. Well, what is the contradiction in this matter?"
"Isn't it?" Huang Zhisheng said with a smile, "But Zhan Er is a Roman Catholic. Most of the gentlemen in England believe in Anglican Protestantism. Wei San of the Netherlands and his wife Mary also believe in Protestantism... ....So most of the gentlemen in England support Wei San to inherit the throne of England! Moreover, the gentlemen in the English Council are all rebellious ministers and traitors. Zhan Er's father was caught by these traitorous ministers and traitors back in the day. Behead your head!"
"Ah?" Tong Guowei was shocked by what he said to Huang Zhisheng. The masters in this council were so fierce that they even killed the king and the emperor! This should make Long Live Lord be careful... Now the Great Mongolia has the Kuritai Conference, and the Indian Empire has the "Five Eight Banners Council". Is it possible to cause trouble?
Huang Zhisheng added: "That's why Zhan Ercai wants to use the Shang Dynasty in North America to establish his prestige, and in the name of sending troops to attack the Shang Dynasty, he can elevate himself to the position of the leader of the European Alliance. Then he will use his identity as the leader to suppress the domestic ones. Council, so that his son can successfully become the crown prince. As for the King of England's attack on Zhou, it is probably because Zhan Er read those "The Romance of the Gods" that Ji Dabao randomly translated... That Ji Dabao had no time to do in Europe. I like to overturn the domestic ones and translate them into foreign languages, so as to gain fame and reputation."
"I see..." Tong Guowei nodded, thinking: "It seems I have to go to London too!"
Thinking of this, he said to Huang Zhisheng: "Master Huang, I must go to this London Lords Conference! The Shang Fang Kingdom in the New World and your Ming Dynasty..."
Huang Zhisheng nodded repeatedly and said with a smile: "Go, go, no problem."
Tong Guowei added: "The King of England must have used a lot of sugar to defeat Zhou, right?"
"That's necessary!" Huang Zhisheng said, "As far as I know, the weapons of this Shang Fang Kingdom are very powerful! If you want to fight them, you can't use too much sugar... Lord Tong, you Would it be better if the sugar price increased by 30% or by 40%?"
Tong Guowei thought for a while, then stretched out his hand and said, "Let's not be too cruel. Let's give a reasonable price, increase it by 50%!"
"Okay! Come on, let's get a 50% increase." Huang Zhisheng laughed so hard that he could hardly close his mouth from ear to ear. His family is a wealthy family in Xinhui. They have sugar cane fields and a sugar factory. The "special white" they produce is the best raw material for processing military white sugar.
Selling to Europe increased by 50%... I'm so happy with the increase!
...
While Tong Guowei and Huang Zhisheng were discussing how much sugar should be increased, King James II of England was meeting with Hugo Li, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, in his Hampton Court Palace. Ona.
Although the relationship between Britain and France has been bumpy, James II and Louis XIV have always been good. James II and his brother Charles II went into exile in France in their early years. Later, during the Franco-Dutch War, because his son-in-law was William III, the ruler of the Netherlands, he was once again forced to leave Britain, which sided with France to attack the Netherlands, and went to rely on Louis XIV.
In the original history, after James II was ousted by his daughter, son-in-law, rebels in Parliament, and the rebellious general Baron Churchill, he once again went into exile in France and was protected by Louis XIV. Later, Louis XIV once wanted James II to elect the King of Poland... Although this did not succeed, it can be seen from this incident how strong James II and Louis XIV were.
This time, as soon as James II started to promote the "King of England's defeat of Zhou", he immediately asked Baron Churchill to go to France and invite Louis XIV's latest foreign minister, Leonardo.
"Hugo, please tell Louis that I really need to lead a war to defend Christianity! Just as he needs to lead a war to counterattack Vienna... Only in this way can the two of us become a part of Western Christian civilization Defender of the Christian civilization. Only after becoming the defender of Christian civilization can Louis become Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and I can pass the throne to my son James III!"
The James III the King of England was talking about was James Francis Edward Stuart, who was just born on June 10. This is a very healthy baby, cries loudly, eats a lot, and is thriving just by looking at it. Moreover, James II also prepared garlic medicine from the public hospital bought from the Ming Dynasty at a high price for him to ensure that he could grow up.
However, the British Parliament and the Anglican priests obviously did not want this child to grow up, and they were not even willing to recognize his legitimacy - they actually said that this child was picked up by James! The real original product was a stillborn baby that James had used as a found child.
Although this was a ridiculous rumor, it spread everywhere in London, and almost all Protestants believed it.
James II knew very well that his enemies were trying to create public opinion for a rebellion.
However, rebellion in Britain was not his biggest concern. What James II was most worried about was that his son-in-law William III would take advantage of him!
So at this time, he desperately needed the support of Louis XIV.
And when the Holy Roman Empire was crippled by the Turks and the King of Spain was a fool. Only Louis XIV could elevate James II to the position of "leader of the alliance to defeat the emperor".
Louis XIV, who coveted the throne of the Holy Roman Empire, also needed the support of England. Because the emergence of the American merchant states posed a great threat to New Spain, and the survival of New Spain was related to the national destiny of the Kingdom of Spain. The Spanish nobles must not take it lightly.
However, while they had to support the Holy Roman Empire in fighting Turkey, they also had to deal with the Shang Fang Kingdom in the New World. At the same time, they also faced the threat of the Ming Dynasty, which was really beyond their capabilities.
If King James II of England was willing to stand up and take on the important task of fighting against the merchants, the Spanish nobles would be very grateful to him.
In this way, James II had the leverage to persuade the Spanish to support Louis XIV as Holy Roman Emperor.
"Your Majesty the King," Leonard said after considering, "King Louis hopes to order Europe first, then America. First get rid of the Turks occupying Vienna, and then send troops to the New World."
"This is not possible." James II understood the true intention of the French minister, so he shook his head and said, "The war to regain Vienna will probably last several years... and the merchant country will be strengthened every few months. So we don't have a few years to wait.
We must make an immediate decision to send troops! Otherwise, we might as well never send troops.
However, while we decide to send troops to deal with the Shang Kingdom, we can discuss the candidates for the Holy Roman Emperor and the Spanish Emperor... Whether we are fighting Turkey or dealing with the Shang Kingdom, we need strong Catholic leaders.
I believe that only the King of France can assume the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. And Leopold should go to Spain and become emperor. "
