After Lucia's delegation, Prince Nicholas, Wedemeyer, and Kutuzov returned to their residences, they continued to meet and discuss for a short while.
In the end, Wedemeyer compiled a detailed report and sent it back to Lucia's capital, Moscow.
After Lucia Emperor Paul received the report, he felt melancholy and unspeakable, but at the same time he was slightly relieved.
Daming indeed did not push Lucia to death.
But among those three options, it is not so easy to decide which one to choose in the end.
Paul thought about it for more than half an hour, and then asked people to summon cabinet ministers and adult princes to discuss it.
Paul was expecting a reference for making a judgment, but instead got a full-blown argument with great fanfare.
The debate is not just about which option to choose, but also about the details of each option.
Including disputes over the scope of ceded land and disputes over Minghua reforms.
Most of the princes were in favor of the split, but opposed the Minghua reform.
After the split, the Romanov family would have one more country to inherit, and the prince who had no chance of inheritance would have another chance.
However, most of them are relatively young and tend to be Europa Lucianism in thinking, so most of them are opposed to Minghua reforms.
Most of the older ministers opposed the split while being willing to accept the Minghua reforms.
Because splitting up the Romanov dynasty would weaken the overall strength of the country, and sooner or later the dismantled part would be annexed by the Ming Dynasty.
Most of them are older and more in favor of Minghua in thinking, so they tend to be Minghua as a whole.
The young ministers simultaneously opposed splitting and Minghua, supported the acceptance of twenty years of peace, and asked the emperor to endure hardships and fight again after twenty years.
So in the end, the option that received the most approval was to declare vassal status as a whole and pay tribute to Minghua instead of splitting it up.
But similarly, the one that faced the most opposition was the overall submission to Tribute Minghua.
The conference room slowly became a mess.
Two hours later, Emperor Paul dismissed the princes and ministers and continued to think alone.
In fact, the chaotic meeting scene was, to a certain extent, a true reflection of Paul's heart.
Not every choice is the best, but you must choose the one that is not the worst among these options.
This is the tragedy of the weak, who can only toss and turn among the options provided by others.
Emperor Paul thought for two hours but did not make a final decision. He subconsciously wanted to delay it. Anyway, there was a one-month deadline.
It's been delayed until May.
On May 2, the thirty-fourth year of the Ming Dynasty, an urgent telegram was delivered to Emperor Paul:
"Khiva Khan was granted the title of Duke of Khiva of the Ming Dynasty. The Khiva Khanate officially became a foreign vassal of the Ming Dynasty. The Governor-General of the Right Army of the Ming Dynasty entered the Kingdom of Khiva on the same day."
Emperor Paul's hands trembled subconsciously, and he almost tore the telegraph newspaper into pieces.
Although Ming Dynasty is negotiating and has given a deadline, it is obvious that it will not wait until the deadline before preparing for war.
Instead, they start preparing for war while waiting. The deadline may be to launch a war directly.
"There can be no delay. This kind of waiting is meaningless. It will only make Ming accumulate more anger..."
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【Ming 1805】【】
Emperor Paul quickly made a decision in his mind, and then instinctively wanted to summon the ministers and princes.
As a result, he forced himself to hold back the words, and temporarily changed it to another command:
"Call the Alexanders over."
Alexander, the son of Emperor Paul, was born to Paul and a Ming Dynasty concubine.
Although the Ming Dynasty royal family and the imperial court officially banned marriage, there was no way to completely ban civil cross-border marriages.
Although the proportion of ordinary women in the Ming Dynasty who are willing to marry Thais is very low, the population base of the Ming Dynasty is large enough, and they can always find those who are willing.
As the largest country in the West, Lucia wanted to find a few ordinary women from the people of the Ming Dynasty to be their imperial concubines. It was not a big problem.
Alexander, a prince who was obviously of mixed race, was sent to study in the Ming Dynasty when he was twelve years old, and he married a Ming woman as his wife in the Ming Dynasty.
It was not until the beginning of the world war that he returned to Lucia with his wife. He was thirty-six years old this year.
More than half an hour later, Prince Alexander, his wife Zhao Xinlian, and their five children arrived at Emperor Paul's palace.
Emperor Paul looked at the family with complicated emotions.
All seven members of this family are dressed in Ming style. Alexander also has a Ming name called Luo Yashan, and several children also have Ming names.
Luo Yashan himself is of mixed race, and his children are mixed for the first time, and they are all three-quarters of Ming Dynasty blood.
The five children all have obvious Ming characteristics, and two of them only have hair color that is not dark enough, and the rest basically have no Lucia characteristics.
A family of seven walked up to Emperor Paul and greeted him in standard Ming dialect.
The etiquette and gestures were impeccable, but there was clearly an air of indifference.
Because Luo Yashan's family disapproved of Lucia's war with Ming Dynasty, and felt that it was a completely meaningless and thankless act.
Emperor Paul sighed softly in his heart, and then greeted him with a smile on the surface:
"Alexander, the war between our Lucia and the Ming Dynasty is coming to an end. You and your family don't have to worry anymore."
Luo Yashan was a little surprised, but quickly regained his composure:
"What's the price?"
Emperor Paul's expression suddenly became stiff, and he forced out a smile again, pretending to be relaxed and said:
“According to the terms of the truce we discussed with Ming Dynasty, the territory of our Romanov family will be divided into two parts.
“Split off the area east of the Urals and establish a country with Ming-style etiquette and systems.
"The monarch will be a member of our Romanov family, and the country will become a vassal state with a foreign surname of the Ming Dynasty.
"I am going to let you, a child with Ming ancestry, be the monarch of this country."
Luo Yashan did not show any surprise, but instead showed some feeble and hesitant indignation:
"This is the price, this is the result of my father's more than ten years of fighting. Does my father think it is all worth it?"
Luo Yashan's mood is very complicated. As a member of the Romanov family, he also hopes that the Romanov dynasty and Lucia will be strong.
He is also very fed up with the so-called Lucia de Europa trend that has arisen in recent years.
In Luo Yashan's view, Lucia is not a Western country, and it is better to follow the Ming Dynasty and become a Mongolian.
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【Ming 1805】【】
Seeing Lucia losing in challenging Ming Dynasty and about to pay a heavy price, Luo Yashan had a mentality of hating iron for being unable to become steel.
Emperor Paul's mentality was equally complicated. He didn't want to answer such a meaningless question at all, so he closed his eyes and changed the topic:
"So are you willing to be the Grand Duke of Xianbei?"
Mount Luo Ya has also basically returned to calm:
"Did Ming Dynasty appoint me to be the Duke of this country?"
Emperor Paul shook his head:
"Ming Dynasty did not appoint a person, but gave the system requirements, so you became the most suitable candidate."
Luo Yashan nodded slightly:
"Okay, I will become the Duke of Xianbei and fully support the Ming Dynasty. Lucia will continue to be the country of Taixi.
"This can be regarded as hedging his bets. No matter what the situation is in the future, the Romanov family will never be extinct."
Emperor Paul nodded slightly, and then looked at the children in Mount Luo Ya:
"After the agreement is officially signed, send your two children to study in the Ming Dynasty. In the future, you will take a Ming girl as your wife and inherit your title."
Luo Yashan nodded gently without comment:
"If their next generation mixes with Akito again, they should be completely indistinguishable from Akito..."
When the topic between father and son came to this point, Emperor Paul thought of a question:
"Peter and Sofia haven't had body odor yet? It won't happen again after they become adults, right?"
Luo Yashan nodded with certainty and said:
“I still don’t have body odor now, and I probably won’t have it in the future.
“Erchen specially visited many mixed-race families and conducted very detailed investigations.
“If a child has oily ears as a child, there is a high probability that he or she will develop body odor before adulthood.
“If a child has dry ears, there is a high probability that there will be no body odor.
“The hybrid offspring produced by the combination of Taixi people with body odor and Ming people without body odor will have a very small probability of not having body odor.
“If a child of mixed race but with body odor continues to be combined with a Ming person who has no body odor, there is a half chance that the offspring will not have body odor.
"If a child without body odor continues to be coupled with a child without body odor, the offspring will most likely not have body odor."
After hearing this, Paul was a little surprised and said:
"If that's the case, and we Lucians have been mixed with the Ming Dynasty, won't we lose body odor after three generations?"
Luo Yashan explained somewhat speechlessly:
"That's not the case. You have to look at it the other way around. Starting from the second generation of mixed-race descendants, as long as the child has body odor, even if he is combined with someone who does not have body odor, there will always be a half chance that the offspring will have body odor.
"Unless all the kids with body odor die, people with body odor will never go away."
Emperor Paul smiled dryly and shook his head and said:
“No, no, no, if the group of people with body odor and those without body odor is large enough and they live together.
“Then people with body odor have a harder time getting a chance to mate than people without body odor, so the number of offspring left behind will be reduced.
"So, the number of people with body odor will definitely gradually decrease overall..."
Luo Yashan nodded slightly:
"That's true, but in fact, anyone who has no body odor at all can be considered a Ming Dynasty person, which is equivalent to being the last generation."
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【Ming 1805】【】
Emperor Paul shook his head again:
"How can we be considered to have no descendants? Just like these children of yours, even if they marry people from the Ming Dynasty in future generations, your descendants will still be your descendants.
"For you personally, as long as all descendants of a certain generation are unable to have children, then it cannot be regarded as the last generation..."
This time it was Luo Yashan who laughed dryly:
"Yes, I personally am not alone, but if we expand the scope to the entire ethnic group, the ethnic group with body odor has disappeared."
Emperor Paul retorted again:
"No, they didn't disappear, they just completely integrated into the group that had no body odor.
"Since there is no extinct individual and the tribe has merged into a better group, what is there to regret?"
Luo Yashan was silent for several seconds, and then said in a solemn tone:
"Father...what you said seems to make sense...
“But in this process, there will be some people in each generation who have body odor and will not be able to leave their own descendants.
"This is what you just said, people with body odor have a harder time getting a chance to get married, and the probability of marriage is higher.
"On the contrary, those without body odor have a lower chance of becoming extinct and will have more offspring..."
Emperor Paul said calmly:
"This is a necessary price. Even if there is no such mixed blood, not every ordinary person can leave descendants."
Luo Yashan looked at his children. Regardless of whether they had body odor or not, they were all his children, and he didn't want them to die.
The scene was quiet for a while, and Emperor Paul spoke again:
"As the Grand Duke of Xianbei, you will be regarded as a minister of the Ming Dynasty from now on, so you should also go to the meeting site.
“The Ming Emperor’s grandson Prince Zhu Jingyuan, who is currently presiding over the negotiations, is the most favored and smartest of his father’s children.
“I have gained great prestige through the reforms of removing vassals and lifting the ban, and now I will gain great credit through negotiations.
"His father has been appointed as the Minister of Civil Affairs of the Ming Dynasty and is already the successor recognized by the Ming Emperor.
"Zhu Jingyuan also has a high probability of becoming the next generation successor approved by his father.
"Bring some gifts over, say hello, and establish friendship in advance."
Luo Yashan was obviously stunned for a moment. He obviously did not expect that his father would give him such a task.
Luo Yashan already knew about the situation of Zhu Jingyuan and his son, and had no objection to his father's judgment.
I just felt guilty and anxious and asked my father for his advice:
"This... the grandson of the emperor with this status, what gift can we give him so as not to appear rude?"
Emperor Paul thought for a while and said:
"This is indeed a problem. Even land and manor have no meaning to him, but this is the only thing he can give.
"Then, you discuss with your wife and Sofia and ask Sofia if she is willing to be a maid for him."
Luo Yashan's expression suddenly turned ugly.
If his daughter was asked to marry Zhu Jingyuan, of course he would support it with both hands. Even if it was just to be a concubine, he would not refuse.
However, the Ming Dynasty prohibited marriage to an outrageous degree. Royal women were absolutely not allowed to marry foreigners, and men were not allowed to marry foreigners as their wives.
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Among all foreign races, Korean maids and women can at most become concubines of royal men, and their offspring cannot inherit the royal title.
Other foreign women can only act as maids without status, and their children will not be included in the royal family, nor will they have any titles.
Luo Yashan shook his head with a straight face and said:
"I don't want to do this..."
Emperor Paul smiled and said:
"Don't be too busy refusing first. Ask Sovia if you are willing.
"Also, Sophia is my granddaughter after all. Although she is going to be a maid in name, she will not actually become an ordinary maid.
"I will give a manor and land by the Black Sea as a dowry to Zhu Jingyuan along with Sophia.
“Then his natural choice is to let Sophia manage the manor.
"After all, he cannot personally manage the manor in Lucia, nor can he live in and use it himself. In fact, he only has the right to benefit from it.
“It should be passed on to the children he and Sofia have in the future, and in the final analysis it will always be Lucia’s land.
"This kind of child is not included in the royal family of the Ming Dynasty and can only be treated as an illegitimate child. It is appropriate to accept an overseas manor."
Luo Yashan fully understood his father's thoughts, so he nodded gently and agreed, and went to discuss it with his wife and children.
Emperor Paul cheered up, summoned the main officials of the court, no longer allowed them to argue, directly acted arbitrarily, and chose to split Lucia.
The message was sent to Prince Nikolai, Wedemeyer and Kutuzov at the front on the same day.
Let them formally respond to Daming and start more in-depth negotiations.
