While Britain, France, Spain and Portugal were joining forces, representatives from several other countries were not idle either.
Among the representatives of all countries now, the most anxious one is Austria.
After the Ming Dynasty invaded the Mediterranean, Austria had to face the direct threat from the Ming Navy.
Austria's narrow outlet in the Adriatic Sea is in danger of being directly blocked by the Ming Dynasty's navy at any time.
Later, Osman and Lucia reconciled with the Ming Dynasty and signed a permanent peace treaty. The Ming Dynasty promised to support the naval construction of the two countries.
This made Austria feel an unprecedented crisis.
The Ming Dynasty can block the door from the outside, the Ottomans can press closely in the middle, Lucia can threaten from the rear, and there is also an old enemy Prussia to the north.
It's really an extremely sad environment.
Archduke Karl, the representative of the Austrian royal family, and the representative of the imperial court, Foreign Minister Johann Philipp Stadion, met every day to discuss countermeasures.
When the news came that Britain, France, Spain and Portugal had decided to cooperate, the two people came together again.
Stadion first explained the content of the message he received to Archduke Karl:
"Spain and Portugal have decided to sign a twenty-year peace treaty, and they will form a new alliance with Britain and France.
“Britain and France hope that we, Prussia, Italy, and even Lucia will join us and continue to fight against the Ming Dynasty.
"So now Austria has two options.
“The first is to reconcile with the Ming Dynasty at all costs and ask the Ming Dynasty to mediate our relations with Osman and Lucia to avoid being surrounded by the two countries.
"The second is to join the alliance of Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal, and rely on this new alliance to jointly fight against the Ming Dynasty and the enemies who are on the side of the Ming Dynasty."
Archduke Karl, who had a sad face, frowned and said:
"Reconciling with Ming? Since Ming has already reconciled with Lucia and Osman, why does it still want to reconcile with Austria?
“Wouldn’t it be better to support Ottoman and Lucia, plus Prussia, to carve up our Austria?
"As for this new alliance, it is basically impossible for the Ottomans to join, and the Lucians probably will not join either. It is weaker than the current anti-Ming alliance.
"This is actually a colonial war alliance, which was formed because the Ming Dynasty could not occupy their homeland.
"The threat we have to deal with comes from Lucia and the Ottomans on land, and there is little point in joining this alliance."
Stadion opened his mouth:
"You can check Daming's tone to see if he can continue to support us as promised before the negotiations began."
Archduke Karl nodded slightly.
Stadion looked at his deputy, Clemens Metternich, and motioned for him to contact him and ask when Shaoqing Shen Fu of the Ming Dynasty would be free.
As a result, the thirty-two-year-old diplomat Metternich expressed his views on the previous discussion:
"Your Highness, Minister, I think we have a third option."
Archduke Karl and Stadion looked at Metternich at the same time.
This young diplomat has always been quite thoughtful, so he can serve as Stadion's deputy.
Now that he heard the other party speak, he didn't stop him, but wanted to listen to his suggestions.
Metternich did not show off to his boss, but directly confessed his thoughts:
"We can refer to the colonial alliance of Britain, France, Spain and Portugal, contact the countries in Europe that are threatened by the Ottomans, Lucia, and the Ming Dynasty to form an alliance of countries in Europe."
When Archduke Karl heard this, he subconsciously asked:
"This kind of country only includes us, Prussia, and Italy. Do you think our three countries can form an alliance?"
The main ethnic group of the Kingdom of Prussia is German, and a quarter of the population of Austria, the suture monster empire, is German.
The two countries can be regarded as old enemies in the central part of the western continent.
Prussia's goal was to seize the German areas in Austria, incorporate them into Prussia's mainland, and establish a complete German Empire.
At the same time, the areas where other ethnic groups in Austria lived were turned into colonies of the new Greater German Empire.
Prussia believed that Austria could not integrate the rest of Austria because the proportion of Germans in Austria was too low.
Prussia itself is mostly German, with a larger population than other ethnic groups in Austria, and can completely suppress and integrate other ethnic groups in Austria.
Prussia's idea is almost public, and it is a plan well known to everyone in Prussia and Austria.
In order for Prussia to achieve this goal, it must directly destroy the Austrian royal family. The contradiction between the two countries is theoretically irreconcilable.
As for Sardinia, the northeastern territory borders Osli, and the two sides have a long history of territorial disputes.
Metternich knew that his Archduke Karl was not good at foreign affairs and was relatively direct in his speech, so he immediately explained to him:
“Your Highness, this is not a grand alliance, nor an alliance with fixed strategies, nor even a stable alliance.
"What we want to build should be a small alliance with a loose structure, changeable strategies, and flexible positions."
Archduke Karl frowned and asked:
"This kind of alliance? Is this an alliance? Can it work?"
Metternich nodded slightly and said:
"It can work, because we may have a common threat, Ming, Lucia, Osman.
“We also have a common goal, we all need to choose between the Ming Dynasty and the Anglo-French Spanish-Portuguese Alliance.
"Our alliance can be regarded as being born for choice. After we all make a choice, we can 'die'.
“But the choice itself, we don’t have to make in a hurry, and we don’t have to make it right away.
“We should maintain an inseparable position for a long time between the order led by the Ming Dynasty and the order led by the Anglo-French Spanish-Portuguese Alliance.
"To put it bluntly, this is the Ming Dynasty's strategy of 'playing both sides', but none of our three countries has enough confidence to play both sides.
"If our three countries stand together, we will have certain qualifications, so we must have a loose small alliance with flexible positions."
Archduke Karl was not stupid, otherwise he would not have become Austria's most famous general, and he gradually understood Metternich's strategy.
This is actually the group buying strategy of later generations. A loose and flexible small alliance is a temporary group, and retail investors form a group to increase their bargaining power.
Once everyone has finished their things, the temporary group will be disbanded.
Archduke Karl nodded slightly and said:
"So, we should first contact Prussia and Italy to form this loose and flexible alliance, and then ask about Ming's position."
Metternich smiled and nodded and said:
"So I should go to the Prussians and Italians now?"
Stadion also nodded slowly and said:
"Yes, let's contact them first, and we'll have an internal meeting first..."
Prussia was equally anxious now.
At the beginning of the peace talks, the state of Prussia's representatives was not easy.
But that is because they believe that the environment in their country is too bad and the state of suffering, great hatred and deep hatred has been prevalent for a long time.
When facing the Ming Dynasty, Prussia was actually the easiest, because it was completely impossible for the Ming Dynasty to occupy Prussia itself.
Between the Ming Dynasty and Prussia, there is the Atlantic Ocean and the British and French mainland on the sea, and there is a huge Lucia on the land.
There is little contact between the two parties, and it is difficult to form deep conflicts.
But after Lucia split and reconciled with Ming Dynasty, the pressure on Prussian representatives skyrocketed.
Lucia may go all out to the west in the future, and Prussia will become the Lucia before and have to hold Lucia in front.
What's more, Prussia also has an old enemy, Austria.
Now Austria proposed establishing a loose "choice" alliance, which Prussia accepted after considering it for two days.
Because this alliance is really loose enough and flexible enough that it can withdraw at any time.
As for the Sardinian Italians, they have the least pressure among the three countries, but the pressure still exists, and they are also hesitant about which side to join.
The ideal choice for the Italians is to reconcile with the Ming Dynasty first, obtain a permanent peace treaty, and then see whether to join the alliance between Britain, France, and Spain.
Austria's suggestions did not hinder his own choice and could also increase his weight, so he joined without much hesitation.
There are indeed conflicts between the three countries, but in the face of other common fatal threats, these conflicts can be put aside temporarily.
After the loose small alliance was established, Metternich became the representative of this small alliance and contacted the Ming Dynasty.
After Shen Fu figured out the other party's intention, he was a little surprised and helpless, and then went to report to Zhu Jingyuan.
After Zhu Jingyuan understood this, he said in surprise:
"That is to say, what the three countries want is that if we want to reconcile, we should reconcile with the three countries.
“At the same time we cannot support Lucia and the Ottomans in attacking their country.
"Finally, I hope Daming can provide them with technical support."
Shen Fu seemed a little dumbfounded and said:
"These Western Yi are too timid and want to support each other to increase their weight..."
Zhu Jingyuan smiled, shook his head and sighed:
"We were originally prepared to sign a permanent peace treaty with the three countries.
"They are all in the mainland of Thailand, and we promised not to occupy the mainland.
“Although our Ming Dynasty is also strong compared to the entire Taixi continent, maintaining the balance of power within the Taixi continent is also a natural choice.
“After we remove the threat from Lucia, we will not support them in dismembering Austria.
“Our future enemies are the four colonial powers of Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal that are joining together, and they are their colonies.
"So we can all promise them Austria, Prussia, and Italy to prevent them from going to the British side."
Zhu Jingyuan did not know the contents of the secret talks between Britain, France, Spain and Portugal.
But the fact that they are connected to each other and communicate intensively cannot be hidden.
After all, Western Cape is the imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty. Representatives from various countries in Europe and the West live in houses arranged by the Ming Dynasty.
Although their internal security personnel and servants are all brought by themselves, the external guards are all from the Ming Dynasty.
If certain countries want to communicate privately and alone, it is impossible to escape Ming's sight.
Shen Fu nodded lightly, and then reminded:
“Even if we are willing to reconcile with them, we should not give it unconditionally, and the other party should also pay an appropriate price.
"They have no colonies left to take out. We can demand compensation, open markets, patent protection and other conditions."
Zhu Jingyuan nodded lightly after hearing this:
"Well, that's good. Let the accountants do the calculations and evaluate how much is appropriate.
"It won't put too much burden on the other party, and at the same time, it won't underestimate these costs."
A few days later.
On June 25, the 34th year of Taiping in the Ming Dynasty, representatives from all parties once again gathered at the Wenhua Hall of Huangzhuang, Xiyang Cape.
After Zhu Jingyuan announced the start of the talks, he looked directly at the representatives of the United Kingdom and France and asked meaningfully:
"So the three of us still need to discuss the conditions for permanent peace?"
British Prime Minister Pitt and French Foreign Minister Talleyrand also understood what Zhu Jingyuan meant. After looking at each other, Pitt spoke:
"Let's talk about it, but before that, I actually want to know more about how the British and Ming Dynasty should solve the Tianzhu issue?"
Zhu Jingyuan was obviously taken aback when he heard this question. He seemed very surprised and sighed and asked:
"Doesn't Prime Minister Pete himself understand this issue?"
In fact, Peter fully understood that no matter what conditions Britain proposed in exchange, Ming would not accept it.
The Ming Dynasty will definitely not sign a permanent peace treaty with Britain, and will definitely wait until twenty years later to seize Southern Tianzhu by force again.
But Peter deliberately pretended to be stupid and asked, just to let Daming show his domineering and unreasonableness again before officially starting negotiations.
Strengthen the memories of representatives of other countries and enhance their understanding of the actual threats to the Ming Dynasty, so that they can win over allies again.
So Peter just shook his head and said:
"I really don't understand, so I ask Your Highness to speak clearly."
Zhu Jingyuan said with some loss of interest:
"Prime Minister Pete is a master at pretending to be fake.
"The complete withdrawal of British forces from the entire Little Western Sea, including southern Tianzhu, is the condition for the Ming Dynasty and Britain to truly enjoy peace forever!
“The king knew that Britain would definitely not accept it, so he didn’t raise it.
"Why does Prime Minister Pete insist on asking me to speak out now?"
The real permanent peace conditions between the Ming Dynasty and the British, or the real permanent peace conditions for all Thai people, are actually only one.
Come and try it quickly. 】
That is, all Taixi people will completely return to Taixi and Mozhou.
But it makes no sense to state this condition. This is a goal that may not be achieved in the next war.
So Zhu Jingyuan deliberately lowered the conditions verbally.
Anyway, even if it were to hand over Nan Tianzhu, the British would not be able to accept it.
Peter was a little stunned after hearing this, and soon understood Zhu Jingyuan's intention, and then he was really powerless, and the British really couldn't accept it.
It is really impossible for Britain to hand over Nan Tianzhu without any reason.
It's not that Nan Tianzhu cannot be traded, but Ming Dynasty must pay a sufficient price.
For example, Nanmozhou, for example, Xintianfu.
So Peter chuckled and shook his head:
"Your Highness is the master of pretending to be evil. In that case, let's talk about the conditions of the twenty-year peace terms. What are Ming's requirements?"
Zhu Jingyuan has already considered:
"I have three options here for the UK to choose from.
“First, cede land from the Florida area to the Honey River.
“Second, give up the development and claim for all the land on the west bank of the Mi River in Beiyinzhou.
"Third, the compensation is 20 million Ming Dynasty gold coins, which is one thousand tons of gold, which can be paid in ten years."
Pete frowned and quickly evaluated the differences between the three options in his mind.
Cession of Florida would be tantamount to opening the North Atlantic coastline to the Ming Dynasty, which is absolutely unacceptable.
It is also impossible to simply give up the development of the west bank of the Honey River.
The final compensation of 20 million Ming Dynasty gold notes was almost 140 million pounds converted into pounds.
Basically, it is the annual fiscal revenue of the UK now.
Da Ming obviously chose this number deliberately.
Compensation is possible, but it cannot be given directly according to Ming's requirements.
Zhu Jingyuan seemed to have read through Peter's thoughts. After a pause, he directly added:
"Since you are all ready to sign a twenty-year contract, I will not have any room for bargaining with you.
"Either you accept it or continue the war without wasting your breath."
After Zhu Jingyuan finished speaking, he looked directly at Talleyrand of France without waiting for Peter to respond:
“France’s permanent peace condition is to hand over the entire Yinzhou colony, which you obviously cannot accept.
“As for the conditions for twenty-year peace, we must either sell Xinfa Island (Newfoundland) or pay an indemnity of 10 million Ming Dynasty gold coins.
"Similarly, don't bargain with me..."
Ming Dynasty had no expectations for permanent peace between Britain and France.
The two countries' territories are powerful, and Ming is temporarily unable to occupy the other's territory, so it is inherently emboldened.
It is absolutely impossible for Britain to give up southern Tianzhu, and it is impossible for France to give up its northern Yinzhou colony. There is no need to discuss permanent peace.
But in turn, Daming became more confident towards them, and of course he would not give them a good look.
In the worst case, the war will continue from a distance, the colonies will continue to be at war, and the mainland will do whatever it wants.
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