The next day, Prince Charles found Talleyrand and the Duke of Richelieu to discuss and prepare his simple plan.
On the third day, Prince Charles took the lead and went to London first.
Representatives from other countries also arrived in London on the same day in a better time.
Only the representative of the Ming Dynasty deliberately stayed in Paris for one more day and met with the Ming Dynasty's craftsmen and businessmen in France.
It wasn't until the fourth day, the day of Peter's funeral, that I took a plane to London.
Zhu Jingyuan also has "friends" in London, but female friends are more personal according to the Ming Dynasty tradition.
After Charlotte specifically consulted Master Mingxue, she did not go to the dock to greet him in person, but arranged for her own guard captain to go there.
The British Crown Prince Regent, the Prince of Wales, and British Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Grenville, as representatives of the court and royal family, went to the airport to greet him.
The Prince of Wales had not planned to go in person, and British officials also felt that there was no need for him to go.
The main reason is that the Prince of Wales and Zhu Jingyuan do not have a special relationship, and it may take a generation to insist on having any relationship at all.
The person who came this time was not Zhu Jingyuan himself, but a staff member who currently only had a fourth-grade salary.
However, the French Crown Prince and Regent went to greet him in person. The British were worried that the Ming people felt that the British did not pay enough attention if they did not go.
When George III's madness went out of control, Pitt died, and the British political arena was in disarray, in order to prevent any uncontrollable situation from happening, the Prince of Wales also went to greet him.
Anyway, it's not too hard to run around, and the British don't find this kind of thing embarrassing.
Niu Jian and the Ming Dynasty's diplomats, accompanied by the Prince of Wales and Grenville, went directly to Peter's funeral event after coming out of the airport.
The representatives sent by various countries to attend the funeral were basically prime ministers, chief ministers, and cabinet ministers corresponding to Peter's status.
Only the crown prince of France came, and the Ming Dynasty brought Niu Jian, the prince's staff, and two senior fourth-rank ceremony officials from Honglu Temple.
There isn't much that needs to be done about the funeral itself, especially for these most senior representatives.
The busy ones are mainly ordinary servants and clerks.
Representatives like Niu Jian and Charles only need to go out and show up after receiving notification at a specific time.
Most of the time was spent resting and chatting.
Diplomatic activities began at this time.
Representatives of Prussia, Austria, Italy, and the Ottomans first came to Niu Jian anxiously.
They want to confirm with Ming Dynasty about the export of warship technology.
Representatives from Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and other countries that had not cooperated with each other also took advantage of the opportunity to come over to say hello and make inquiries.
The busiest people in this informal free meeting were not the nominal hosts, the Prince of Wales and Grenville.
It is Niu Jian who has the lowest status in name.
Representatives from various countries were looking for opportunities one after another to get closer to Niu Jian to inquire about the situation.
Niu Jian repeated the same words he told the Lucians to representatives from Prussia, Austria, Italy, Ottoman and other countries.
Warship equipment components and finished warships can be sold directly. For complete technology transfer, important basic industries must be opened up.
Explain that the goal of this is to continue to deepen the binding and eliminate possible conflicts between them.
However, the focus is slightly different between different countries.
For Prussia, I mainly focus on the triple turret.
For Austria and Italy, they are proposing a complete triple turret and a 360mm artillery.
For the Ottomans, it was mainly about selling complete battleships.
For countries such as Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands that have not cooperated before, plans similar to the original warship technical support for Prussia, Austria, Lucia and other countries were proposed.
If they are interested, they can open up automobile, aircraft, and shipbuilding-related industries in exchange for some of Ming Dynasty's new warships, aircraft, and automobile-related technologies.
We have never cooperated before, so even if we start to cooperate now, it can only be from a shallow level to a deeper level.
After Niu Jian gave the predetermined conditions, he asked them to discuss and make their own decisions.
Niu Jian also directly disclosed the news that the Ming Dynasty's 60,000-ton warship had started construction.
This is a straightforward deterrent, and it is also an endorsement condition for the export of 40,000-ton warship-related technology.
After Pitt's funeral, the British held a banquet.
Representatives from various countries came to Britain nominally to pay their respects to Pitt.
Of course, this kind of funeral is not suitable for an entertainment banquet, but it is still okay to have a banquet according to the folk customs of the Ming Dynasty.
There will be no singing and dancing, and all participants will need to wear serious clothes.
At this afternoon British banquet, the Prince of Wales and Grenville sat at the table with Niu Jian and Charles, and discussed British shipbuilding technology issues.
The relationship between Britain and the Ming Dynasty was different from that of Prussia and other countries, France and Spain.
Due to the special relationship between Charlotte and Zhu Jingyuan, Britain and Ming Dynasty had a bridge for in-depth exchanges and cooperation.
But Britain's long-term goal has been to destroy the Ming Empire.
The Anti-Ming Alliance was organized by the British.
Moreover, the current degree of binding between the British and the Ming Dynasty is also not as deep as that of France.
Therefore, Ming Dynasty's warship technology cannot be directly opened to the British like France.
But compared to Prussia and other countries, the discussion can be more in-depth.
"The Ming Dynasty can transfer to Britain the relevant technology for a 40,000-ton battleship with a speed of more than 27 knots, the use of triple-mounted 360 mm or more naval guns.
“But the relevant technology can only be transferred to companies jointly owned by His Royal Highnesses Prince Dashi and Princess Charlotte, and the shipyards owned by their two Royal Highnesses will be responsible for the construction.
"Moreover, the UK needs to open up related industries that the United States has opened to the companies of the two Highnesses. The specific operating model can refer to the French joint venture.
“Alternatively, we can directly purchase finished warships or warship-related parts at normal prices and build them ourselves, so there is no need to make any form of adjustments to the current cooperation.
"Of course, the UK can also transfer only part of the technology you need most and purchase the rest of the finished product."
The Prince of Wales listened to these requests and felt that there was nothing wrong with him.
He already knew 99% of the relationship between his daughter and Zhu Jingyuan.
The company jointly held by his daughter and Zhu Jingyuan cannot be regarded as a complete Ming company or a British company, but it can certainly be regarded as a company of his own family and the married family.
At the same time, Britain is also in a very melancholy and entangled state when it comes to warship design.
The cost of new warships is too high, mainly due to the large number of new technologies, which brings extremely high R&D and testing costs.
Now the size of the British fleet has been greatly reduced, and the ability to amortize costs based on scale has been greatly reduced.
In addition, the World War and the Yinzhou War ended just over two years ago, and Britain has not fully recovered.
Nowadays, when building ships, we can only place orders for one or two ships. We cannot order several ships as before.
If Daming can directly provide technology, at least directly provide higher-end finished products, it can directly save a lot of research and development costs.
The key is that, according to the experience of the Ming Dynasty, the consortia and companies owned by the royal family can enhance the power of the royal family.
If the company jointly owned by Charlotte and Zhu Jingyuan takes control of the British economy, there is a chance that the power of the British royal family can be restored to the level before the Glorious Revolution.
So the Prince of Wales nodded subconsciously:
"I don't think there's anything wrong with that..."
Grenville, meanwhile, had a completely different mindset.
Of course Grenville also knows the current state of Britain, and also understands the problems of the navy and shipbuilding.
However, the entry of Ming Dynasty technology and capital will inevitably harm the interests of British local capital.
In particular, the expansion of Prince Dashi and Princess Charlotte's companies is equivalent to the British royal family directly intervening in the market.
This is of course a very bad thing.
Even if Grenville is just a living person, he cannot be fooled about this kind of problem.
So Grenville looked at the Prince of Wales:
"Your Highness, the impact of this kind of thing is too great. I suggest you go back and discuss it carefully before making a decision."
The Prince of Wales immediately hesitated:
"Yeah?"
Niu Jian on the opposite side also said:
"Yes, this is a very important matter. It would be better for the regent to discuss it with your cabinet ministers before making a decision."
Zhu Jingyuan knew the general situation of the Prince of Wales and knew that if he couldn't make a decision right away, he probably wouldn't be able to make a decision.
Therefore, if you want to get the British to fully agree to some conditions, the best way is to force the Prince of Wales to make a decision on the spot.
However, the situation in Britain is very different from that in France.
The French court was still barely a traditional bureaucracy controlled by the king.
The British government is essentially a court composed of representatives of capital.
If the Prince of Wales makes a decision that is completely contrary to the interests of British capital, it is impossible to implement this decision.
Even if the British royal family has a relationship with Zhu Jingyuan, it won't work.
The contradiction is too great, and it cannot be suppressed by simply raising the banner.
The power of the British royal family is much weaker than that of France.
The Prince of Wales himself is not decisive, and his ability is much worse than that of Charles, who was educated by Zhu Jingyuan.
Even if Zhu Jingyuan wanted to teach the Prince of Wales how to centralize power, he would probably not be able to do it, and he might even get himself involved.
Therefore, matters in the UK can only be compromised by compromise.
Let the British royal family slowly grow in power instead of directly confronting British capital.
Officials of the British court should discuss how to compromise in the end and come up with a relatively reasonable plan.
When the Prince of Wales heard what Niu Jian said, he nodded without any hesitation:
"Thank you, Mr. Niu, for the reminder. Let's go back and discuss it."
Charles was a little surprised by Niu Jian's attitude. Charles also understood the character of the Prince of Wales.
But I figured it out quickly.
The character of the Prince of Wales makes it useless even if he makes a decision now;
It doesn't have to be a direct conflict of interest. If you are fooled by British officials for a while, you will regret it again.
Anyway, we haven't signed a formal contract yet, so regretting it now will have no impact at all.
So instead of asking the Prince of Wales to nod now, it is better for them to go back to internal discussions and come up with a formal decision.
Seeing that the discussion here should be over, Charles looked at Niu Jian questioningly.
Niu Jian smiled and nodded:
"Your Highness, just do what you want. Daming will not participate or interfere..."
Charles smiled and nodded in response, then stood up directly and began to express his thoughts to the representatives present.
Of course, what it says at the beginning is high-sounding, for the sake of world peace and development, to avoid unnecessary conflicts and curb the arms race.
Call on all countries in Thailand and Spain to sign an agreement to disclose their shipbuilding plans to each other and jointly supervise and limit the size of their naval fleets.
The actual suggestions beneath the public slogans are the real purpose.
As soon as Charles's idea was stated, representatives from several countries felt their eyes light up, especially the British.
Britain and France were dragged down by the World War and the Yinzhou War, and other countries were also dragged down by the World War.
Moreover, it was different from the naval shipbuilding competition during Zhu Jingyuan's previous life after World War I and before World War II.
This time it is not that the United States is about to surpass the United Kingdom, nor is it a replacement of old and new hegemons. Other countries are at a completely different level.
Now the strength of the major countries in Europe and the West is very balanced...
The current economic strength gap between the six countries of Britain, France, Spain, Lucia, Prussia, and Austria is very small.
And the gap between them and Portugal, Italy, and the Ottomans is not as big as it was in history.
Therefore, although the current shipbuilding competition in the western continent is not too intense, it is extremely chaotic.
Almost all major countries are involved.
They had just emerged from the world war and had not yet paid off the war reparations. They couldn't bear this kind of shipbuilding competition.
Portugal, Italy, and Austria, in particular, are not interested in this kind of shipbuilding competition.
Signing an agreement, jointly witnessing it, and jointly controlling the level of the arms race is actually in the interest of most European and Western countries.
It would be great if Daming could support and witness.
It would be great if Ming Dynasty could also participate in this kind of agreement and control the shipbuilding plan together.
Ming Dynasty has begun mass production of 60,000-ton warships, and it really can't keep up.
I am afraid that instead of supporting it, Ming Dynasty will oppose and interfere.
So these countries, while their eyes lit up, basically looked in Niu Jian's direction subconsciously.
Niu Jian drank the wine and raised his voice to express Ming's attitude:
“The Ming Dynasty has its own shipbuilding plan and will build its own navy according to its own needs without any external interference.
"So this is your own business. Daming will not participate or interfere. You can just decide for yourself."
Niu Jian's statement on behalf of the Ming Dynasty surprised almost all the Thai people except Charles.
However, after thinking about it for a while, they all felt that this was actually reasonable.
Ming's current shipbuilding plan does not put much pressure on Ming's economy.
Ming Dynasty had no need to jointly limit armaments with other countries.
More importantly, Ming Dynasty's status is transcendent, and it is normal not to participate in the Thai-Western people's house-like agreement.
The Ming Dynasty did not participate, which made the countries in Europe and the West a little disappointed.
But Daming made it clear that he would not interfere, which made them all relieved.
Prince Charles smiled and nodded at Niu Jian again, then looked at the representatives from other countries and said loudly:
"I suggest that after Prime Minister Pete's funeral, we start preliminary negotiations on the relevant agreement..."
What Ciel said was only preliminary intention, and he didn't say it too directly and definitely.
Because Charles knows that there must be some countries that, although they may feel the same hardship now, are not opposed to continuing to expand their fleets.
The key to whether this agreement can be achieved is actually the will of this country, so the threshold must be lowered to bring them together to negotiate.
