The news that the Ming Dynasty, Lucia, Prussia, and France had signed a cooperation agreement caused a greater reaction in the Austrian royal family and court than in the United Kingdom.
Although the British feel great pressure and the possibility of being completely isolated, this is still a potential threat and there is no direct confirmation that they will be attacked.
As for the Austrians, when they heard about the signing of the contract between the four parties led by Daming, they felt a direct and fatal threat.
After receiving the news, Austrian Emperor Franz II immediately summoned his new Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Metternich, as well as his brother Archduke Karl, the Austrian military commander.
After Franz II explained the news to the two of them, Metternich said without any hesitation:
"Your Majesty, we in Austria must join this cooperation agreement, otherwise we will become the most passive country on the European continent."
Archduke Karl gave an explanation at the military level:
"If Austria does not join this cooperation, Prussia will immediately begin preparations for war against Austria.
"Prussia will not hesitate; war may break out at any time.
“They had a war plan against us, but it was delayed by the world war that lasted for many years, the post-war international alliance relations, and the post-war technological revolution.
"The key is that there is a high probability that Ming Dynasty and France, which signed a contract with Prussia, will not intervene. Lucia may even form an alliance with Prussia and jointly send troops to participate in the dismemberment of Austria."
Franz II's expression was also very ugly:
"I understand, but does Your Excellency Metternich have any specific ideas on how to participate in this cooperation?"
Metternich briefly flipped through the invitation document sent by the Ming Dynasty and carefully looked at the main content of the confirmed cooperation agreement:
“I think we can try to cooperate with the Ottomans and Italy and ask for another trade route.
“Starting from the southern part of the Ming Dynasty, it connects the southern part of the Ming Dynasty, Tianzhu region, and the Principality of Persia in sequence, enters the Ottoman Empire, passes through the entire Ottoman territory to Austria, and reaches Italy from the southern part of Austria, all the way to France and Spain.
“In this way, setting aside Lucia and Prussia and establishing another route will strengthen our position in cooperation.
“I think that with Ming’s status and needs, he would not want to put all his eggs in Lucia’s basket.
“The Ming Dynasty chose two routes on its own local trade routes.
“It’s just that… it’s probably because the construction of the southern route is too difficult, and it’s also too close to the ocean, so the efficiency is not high.
“But for us and the Ottomans, the political and diplomatic significance of such a route outweighed the economic benefits.
“We should work hard to promote the selection and construction of this route.
“The next best thing is to not go through the southern part of the Ming Dynasty, but to extend southward from the existing route of the Kazakh Principality in the Ming Dynasty.
“Through the Principality of Persia, the Kingdom of Great Food, the Ottomans, and arrive in Austria.
“Another option to circumvent these options is to propose the establishment of a Royal Trading Company of the Little West-Mediterranean.
“The royal families of the Ming Dynasty, the Ottomans, Austria, Italy, France, and Spain established a joint venture to operate maritime trade from the Little West to the Mediterranean.
“This is a trade route with great potential and is now the busiest trade route in the world.
“The West Sea Canal of the Ming Dynasty has allowed direct passage of cargo ships with more than 100,000 tons.
"The corresponding free trade zones can all choose seaports instead of inland cities."
Franz II nodded in agreement after hearing this:
"Okay, let's do this. It's best to grasp it with both hands and start from both sides at the same time.
“Inland railway lines and maritime trading companies have to be built.
"Metternich should contact the Ottomans and Italians as soon as possible, as well as the French and Spanish.
"Then prepare well and prepare to leave for Daming as soon as possible."
Other countries in the western continent, countries that have received notices and invitations from the Ming Dynasty, have more or less concerns similar to those of the British and Austrians.
The Ottomans and the Austrians had very similar ideas, that is, they hoped to abandon the Lucians in the north and establish a cooperative system in the south and sea alone.
Moreover, Osman is directly adjacent to the Ming Dynasty, or the most special food country, Osman has no need or want to follow Lucia's route.
Although the relationship between the Ottomans and the Austrians is definitely not good, they had a common language when facing Lucia. Now I feel that the Austrians' suggestions are very reasonable.
Therefore, the Ottomans directly accepted Ming's invitation and began to communicate with Austria to prepare subsequent cooperation proposals.
People in the Netherlands were shocked to hear that Prussia and the French had signed a cooperation agreement.
I was immediately worried about whether they would cooperate and directly divide the existing Netherlands from the northeast and southwest.
The Netherlands at this time included what would later become Belgium.
The area has its own Dutch language, but many people also speak French and German directly.
Even the difference between Dutch itself and Low German is not big, perhaps not as big as the difference between the southern dialect of the Ming Dynasty and Mandarin.
The text on both sides can also be transcribed according to certain rules, and then it can be basically understood.
According to the standards of the Ming Dynasty, these places can have the opportunity to be directly annexed to the mainland.
At this time, the Dutch were worried about this all the time.
Therefore, after receiving the invitation from Ming Dynasty, it was easier than what Britain and Austria agreed to.
The Italians heard that the Prussians and the French had joined, and had also received cooperation suggestions and invitations from the Austrians, so there was no room for consideration, otherwise they would be completely blocked from land by the three countries in the future.
The most marginalized Spaniards and Portuguese were a little hesitant, but they did not hesitate for too long.
It’s just because it’s too fringe, so I don’t want it to become even more fringe in the future.
Finally, over the next month or so, representatives from various countries in Europe and the West arrived in Xianbei City.
All the representatives arrived. At the banquet before the meeting officially started, Lin Zexu, the representative of the Ming Dynasty, made a statement:
“This time, most of the powerful countries in the world gathered together to discuss cooperation plans and programs on economy, transportation, and trade. This is an unprecedented feat.
"Our Prince of Dashi, after you all formally decided to participate in the agreement, once again proposed an idea:
“Since all participating countries are members of the League of Nations, we can establish an international free trade organization within the League of Nations institutions.
“After all countries sign an agreement to join the organization, they will discuss and coordinate possible issues directly under the League of Nations meeting.
"If you all have no objections, then this meeting can also be called the Conference of the Parties to the International Trade Organization."
It has elevated the economic cooperation of a few countries to the "world" level.
However, this proposal is indeed more realistic.
For the countries directly involved, this is simply a name change and does not affect the actual content of the subsequent treaty.
And this was proposed by Prince Dashi, so the representatives present expressed their approval.
After the banquet, representatives from each country took a day off.
Two days later, negotiations for the conclusion of the International Trade Organization officially began.
As the initiator and leader of the alliance, Lin Zexu, the representative of Ming Dynasty, once again made a simple opening speech.
After the normal discussion began, Austrian Prime Minister Metternich first asked to speak.
The urgency of the Austrians was seen by most countries and was directly understood by most countries.
Among the major countries in Europe and the West, Austria may be under the greatest pressure.
After a signal from Lin Zexu, who was the host, Metternich immediately explained his suggestions.
Proposals for the establishment of a maritime trading company, and a southern Continental Bridge Railway.
The Ottomans, Italy, and Spain already had communication, so they immediately stood up to express their support.
Although Austria's proposal was a bit unexpected, the diplomats and politicians present fully understood the intentions and ideas of the four Austrian countries after a little consideration and analysis.
That is to build another branch of relations outside of Lucia and Prussia within the system dominated by the Ming Dynasty.
While Ming Dynasty and representatives from other countries were analyzing and considering, the new British Foreign Secretary Robert Banks Jenkinson suddenly spoke to everyone’s surprise:
“We in the UK support the Austrian proposal and support the establishment of a joint maritime trading company.
“At the same time, the UK can open the Port of Bombay in South India, the Port of New York in New England in Southwest Mexico, the Port of Charleston in the United States, and the Port of Southampton in the UK.
“The railways and highways in Southwest Mozhou can be connected with the railways from Northern Tianzhu of the Ming Dynasty to the mainland, Persia, Dashi, and the Ottoman Empire.
"At the same time, the British hope that Ming Dynasty can open a free trade port in the Xintianfu area."
The British proposal was brought out, which directly triggered a burst of unsuppressed low-level discussions at the scene.
Austria, the Ottomans, Italy, and Spain just wanted to establish a maritime trade route in the south of the Old World.
The British went directly to the New World.
Not to mention whether there are still people in Mumbai, the opening up of Southwest Mexico, the United States, and the United Kingdom is real.
The scene was noisy for a while, and politicians gradually understood the British intentions.
If we cooperate on the traditional Old Continent, the British, whose native land is an island country, will be a border country anyway.
Maybe not even as good as Spain and Italy.
If the scope of cooperation extends to the whole world, then the British will have a relatively fair status and value.
At the same time, the West China Sea Canal has continued to expand for nine years and now supports direct navigation of all cargo ships in the world.
Even the second all-complex line is about to be completed.
The navigation efficiency will be higher in the future, possibly even higher than that of the Strait of Malacca.
The water in the Strait of Malacca is not particularly deep, with the water depth in many places ranging from 20 to 30 meters.
Since 2010, the water depth of the Suez Canal has reached 24 meters.
Except that the Malacca Seafood is relatively wider, its navigation capacity for large ships is similar to that of the Suez Canal.
The world's largest cargo ship of more than 100,000 tons is still being designed and prepared.
In other words, all merchant ships traveling from Daming to Western Europe can use Daming's West Sea Canal.
All without taking a detour to Cape West.
This of course affects Ming Dynasty's interests in the Western Cape, but the benefits of the Western Sea Canal are higher.
The Western Cape is a natural waterway. Although the area is in the westerly zone and it is difficult to see calm weather, all the people who come here are big ships. The key is that it is free.
The income that the Ming Dynasty Imperial Mansion in the Western Cape can obtain is pure commercial profits. Even from ship supply transactions, there are also ports in New England in Southwestern England that compete with it.
But you have to pay a fee to use the West China Sea Canal, and there are no competitors at all, an absolute monopoly.
As for the merchant ships going from Xiaoxiyang to Xintianfu, whether there is a West China Sea Canal or not, they have to go through the West Sea Cape, which does not affect them at all.
Therefore, these Ming Dynasties have always relaxed the efforts to widen and deepen the West Sea Canal.
Correspondingly, the British in New England in Southwest Mexico were also directly affected by the expansion of the canal.
The British wanted to raise their own colony in Southwestern Mexico.
This has been the focus of development and construction in the UK in recent years, and young adults from all over South Tianzhu have been drawn here.
A New England composed mainly of Tianzhu people was built here...
At the same time, he hoped that Ming Dynasty would open up trade in Xintianfu.
In summary, according to the British proposal, they are actually only planning to open one city in their own country.
In this era, the colonies were basically exclusive product dumping grounds for the Thai people.
The local market is a more advanced private market.
The intensity of opening up free trade in the colonies is of course lower than opening up the mainland, but it can also be regarded as a large degree of openness.
Southampton on the British mainland, plus New York in Southwest Mexico and Charleston in the United States are two important ports in overseas colonies. The overall degree of openness can be approximated by the opening of two domestic ports.
So it can't be considered completely insincere.
It's just that the British followed the rhythm of Austria and Spain and further stretched the trade cooperation on land to the ocean.
The scene was noisy for a while. Representatives from each country evaluated the British suggestions and considered their own interests, gains and losses from the same perspective.
Lin Zexu thought about it for a while and then said directly:
“As for cooperation outside the mainland, especially the opening up of Xintianfu, I have not received authorization from the Ming court.
“So I need to communicate with the rear on relevant issues before I can make corresponding responses and requests.
“If representatives from other countries have similar ideas, they can first discuss them within their respective countries and then discuss it at the next meeting.
“If there are other types of suggestions and ideas, they can be brought forward now to continue the discussion.
"Otherwise, today's meeting will end here."
After Lin Zexu finished speaking, the Spaniards said that they also needed to re-communicate with the royal family on the issue of opening ports.
Portugal and other major maritime countries are not far behind.
The purpose is obvious, which is to prepare to consider whether to include colonial ports in the scope of opening up.
It is certainly impossible to simply increase the number of open ports.
But we must definitely consider whether to use overseas colonial ports to replace and offset the local open cities.
Among the countries participating in the conference now, only the Ming Dynasty, Britain and France have colonies in Yinzhou.
But all countries have colonies in Mozhou, and they are all connected together, so they all need to consider this aspect.
Ming Dynasty also needs internal communication, and must consider whether to allow Britain to use overseas ports to make up the number, and whether to open Xintianfu.
Therefore, Lin Zexu directly announced the suspension of the meeting and asked all parties to return to their residences to discuss and communicate.
Austria and the British did not communicate in advance, but they came up with a biased issue at the beginning of the meeting.
(End of chapter)
