Chapter 577 Talks of the Five Nations

Author: Beicheng 2,000

Chapter 577 Talks of the Five Nations

In February, the news that the Ming army arrived in Libens swept across the entire Western and Southern Europe like a spring breeze.

Because the trade between the Ming Dynasty and Spain was too deeply involved, many people suspected that the Ming Dynasty visited Europe this time was actually to help Spain win this religious war.

Among them, the ones who care about the purpose of the Ming Dynasty were the nobles and civilians of the Bourbon dynasty in France.

The nobles are worried because of interests, while the civilians are worried because of their own lives.

Anyway, when the news came, the whole of France was almost infuriated.

France is currently ruled by Louis XIII, the "just" and its population is as high as 20 million, accounting for nearly one-quarter of Europe's population.

It’s just a pity that unlike people’s perception that “the Little Ice Age is not serious and Europe has not been affected”, Europe can be said to be an era full of crisis at this time.

War, hunger and heavy taxes made French society at this time full of homeless people, beggars and abandoned children.

Europe is very lucky that they did not encounter a large-scale drought like the Ming Dynasty, but at the same time they are also very unfortunate.

The Ming Dynasty avoided war because of Zhu Youjian, but Europe was not.

Under the situation of food production cuts caused by the low temperature of the Little Ice River, Europe is still in the midst of a religious war between Protestantism and Catholicism.

The destruction and impact of the war is very vast. At present, there are nearly 60,000 beggars in the city of Paris, which has a population of nearly 200,000.

The war has led to the poverty of the population, which has put civilians in a long-term malnutrition environment.

The population born in the past twenty years is generally weak in constitution and is susceptible to various diseases and plagues.

It just so happens that the Paris environment in this era is very dirty, the streets are narrow and tortuous, with houses and streets crowded, and the streets are full of garbage and filth.

But even in this environment, Paris still has a population of nearly 200,000 and 25,000 houses.

However, in such an environment, too large a population is not a good thing.

Since France announced its participation in the war, a large number of marginalized people in society have lost their jobs, and farmers have been unable to farm due to war, and then become beggars.

The existence of this group of people has put great pressure on Paris's public security. The plague that occurs from time to time has repeatedly invaded Paris, taking away many lives.

The beggars curled up on the dirty streets, and the rats with oily fur ran around the streets, and were trampled to death by people or carriages from time to time, crushed to death, adding a foul smell.

It can be said that the whole of Paris is full of chaos.

However, the chaos of civilians often has nothing to do with the nobles...

"He has sixty thousand troops, more than ten thousand artillery and nearly five hundred warships of two to three thousand tons, and all equipped with flintlock rifles."

When a nobleman was standing in the corridor, he was "telling truthfully" about a person's back, the man with his back turned around and walked towards the depths of the corridor.

This is a gorgeous corridor that is 300 meters long. The corridor is very long, surrounded by trees, birds and dogs, and from time to time you can see foxes passing by outside the corridor.

The first prime minister of the French Bourbon dynasty, Duke of Richelieu...

The person he reported to was Louis XIII, the king of the Bourbon dynasty in France.

Richelieu had just returned to Paris from the south at this time, and the reason he did this was because he smelled the smell of "opportunity".

"Will the Ming Dynasty help Felipe?" Louis XIII frowned slightly, raised his chin high, as if showing his identity.

Louis XIII was the eldest son of Henry IV, the founding monarch of the Bourbon dynasty, but he had no talent.

In life, he is weak and lazy, his character is restrained, gloomy and unpleasant. His only hobby is hunting. Therefore, under the halo of his father's "wise ruler", he seems particularly foolish.

However, unlike the foolish king who was lazy, Louis XIII was actually a dedicated king.

As an adult, he knew that he was not good at managing specific affairs, so he valued Richelieu and did not hesitate to break with his mother, wife, and brother, and even sacrificed himself to allow himself to be "supported" by Richelieu.

In details, he seemed mediocre and lacked in opinion, but at the critical moment that determines the fate of the country, he always made the right choice and unswervingly implemented it.

It can be said that he is like a copy of Wanli, but the difference is that Wanli chose to exile Zhang Juzheng's family, who "shortly" himself, while Louis XIII chose to trust Richelieu.

The facts were positive, and Richelieu did not disappoint his trust.

With his efforts and Richelieu, France, which was originally full of holes, internal and external troubles, and was in trouble, has been in full swing for more than ten years, and has been constantly reforming politics, society and religion, and its national strength has flourished.

However, because of his strong personality and strong style, Richelieu seemed a little "despised by gods and ghosts".

"I think the Ming Dynasty was not here to help Felipe. Judging from the last time they visited Europe, their target might be America."

Richelieu's words came to the forefront, and the reason why he could observe the intentions of Xu Xiake and others was that they chose the place to log in.

Libens, the base camp of the Portuguese nobles...

Richelieu's diplomats who did not believe in the Ming Dynasty did not know that the rebellion in Portugal has been constantly erupting in recent years. After all, they have all established colonies in Africa, so they should know it very well.

Since they understand, every step they should be walking in a direction that is beneficial to them.

For the Ming Dynasty, the war with the current European continent was not beneficial to them.

On the contrary, if we use the war in Europe to seek a new continent, then everything will make sense.

Spain had the most colonies and city-states on the New World, and Spain rejected the Ming Dynasty's suggestion to purchase a New World colony last time.

Since I can't buy it, the Ming Dynasty can only use other means.

"America..." Louis XIII murmured softly, and Richelieu nodded: "That's right, America!"

Although Richelieu was a powerful minister, he was not the kind of powerful minister who usurped the throne. Everything he did was for the national interest of France. Without the firm support of the king, people like Richelieu had long been disgraced in the complex court struggle.

Although he made France powerful, he also gained a higher reputation than King Louis XIII.

If Louis XIII, who was standing in front of him, had he not had enough broad spirit and mind, he might have died on the battlefield or in prison.

Therefore, he respected Louis XIII very much and said unhappily:

"The reason why Felipe and the others can stand stalemate with us for so long is mainly because the Ming Dynasty's goods stabilized the prices within Spain, and the saltpeter imported by the Ming Dynasty gave the Spanish army several times our firepower."

"Now that the Ming Dynasty wants to get a new world, I think we can use this to destroy the trade relations between the Ming Dynasty and Spain."

"Destruction? How to destroy?" Louis XIII had a bad premonition in his heart, and Richelieu also lowered his head:

"We may be able to give up the colonies of the New World."

"Well..." When Louis XIII heard Richelieu's words, he nodded calmly, which was enough to reflect his energy. If Felipe IV, Richelieu would have been dragged out.

Richelieu also knew that it was not good to give up the colony, but he thought it was worth it, so he explained:

"We are not at a disadvantage. Now we have less than 900 immigrants in the New World, and the annual tax revenue is only thirty gold Louis. It is easy to pick them up, and five ships are enough."

"Compared with us, Felipe transports more than four million silver pesos and more than two hundred thousand gold pesos through the New World every year. He will definitely be reluctant to give up his overseas colonies."

"As long as the countries on the New World withdraw one after another, when only Spain is left above, the conflict between Ming and Spain will be amplified."

"As long as we write to the three countries of the Netherlands, England and Sweden, I believe they will give up the New World colonies one after another."

As the greatest, most strategic, and most ruthless politician in the history of the French Kingdom, Richelieu knew very well that war was a continuation of politics. If he could no longer win politically, even if the war killed everyone, there would not be a winner in the end.

"The three countries of England and the Netherlands and Sweden have only a few thousand taxes and populations in the New World. I believe that if they know that they can defeat the Catholic Union after withdrawal, they will be extremely happy."

"What if they don't?" Louis XIII asked Richelieu, but Richelieu shook his head and said:

"They won't be unwilling to do so, even the Netherlands, who earns the most profits from the New World."

"The Netherlands and the Ming army are the most in battle, so they should be very clear about the strength of the Ming Dynasty."

"The Ming Dynasty had the strength to expedition 50,000 or 60,000 people. These people were equipped with flintlock guns. If they attacked the Netherlands from sea or land, they would not last a year in the case of the Netherlands."

Richelieu is already very optimistic about the Netherlands. After all, the population of the Netherlands is only about 1.2 million, and the army is only more than 50,000, of which 20,000 are the navy.

The Dutch are never powerful, but the Navy.

But the problem is that the Netherlands' finances mainly rely on overseas imports.

The Netherlands once occupied the Southeast Asian region, and its global commercial hegemony has been firmly established around the world.

The East India Company under its leadership already has more than 15,000 branches, and its trade volume accounts for half of the world's total trade volume.

More than 10,000 armed merchant ships flying the tricolor flag of the Netherlands are cruising on the five oceans of the world.

At that time, there were 20,000 ships in Europe, and there were more than 15,000 ships in the Netherlands, which was more than the total number of ships in Spain, Britain, France and other countries.

However, when the Ming Dynasty emerged and recaptured Taiwan and Southeast Asia, the Netherlands' fiscal revenue was almost cut in half.

Later, the Ming Dynasty marched into India and the Netherlands was almost defeated.

With the narrow territory and sparse population of the Netherlands, it was not a miracle that it could be independent from the arrogant Spanish Empire and once gained the dominance of the European continent.

One of the direct reasons for creating this miracle is that the Netherlands reformed its own government debt system's differences in efficiency and ability to finance.

The performance of the Dutch government debt system is far better than that of Spain, and its strong fundraising capabilities provide it with a key military advantage in defeating Spain.

During the Eighty-year War of Independence with Spain, the most important supplementary source of fiscal revenue in the Netherlands was public debt with annuities and short-term bonds as the main forms.

In 1568, the Netherlands' war budget was 2.9 million rupiah (about 820,000 taels).

But by 1621, the first year of the Apocalypse, its war military expenditure had reached 22 million ruts (6.28 million taels).

There are seven provinces in the Netherlands, which are in independence, of which 70% of the total funding is provided by the Netherlands and Zeland provinces, while the Netherlands province accounts for 58%.

Even though the Ming army later successively captured the Southeast Asian, India, East and South Levia, the war budget for the Netherlands was still as high as 14 million rupiahs (4 million taels).
To be continued...