Daming 1805

Chapter 103 Rome is probably gone

"Which Rome are you talking about?"

Faced with this question from the representatives of the royal families of the Thai and Western countries, Zhu Jingyuan actually had... it should be said that he was not very clear.

Zhu Jingyuan knows that there are many things under the name of Rome, and it is definitely a mess in Europe in this era.

It is precisely because the real Rome itself is gone that it has become a mess.

This is also the reason why Zhu Jingyuan moved out the name of Rome.

However, Zhu Jingyuan is not very clear about how many Romes there are, how many Roman emperors there are, and what is the relationship between them.

I am not a professional Western history researcher, and I haven't played a few Europa Universalis in my previous life.

Of course, Europa Universalis is not real in the first place. As far as the real Holy Roman Empire is concerned, it is much more broken than the Shenluo in the game.

So now Zhu Jingyuan is half-truth and half-false, and asked the Taixi court and royal family representatives at the scene:
"With all due respect, this question is very strange. Are there many more in Rome? So which ones are there specifically?"

Zhu Jingyuan's question immediately ignited a discussion, or a dispute.

Lucia's prince Nicholas was the first to steal the show:
"Our Tsar Ivan III of Lucia once married Sophia, the last princess of Eastern Rome.

"So we are Rome now, the successor of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Third Roman Empire."

Then the younger brother of the Emperor of Austria, Duke Teschen, Karl Ludwig, also known as Archduke Karl.

Although Archduke Karl felt that Daming had placed the position of Rome at this time, it was likely that there was a pit waiting for the Europeans.

But considering that this question was raised by Zhu Jingyuan, a young man, the pitfalls in it should not be too big.

The point is, in the face of this declaration issue, as a representative of the royal family, it is impossible for me to shrink back, so I will directly declare now:

"The Habsburg dynasty of our Austrian Empire still retains the claim of the Holy Roman Emperor, so our Austria is also the Holy Roman Empire, which is the orthodox legal successor of the Western Roman Empire."

Zhu Jingyuan nodded slightly when he heard this:
"So, this Rome is divided, Lucia is the successor of Eastern Rome, and Austria is the successor of Western Rome?"

After Zhu Jingyuan said these words, the Prussians over there couldn't help it.

In today's Prussia, German-Prussian nationalism is rapidly gathering.

Now they actually care more about the name of Germany.

So now that others simply talk about Rome, the Prussians may be able to bear it.

If people from other countries locked up the Holy Roman Empire, the Prussians might not particularly care.

But Austria is different.

Austria is an obstacle to Prussia's complete unification of the German region, and is the only competitor to actually unify the former Shenra region.

In the current perception of the royal families of Pu and Austria, the relationship between the two countries is like the Southern and Northern Dynasties in ancient China.

In addition, as a European royal family, it is impossible to easily let go of the claims they once had.

Especially when facing Austria, it is difficult for the Prussian royal family to give in easily when the contradictions between the two sides are already obvious.

The younger brother of the Emperor of Prussia, 24-year-old Frederick Heinrich Karl, followed the Archduke Karl of Austria and spoke:

"The Hohenzollern dynasty of our Kingdom of Prussia is also the Elector of Brandenburg, Holy Roman Empire.

"Also, the Kingdom of Prussia has unified most of the Holy Roman Empire empire lands.

"So we Prussia are the real Holy Roman Empire."

Hearing this, Zhu Jingyuan seemed to get a little dizzy:
"Shira is Western Rome, and then Western Rome was divided into two parts, Prussia and Austria? So there are three Romes now?"

Archduke Karl of Austria, after listening to Heinrich of Prussia's words, had already slightly anticipated what might happen.

In the past 100 years or so, the trend of nationalism in European countries has gradually risen, and the self-cognition of each nation-state is gradually taking shape.

Everyone doesn't particularly care about the title of Rome, but this is the case when no one deliberately guides it.

At this time, Daming deliberately put the name of Rome on display, which is definitely out of good intentions.

However, Grand Duke Karl began to think that this should not be the plan of Zhu Jingyuan, the young grandson of the emperor, but the plan of his elders.

Archduke Karl held back his emotions a little bit, did not directly refute Heinrich, and tried not to directly entangle with the Prussians.

It is enough to declare the claim by oneself, in the name of Shinra and Western Rome, it is enough for Austria not to promise to give up.

However, not everyone has the judgment and patience of Grand Duke Karl.

Even the French, who seemed completely unrelated, seemed to be thrown in quite casually.

The French Crown Prince who had just turned 20, Duke of Normandy, Louis Charles, also known as Louis XVII in history, also interjected at this time:
"We, France, are the homeland of Charlemagne's Western Rome, and we, France, are the successors of Rome and Western Rome."

Zhu Jingyuan really didn't expect this time:

"France is also descended from Rome? So now there are four Romans in Tessie?
"Lucia, Prussia, Austria, France, which one is the real Rome?
"The birthplace of Rome, and the capital of Rome, which one of you now belongs to?"

The members of the royal families of the four countries immediately looked embarrassed.

Rome has two capitals, Rome and New Rome, which is Constantinople.

But these two capitals are not under the control of their four countries.

In this weird atmosphere, the Sardinian-Italians also stepped in when they heard the discussion of the Roman capital.

The younger brother of the King of Sardinia, the Duke of Aosta, Vittorio Emanuele, the Sardinian king who has succeeded in history, spoke:

"We, Italy, are the birthplace of Rome, and our capital has moved back to the city of Rome!"

In Zhu Jingyuan's heart, he doesn't really care about who is the real Rome.

What Zhu Jingyuan cares about now is that some people will dispute the name of Rome, which will cause conflicts among them, and eventually split the anti-Ming alliance.

Therefore, Zhu Jingyuan welcomes and approves of someone's meddling, so he deliberately asked right now:

"So you Sardinians... are you Italy the real Rome?"

The Duke of Aosta nodded as a matter of course:
"Yes, we are the direct successors of Rome."

Grand Duke Karl once again warned himself to hold back, not to speak unless he could express his opinion.

But Heinrich of Prussia could not resist:

"The Savoy royal family of the Kingdom of Sardinia is not at all the elector of the Holy Roman Empire."

The Duke of Aosta of the Kingdom of Sardinia immediately retorted:
"But we have the city of Rome. The capital of the Holy Roman Empire is also the capital of the Roman Empire. Rome is our capital. The real descendants of Rome are mainly concentrated in our Italian territory!"

Here Heinrich of Prussia was deflated, and then said a little out of words:

"If it occupies the former capital of Rome, it is considered Rome, so isn't the Ottoman Empire also Rome?"

As soon as this remark came out, the members of the Taixi royal family at the scene all looked at the two people subconsciously.

The Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, the highest official equivalent to the prime minister, Kohl (blind) Yusuf Zayedin.

Unlike other European countries, the Ottoman Empire had no interest in sending representatives of the royal family, but arranged for the grand vizier to come.

Another Ottoman representative at the scene was Muhammad Ali, nominally the pasha (governor) of Ottoman Egypt.

However, since the Ming Dynasty occupied the Sinai Peninsula and completely isolated Egypt from the Ottoman mainland, Egypt has actually become independent.

Egypt is actually the No.11 country of the Anti-Ming Dynasty Alliance, so it had a slight chance to participate in this peace talk.

Grand Vizier Zayedin doesn't seem to want to get involved in this matter very much, and doesn't think it is time to fight for the ownership of the Roman throne.

But Ali stood up, and he directly said what others had already guessed:
"We, the Ottoman Empire, now own the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, the New Roman City, which is Constantinople.

"It's like the Mongol Empire in the east, the Yuan Dynasty established in China after their prince Kublai Khan conquered China.

"So our Ottoman Empire has become the actual successor of the Eastern Roman Empire in the form of conquest."

Ali seems to have mentioned the Mongols on purpose, and seems to want to anger Zhu Jingyuan and Zhu Jianfeng's uncles and nephews.

But the two uncles and nephews didn't care about this matter at all, because now the Mongols have been fully integrated with Ming Dynasty.

The current Mongols, including the descendants of the real golden family, have a very accurate positioning of themselves. They are the second child of the big Ming family.

Their mission is to go out specifically to intimidate - which is also to attract all ethnic groups in Anxi.

Ordinary people from various countries in Anxi want to be Ming people and Mongols of Ming Dynasty when they are in the east.

When I was in Taixi, I directly claimed to be a Mongolian from Ming Dynasty, so I could get all kinds of preferential treatment.

In fact, Zhu Jingyuan is very happy in his heart. Now that Osman has also joined in to fight for Rome, he has to give some help:

"Osman is also the successor of Eastern Rome, so there are actually two Eastern Rome, Lucia and Ottoman.

"Two Eastern Romans, plus four Western Romans, you have six Romans in total.

"We only have Britain, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands on the scene, not Rome."

Things have progressed to this point, and the real politicians of the anti-Ming alliance countries are a little bit impatient.

What was supposed to be a discussion about the seating capacity of the meeting turned into a debate about Roman orthodoxy.

Going on like this will only cause the anti-Ming alliance to split in advance, so it must be controlled.

British Prime Minister Pitt took two steps forward, borrowing the topic being discussed now, to give Zhu Jingyuan a "leverage":
"The Netherlands was once part of the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and Portugal were once part of Rome.

"Parts of our UK, and most of the Ottoman Empire, were once conquered and ruled by Rome.

"There is also the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, including Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula, as well as the Mesopotamia, which were also once Roman territories.

"However, among these countries and regions, only you who occupy the Sinai Peninsula are outsiders.

"All the European countries on our site are the successors of the Roman Empire and are now members of the Anti-Ming League.

"So, our Anti-Ming League is Rome, which is now Rome, and we are all Rome!"

The cadence of Pete's words is quite powerful in both voice and content.

Representatives from other countries and the royal family at the scene completely fell silent after listening, obviously infected by his language.

After hearing this, Zhu Jingyuan was also quite emotional. Obviously, these politicians would not look at him to provoke at will.

But Zhu Jingyuan also knows that many things are independent of human will.

In particular, many techniques are useless when one's own side is stronger and is not prepared to reason.

"well said!"

Zhu Jingyuan gave a sincere admiration, and stood up directly at the same time.

The other representatives of the Ming court, as well as representatives of all the vassal states and Huangzhuang, also immediately stood up collectively and looked at Zhu Jingyuan together.

Zhu Jingyuan pointed to the place beside him:
"The First Secretary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Sir William Pitt, representing Rome, please take a seat here."

The formation represented by Daming, coupled with the words of Zhu Jingyuan's invitation, directly made Pete feel powerless.

Because he simply couldn't, even dared not, to go and sit next to Zhu Jingyuan.

Before coming to the meeting, all the representatives of the Anti-Ming League had already been popularized by Taixi Ming experts.

The layout of the scene is the pattern of the imperial meeting in the Ming Dynasty Hall, and the same is true for the daily morning court.

Zhu Jingyuan's current position is similar to that of a monarch and suzerain.

Zhu Jingyuan represented Daming as the emperor's grandson, so there was no problem sitting there.

But what could he, William Peterhead?

He himself is just a British courtier, let him sit on the throne representing Rome in front of a group of Thai and Western princes and emperor brothers?
This is a typical oriental way of "praising and killing".

The point is, even if it were the Crown Prince of England, the Prince of Wales would not be able to sit there.

The United Kingdom claims to be the organizer of the Anti-Ming League, but it is just an organizer.

All the countries of the Anti-Ming Alliance are roughly equal, at least there is no gap between suzerain and vassal.

The other anti-Ming alliance countries are not British vassal states.

If the British prince were to sit down on behalf of the Roman monarch, the anti-Ming alliance might have a tendency to disband on the spot.

Including Pete, several Taixi court representatives are aware of this problem.

Then I lamented instinctively in my heart: Rome, Rome, the Rome of our Europeans, why is it gone?

Oh yes, it seems that our ancestors did it.

If Rome is still there, there will be nothing like our English, French, Lucia, and Ottomans.

Does this mean that we are really barbarians?

Zhu Jingyuan, who was on the opposite side, looked at Pete standing still, and immediately put on a puzzled expression:

"What's the matter? Mr. Pete? Come here quickly?

Pete shook his head weakly and said:

"It's not right for me to sit there."

Zhu Jingyuan said very unexpectedly:
"What you said is that you have objections to our venue arrangement, and I am not allowed to sit alone in the master's seat.

"Now the main seat is also given to you, Taixi, and we each occupy one side. You should be able to accept this position layout, right?
"You, Prime Minister Pete, are the organizer of the Anti-Ming League and the actual host of the work. Isn't it a matter of course that you come to sit here?"

Pete could only helplessly shake his head again and refuse:
"I am not the monarch of Rome, let alone the monarch of Europe. I am just the coordinator of the alliance's daily affairs. I am not qualified to sit there."

Zhu Jingyuan stared at all the Thai and Western representatives with wide eyes:
"Then who can represent the emperor of Rome? Who can represent you Europa people and sit next to me?"

The representatives of the Thai and Western countries were silent, and several representatives of the royal family wanted to speak but did not dare to speak.

In the end, it was Pete who dealt with it himself, trying to change the subject as much as possible:
"Nobody can do that, but now is not the time to talk about Rome.

"This is a matter within our Europe, and has nothing to do with Ming from the East and the vassal states.

"We now need to determine the layout of the formal negotiation site and the issue of seating."

Zhu Jingyuan ignored Pete's change of subject, and sighed very sadly:

"It seems that Rome is probably really gone..."

The representatives of the royal families of various countries in Thailand and the West felt very complicated when they heard Zhu Jingyuan's emotion.

Several young people were a little excited, wishing they could go up and declare that they wanted to be the representative of Rome.

But the rationality of most people, and the representatives of the imperial court around a few people, held back their actions respectively.

Then everyone looked at Zhu Jingyuan together, and said very melancholy:

"Come on, take this chair away..."

(End of this chapter)