Daming 1805

Chapter 107 Napoleon's Direction
Taiping 34 February 24 morning.

The Haiguan Palace in the outer city of Huangzhuang in Xiyanghaijiao, and the Huihai Palace specially used for large banquets, are busy preparing for the grand banquet.

All those on the official list of representatives participating in the peace talks have all received invitations to this large banquet.

The delegation of the court of the Ming Dynasty, the delegation of the vassal state and Huangzhuang, and the main person in charge of the craftsman team.

Members of the royal families of the Thai and Western countries, the plenipotentiary ambassadors and deputy envoys of the mission, and all members of the mission who may participate in the negotiations.

There are also important generals from various countries such as Napoleon, Blücher, Kutuzov, Nelson, and Wellesley.

Due to the large number of participants and the complexity of the composition, the banquet was not held in the palace in the inner city, but in the palace in the outer city.

Although the palaces in the inner city of Xiyang Cape are still palaces in nature, their construction and layout basically refer to the imperial palaces of the capital.

In fact, it is the most serious and formal palace for handling government affairs and holding ceremonies.

As for the palaces in the outer city, they were similar to the palaces and manors around the capital, and they were originally prepared for various entertainment activities.

In this Huihai Palace, the royal family also specially built the largest hall dedicated to banquets.

Avoid placing the table directly on the square as before.

Early this morning, Huangzhuang's guards and Jin Yiwei set up a cordon around the palace, carefully checking the identities and invitations of all participants.

Many of the guests attending the meeting from both sides began to enter the venue more than two hours in advance.

Because a banquet is not just a banquet, but an open and informal encounter, an opportunity for all to come into contact with each other.

The representatives who came here in advance must have their own ideas and want to communicate with others.

So before the banquet officially started, the inside and outside of the hall were already bustling.

Representatives from various countries gathered together in twos and threes, admiring the scenery inside and outside the palace, and discussing topics of concern to each other.

Napoleon Bonaparte of France also arrived at the venue an hour earlier, but he seemed a little out of place.

Instead of chatting with other people, he walked around the inside and outside of the palace alone, and finally stopped in front of a wall.

Hanging on that wall is a complete map of Kunyu, which is the world map made in the Ming Dynasty.

Ming Dynasty's native Shenzhou is in the center of the map, Taixi and Yinzhou are on both sides of the map, and the Atlantic Ocean is divided into two halves.

The maps that Napoleon often saw were to place the Western style in the middle of the map, with Ming and Yinzhou on the sides.

Moreover, on the map of Ming Dynasty, the border of Britain and France's Yinzhou colony only reaches the east bank of the Mi River.

The area between the west bank of the Mihe River and the Rocky Mountains was regarded as an unclaimed land, and some colonial strongholds of the Ming Dynasty were scattered among them.

The same is true for Nanyinzhou. Both sides of the Yajiang River are also marked as unclaimed land, and Brazil's territory is limited to the eastern coastal area.

Napoleon was visibly taken aback by the phrase Borderlands.

"Borderlands?"

Napoleon muttered the phrase under his breath, imagining the practical implications of the concept.

That is not a real land of no man, but an area where it is difficult for all forces to control it absolutely.

Napoleon was out of his mind thinking about these things, and stayed there for an unknown amount of time.

Until a rather kind oriental voice sounded beside him:
"Is it General Napoleon?"

Napoleon was obviously taken aback by this title. No one had ever called himself that.

My surname is Bonaparte, and most people should call themselves General Bonaparte.

Napoleon turned around subconsciously, and saw a young man of Ming Dynasty wearing the regular uniform of the Prince of Ming.

The information of the representative of Ming Dynasty flashed in his mind, and there were two princes of Ming Dynasty participating in the peace talks.

Among them, the plenipotentiary Prince Dashi happened to be a 15-year-old boy.

Napoleon subconsciously answered and asked rhetorically:
"I am Napoleon Bonaparte, may I ask if you are His Royal Highness Prince Dashi?"

Facing Napoleon, the most famous commander in Western history, Zhu Jingyuan was quite emotional.

In the original history, he is now the emperor of the French, and Louis XVI's head has long since disappeared.

Now he doesn't know those things in his previous life, and he doesn't know whether he can have the same achievements in the future.

Zhu Jingyuan thought about Napoleon in his heart, smiled and said to the general:

"It's the king, I came out to check the situation before the banquet officially started, and found that General Napoleon was here looking at the map.

"I've heard about the general's deeds, so I came over to say hello. Did the general think of what happened on the battlefield?"

Listening to Zhu Jingyuan's question, Napoleon felt a little uncomfortable in his heart when he faced the eyes and smiles of the Prince of Ming and the feudal lord.

This young prince gave himself a very strange feeling.

The way he looked at himself was completely different from those other Ming officials, who didn't have the typical attitude of disgust when looking at barbarians.

Those officials and diplomats, even though they may appear to be quite polite on the surface, always show discrimination and contempt unconsciously.

That feeling is often so obvious that Thais are used to it.

But the young prince in front of him didn't feel that way at all.

He was obviously looking at himself with a relatively equal attitude, and even looked at him with some admiration and expectation...

It was already very strange that people from Daming could look at Taixi people in this way, and the key to the identity of the other party was still a Prince of Ming Dynasty.

His status in the world can be equated with that of the King of France.

When the king of France faced himself, it was impossible to use such an amiable gesture.

What's more, I and this Prince Daming were still enemies not long ago, and now we have just started peace talks.

This strange intimacy made Napoleon unable to resist, and even became a little nervous for no reason.

Napoleon bowed slightly formally and continued to ask:

"I... I did think of some past events, but why did His Highness call me General Napoleon?
"You may not know that our European surnames are placed at the end. My surname is actually Bonaparte."

Zhu Jingyuan suddenly realized that according to Taixi's rules, only the title of the monarch, or between family members with the same surname, would be called by first name.

Before Napoleon became emperor, he should have never heard the name General Napoleon, so he was so surprised.

It was a habit of my previous life, and I was used to hearing the name of Napoleon I, so I instinctively called him Napoleon.

Zhu Jingyuan pretended not to react, and deliberately continued to ask:
"No, I remember that the king of France is called Louis XVI. Isn't Louis a surname?"

Napoleon continued to explain helplessly:
"The title of His Majesty the King is indeed a name, but ordinary people only have this between family members, but at the same time they will not add generals."

Zhu Jingyuan nodded lightly and said:

"I see. If I keep calling you Napoleon, will Louis XVI suspect that you have a tendency to rebel?"

Napoleon was a little dumbfounded immediately, what was going on with His Highness's thinking:

"Probably not. Generations are added after the title of monarch. Your Highness calling me like that will only make His Majesty the King suspect that our relationship is very special..."

Napoleon knew Daming quite well, and he knew that it was not a crime to be a male pet in Daming, and it was very common.

Many nobles like to raise a handsome book boy, which is more convenient than bringing a maid when they are away from home.

It was a custom handed down from the Han Dynasty, which was the contemporary era of Rome. I heard that the Romans also liked to do it.

This made Napoleon inexplicably embarrassed again. His Royal Highness would not have that kind of preference.

Just at this time, Zhu Jingyuan took two steps closer, lowered his voice and said:
"Have you ever heard of General Napoleon? There is a saying in the history of China: 'Would princes and generals have kindness?'"

Napoleon felt that Zhu Jingyuan was approaching, and just subconsciously wanted to back away.

As a result, just after raising his leg, he was taken aback by this sentence, and took two steps back in a row.

Then he subconsciously widened his eyes, instinctively looked at Zhu Jingyuan with a fierce look, but immediately concealed it very well.

Looking at Napoleon's reaction, Zhu Jingyuan already had a rough judgment in his heart.

This General Napoleon, as expected, became a general unwillingly.

He must have seen this sentence a long time ago, and he may have thought about it more than once, otherwise he would not have such a big reaction.

This is the reaction of someone who broke his mind.

"The general is really not willing to live under others for a long time."

Zhu Jingyuan made a comment with a smile, and then threw out another classic quote:
"Have you ever heard the general, another saying in the history of China: 'The Son of Heaven, the one with the strongest soldiers and the strongest horses will do it'."

Zhu Jingyuan made no secret of his purpose, almost in the vernacular to instigate Napoleon's ambition.

Zhu Jingyuan understands that when facing a person like Napoleon, there is no need to cover up, and it should be of no use to cover up.

He must be able to weigh the pros and cons and make a decision in his own favor.

Should I seek Da Ming's help, should I use Da Ming's strength, and how should I use it.

The best way to deal with this kind of people is Yongyangmou, I may not be able to play tricks with them.

Napoleon's expression became extremely serious, and he looked carefully at the surrounding situation, and found that there were no other guests around.

Not far away, there were several Ming navy guards scattered here and there. They were obviously brought here by Zhu Jingyuan. To protect his safety was also to control the situation.

Napoleon returned to the bottom of the map again, and asked directly without any concealment:

"His Royal Highness the Great Food King, do you think there is any place in this world that can be strong without being firmly grasped by the kings?"

Zhu Jingyuan said directly:

"Can't General Napoleon see it? If he really can't see it, then I'm very disappointed."

Napoleon said a few words with a straight face:
"The Yinzhou colony of Britain and France."

Zhu Jingyuan turned to look at the map on the wall:

"The Yinzhou colony of Britain and France has millions of square kilometers of fertile land.

"Nearly 5000 million immigrants and descendants of Thai origin are treated like second-class citizens by their mother countries.

"The Great Lakes region and around the Appalachian Mountains are rich in coal and iron resources, enough to support a new Roman Empire.

"If the general is interested, Da Ming can provide help within his capacity."

Napoleon asked with a serious expression:

"Your Highness should not only support me alone, just like supporting all European countries to compete for the title of Rome..."

Zhu Jingyuan nodded decisively and said:
"The King will support all those with ideals, including Kings Louis XVI and George III.

"If these two kings can agree to surrender all the land west of Mihe to Daming, then Daming can promise permanent peace with England and France.

"And will permanently cut ties with General Napoleon as if today's events never happened.

"Correspondingly, as long as Da Ming's strategic goals are still not achieved, Da Ming will continue to provide support for the general."

After Zhu Jingyuan finished speaking, he left the scene directly.

Whether the verbal communication between the two parties will be leaked, Zhu Jingyuan doesn't particularly care.

Leaking information does no good to Napoleon, no harm to himself, it can put pressure on Britain and France.

The importance of the current Yinzhou colony to Britain and France far exceeds that of the same period in history, and may even surpass Tianzhu.

The resources of the Yinzhou colony are more abundant, the population of Taixi is larger, and the overall level of industrialization is also higher.

The gap between the level of development and the mainland of Britain and France is not too far. The key point is that Yin Zhou is very convenient to communicate with the mainland of Britain and France.

The North Atlantic Ocean is a vacuum zone of Ming forces, and the routes of Yinzhou and Taixi will not be interfered by Ming.

On the other hand, the southern part of Tianzhu, which was circled by Ming Dynasty, has probably been placed in a position where it can be given up at any time.

The current British and French colonies in Northern Yinzhou are almost equivalent to half of the United States in the late nineteenth century.

Britain and France each accounted for half of it, almost a quarter of the United States in the late nineteenth century.

Compared with Britain and France in history, Britain and France in this world have lost the colonies around the Daming Ocean and the Little Western Ocean, but their overall national strength may be stronger than in history, and the key is the Yinzhou colony.

If Britain and France lost the Yinzhou colony, their comprehensive national strength might drop by a quarter, which is not considered a war loss.

If they knew that Daming was going to support a talented general to rebel in the Yinzhou colony, the royal families and courts of their two countries would definitely not be able to sleep.

If Napoleon succeeds smoothly and completely unifies the Yinzhou colony of Britain and France, its strength should be equivalent to that of a weakened France.

In this way, for Da Ming, it is equivalent to turning two enemies with a combat power of six into three enemies with a combat power of four, which is definitely a good thing.

With Napoleon's ability, once an incident occurs in Yinzhou, it should quickly become a big problem, and then Britain and France must send troops to suppress it.

Is this the British-French cooperation?Go to Yinzhou to fight a Napoleonic war?

The French colonies are in the north and the British colonies are in the south, so it could be the Civil War as well.

In this way, Prussia, the native of Taixi, will also have the opportunity to come out to make trouble?
Ming Dynasty should secretly support Napoleon, and openly support Britain and France, so that the two sides can fight as hard as possible in Yinzhou.

Let the war last as long as possible, preferably to completely abolish the Yinzhou colony of Britain and France, that would be the best result for Ming Dynasty.

Of course, all these are just Zhu Jingyuan's random guesses, and these things may not really happen.

Whether Napoleon will go to Yinzhou to rebel is still unknown.

(End of this chapter)