Daming 1805

Chapter 449 Does Daming Support Prussia?

Regarding the trade cooperation plan proposed by Ming, the Lucians did not raise any objections in terms of principle and general direction.

Then began the detailed level of discussion.

Specifically choose which railway lines, which types and levels of cities, how large the free trade zone should be, the management and taxation standards of the trade zone, the business scope and taxation standards of the joint venture company, and so on.

If the Lucia people do not object to the direction, it means that the cooperation intention has been confirmed, and then they can find other people to talk about.

Lucia is the main and key target of this cooperative planning.

In the world of Zhu Jingyuan's previous life, there were two completed Shenou Land Bridges and one under planning.

The first one is Lucia's own railway, so it bypasses the Mongolian plateau from the north and takes the Xianbei wasteland to Vladivostok.

The second is the participation of the Chinese side. It takes the Mongolian Plateau and the Western Regions, leaves the Alashan Pass, passes through Anxi and Lucia to Taixi.

The third is the general plan, go to Jiangnan, Yunnan, Nanyang, Tianzhu, Persia, Dashi, Ottoman and enter Taixi.

Needless to say the first two, the biggest problem with the third is that the terrain of the areas along the route is too complicated, and the relationship between the countries along the route is also somewhat unclear.

Generally speaking, only the Tianzhu area is slightly flatter, and other areas are basically plateaus, mountains, and hills.

Moreover, this line is very close to the southern ocean, and it must compete with ocean transportation to a certain extent.

Zhu Jingyuan remembered that until he was reborn, the third Shenou Land Bridge seemed to be still just an idea.

Compared with the previous two land bridges, its biggest advantage is that it can completely bypass Lucia.

The advantage of all three land bridges is that they can bypass the ocean traffic lines controlled by the United States and Tianzhu in the south.

In today's world, with the current industrial level, it is too difficult to build this land bridge.

Although the situation in the area along this route has changed drastically, the area from the east of Ottoman is already under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, and the political troubles are much less.

But at the same time, the southern ocean is basically under the sphere of influence of Ming Dynasty, and it is also very safe to go directly by sea.

Therefore, the inland railway that Ming Dynasty is now building is really for inland transportation, and the significance of building this kind of railway near Xiaoxiyang has been greatly reduced.

If this southern route is not considered, and the direct railway connecting Shenzhou and Taixi is to be built, it must pass through the territory of Lucia, and it is still the case now.

So Daming had to negotiate with Lucia first, and then he could find other people to join him.

Even if other people don't join, it is acceptable for Daming to do business with Lucia alone.

On the other side, Prince Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig and Princess Friedrich Louise Charlotte Wilhelmina of Prussia had already returned to Berlin a few days ago.

Immediately after the two arrived home, they went to meet their parents, King Friedrich William III and Queen Louise August Wilhelmina Amalie of Prussia.

The parents and the two children have not seen each other for more than four years, and they are very excited to see each other again.

After the father and son, mother and daughter hugged each other, the two adult children were held hands by their parents and asked this and that.

William III asked his son curiously and excitedly:
"In the past few years by the side of Prince Dashi, what have you done specifically? What have you learned?"

Prince William was also very excited and said very seriously:

"I have learned a lot, and under the guidance of the gentlemen in the palace, I have basically completed the middle school curriculum of Daming.

"Under the guidance of the royal guard officers, I also basically mastered the Ming Dynasty's military training, management, and command systems.

"The most important thing is that now I finally have a real understanding of the thinking and working habits of Daming people.

"Although I hope to serve in the army, I should also be able to serve as our Prussian diplomatic staff in Daming.

"When we deal with people from Daming in the future, we won't misunderstand or misunderstand them."

William III couldn't help nodding, feeling that his son had indeed learned something, and it was quite important.

However, the king has something more important, so he continued to ask:
"Then what? The relationship between you and His Royal Highness Prince Dashi? Have you established a trustworthy friendship?"

Prince William immediately realized the purpose of being sent to Daming.

It is to refer to Prince Charles of France to establish a personal relationship with Zhu Jingyuan.

Thinking back to the manager in Daming in the past few years, Prince William hesitated for a moment.

But he quickly nodded again, and said with certainty:

"The relationship between me and His Highness Prince Dashi is obviously different from that of Prince Shire and His Highness Prince Dashi.

"Although the Crown Prince of Shire is older, they are close friends of the same age.

"And I have obviously become the little brother of His Royal Highness Prince Dashi, even a junior and a student.

"Your Highness is a very reliable elder brother and mentor, who often guides me with knowledge and principles in various aspects such as literature and art, history, military affairs, technology, and ideology.

"But more importantly, it is His Highness's unique way of thinking.

"I can say with certainty that over the past few years, the friendship between us has indeed been established.

"His Royal Highness Prince Dashi trusts me, and I can also trust His Royal Highness Prince.

"Of course, this is mainly because of the frankness of His Royal Highness Prince Dashi himself, who is willing to communicate directly with us without concealment."

William III didn't sound particularly satisfied, but he wasn't too regretful either:
"His Royal Highness Prince Dashi, you should be a typical young and old man in Daming.

"France's Charles is five years older than Prince Dashi, so he can barely have a relationship similar to friends of the same age.

"You are already a few years younger than Prince Dashi, so you can only be a younger brother and a student.

"However, this is not bad. If His Royal Highness Prince Dashi is willing to establish a relatively personal relationship with you, we can be regarded as a success..."

The father and son paused for a while when they said this, and then heard the topic of the mother and son next to them.

The queen was asking her daughter a more personal topic:

"I see that in the messages you sent before, it seems that there is no mention of the relationship with His Royal Highness Prince Dashi.

"So you have been with His Royal Highness Prince Dashi for several years, have you really not been together?"

Princess Louise was a little shy and said with obvious regret:
"Indeed, His Highness treats me and my elder brother equally, and treats us as younger siblings and students."

The queen was very surprised when she heard this:

"Why? I've heard long ago that His Royal Highness Prince Dashi is quite romantic, and he also likes young girls from foreign races very much..."

Louise rolled her eyes a little speechlessly:
"So that's just a rumor, the real Prince Dashi is not like that at all."

The queen immediately asked some gossip:
"Then what is the real Dashi Prince like? Is he not interested in girls, but likes men very much? What is the relationship between Charles of France and him?"

Louise immediately rolled her eyes again:

"That would be even more wrong, His Royal Highness Prince Dashi is really not interested in men...

"Of course he is interested in women, and like the traditional Ming nobles, he will not be devoted to a certain woman at all.

"His Highness doesn't particularly like girls from other races, the formation of such rumors can only be said to be an accident and a coincidence.

"When His Highness was in the Great Food Kingdom, there must have been more foreign girls around.

"In addition, both Osman and Persia gave him presents, and of course he didn't dare to give Ming girls, so he sent a group of foreign girls.

"Actually, since His Highness was 16 years old, he took an average of one Ming girl as his concubine every year.

"These Daming girls are the concubines of his Daming prince.

"Other foreign girls don't even have the identity of Ming Dynasty, only low-level concubines and even maids of the king of Dashi.

"It's just that His Highness doesn't like slaves, so there are no Ottoman female slaves."

The queen finally understood, and she understood completely in her heart.

If a man with power and money is not restricted by social rules, his demand for women is almost unlimited.

Taixi has religious restrictions, and they are monogamous in name.

But the number of mistresses that aristocratic men engage in outside is also quite large, and they don't need to bear legal responsibilities.

In the eyes of the Taixi people, the concubine of Daming just gave the mistress a legal status.

The queen felt that for most ordinary girls, they should be more willing to be the legal concubine of the Ming nobles than the unprotected mistresses around the Taixi nobles.

While thinking about it, the Queen asked a question again:
"Since this is the case, haven't you...didn't take the initiative? Did you really have no chance in the past four years?"

Upon hearing this question, Princess Louise couldn't help but sigh:

"Before... at the beginning, if His Highness was fifteen or sixteen years old, I might still have a chance.

"But I was still ignorant at that time, and I didn't have a chance to meet His Highness...

"Now there should be no chance at all.

"Although there are indeed many women around His Highness, in fact, he himself does not have a high desire to take the initiative to find women.

"Of course he is not abstinent or anything, it just gives people the feeling... as long as it can be used...

"Combined with his special status, there is no need to look for women who can be used, someone has already stuffed a bunch of them around him.

"When he took the initiative to choose a woman, he seemed to have completely considered the interests and uses.

"I even feel that if Charlotte of Hanover is not the Queen of the United States and the heir to the throne of the United Kingdom, His Royal Highness may not have much interest in her.

"His Royal Highness takes two girls from Ming Dynasty as concubines every two years, just to give birth to more heirs.

"Da Ming's throne and the rules of succession to the throne are all assessment-based.

"He needs to have enough children to select a good enough heir..."

The queen was stunned again when she heard this, and then understood again.

My daughter doesn't know enough, in fact, the kind of man she mentioned is actually very common.

He pays more attention to his career, he doesn't have too much emotion, and his needs for women are very simple and rude.

After thinking of these, the queen suddenly realized a problem:
"Then if you become the monarch of a certain place, won't you have a chance to be with Prince Dashi?"

Louise subconsciously wanted to deny it, and instinctively wanted to say that His Royal Highness is not that kind of person.

But if you think about it calmly, you have to admit:
"It's true...it's really possible...but the premise is that I want to be his official concubine of King Dashi.

"In the future, you can no longer marry others according to the Taixi rules.

"That is to ensure that I and his children can become my heirs..."

The queen heard this and looked at her husband.

King William III of Prussia shook his head directly:
"If it was decades ago, I would still have a chance to find a place for Louise to be queen, but now it's really impossible.

"Prussia has managed to integrate most of the German region, and now it is impossible to separate any part.

"Unless we defeat and dismember Austria and give Louise one of the non-German kingdoms within Austria."

The queen subconsciously asked King William III:

"Then do we still want to launch a war against Austria?"

William III looked at his son Prince William:

"So... Based on your experience in the past few years, can Ming Dynasty support us, should we say, can it not oppose us launching a war against Austria?"

Several people were discussing whether Princess Louise had a chance to become Zhu Jingyuan's mistress, but when the topic strayed here, they suddenly became serious.

Prince William thought for a while and said:

"According to my understanding, His Royal Highness Prince Dashi himself should not support the civil war of the League of Nations...

"Especially, when there are other countries outside the alliance.

"The only choice we can make is to take the risk of the world and annex Austria before other countries react, and this is basically impossible.

"So if I had to make a decision, instead of continuing with the unrealistic plan to annex Austria, I would rather annex Denmark.

"I have great confidence that even if Prussia completely annexes Denmark, Ming will not object."

William III frowned and considered:
"Da Ming probably won't object.

"In Daming's eyes, Denmark and the land in the Baltic Sea are really too small.

"The key point is that it is the farthest place from Daming, and there is basically no interest involved.

"It can even damage our relationship with Lucia.

"If we annexed Denmark completely, Lucia would most likely object.

"After we control Denmark, the Lucians have to pass right under our noses if they want to enter and leave the Baltic Sea.

"Or they could choose to attack Sweden at the same time, occupying the land across the channel.

"The most important thing is that after the Lucians conquer Sweden, they will have the opportunity to directly enter the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

"According to our understanding, the Lucians have always planned to conquer Sweden, but they have always been powerless.

"After the end of the world war, the people of Lucia and Ming reconciled, and the idea of ​​conquering Sweden will definitely become stronger.

"It's just that military technology is constantly innovating, and the Lucians are not ready yet.

"Of course, we in Prussia are not ready for war, even if the target is Denmark, we can't act rashly...

"If we really want to start strategic actions against Denmark, we'd better negotiate and communicate with Lucia in advance."

When Prince William heard this, he couldn't help expressing his opinion again:
"His Royal Highness Prince Dashi said that technological innovation can delay war.

"Because technological innovations make warmakers think they are not ready for war.

"The actual situation is that technological innovation will cause too many 'variables', that is, uncontrollable factors, in war.

"Factors that cannot be determined by a country's military strength and command capabilities are unfavorable to the powerful side.

"However, these variables are caused by technological innovation. If you can determine the scale and speed of your own technological innovation, then these variables should be beneficial to your side.

"I don't think Denmark will pick up new technologies any faster than we do.

"Although we are neighboring countries with Denmark, we have direct technical exchanges with Ming Dynasty, and Denmark, a small country, is the farthest from Ming Dynasty.

"His Highness also said that with the continuous upgrading of technology, the military equipment system will become more and more complex, and the gap between countries of different sizes will also become wider.

"With the gradual formation of mechanized troops, the situation of a small country defeating a big country is gradually becoming an impossible event."

Hearing these words, William III felt an impulse in his heart, wanting to stop waiting for technology updates and do it directly:
"So...His Royal Highness Prince Dashi, did you encourage us to attack Denmark?"

Prince William immediately shook his head:

"Of course not, His Royal Highness Prince Dashi has said too many truths, and these are all heard in daily chats.

"Personally, because I am a prince of Prussia, I will instinctively consider the situation around our homeland.

"Then instinctively apply these analyzes and judgments to our own situation.

"Moreover, the views I mentioned are of course beneficial to us, and of course support our hands-on.

"However, it also supports us to continue to wait, because the more technological innovations, the better for us.

"Maybe we can win now, but the price of victory in the future will be smaller and the speed of war will be faster.

"His Royal Highness Prince Dashi also said that in the future, the time for countries of the size of Prussia and France in the western part of Thailand to resist in a fully mechanized war may be measured in days.

"Countries like the Netherlands and Denmark may be counted in hours.

"Because of our armored combat vehicles and aircraft, we can occupy all of their cities in a few hours."

William III fell silent upon hearing these words.

What is a country like Prussia and France, the resistance time is calculated in days?

Although William III was familiar with the latest military technological innovations, it was difficult to believe such extremely exaggerated predictions.

Before World War II, no one could have imagined that the French surrendered in only forty days, and Denmark surrendered in only four hours.

It can also be said that France simply has no will to fight, while Denmark's size gap is so large that they have no chance to resist.

(End of this chapter)