Qianlong: Qing Dynasty?What about my Daqing?

Chapter 360 The United States and Russia

For the Ming Empire.

Gain control of the Isthmus of Suez and garrison rights in the Mediterranean.

The temptation is great.

And the price they have to pay is minimal: just stop selling arms to Russia.

However, in fact, with the research of "reverse engineering" of Ming-style equipment in various European countries.

The Ming Army's four-piece set of rifled guns, mortars, grenades, and barbed wire actually did not have much technical barriers.

Even a serf country like Tsarist Russia has the ability to produce some usable equipment.

Although the quality is far worse than the weapons produced in Daming's factory.

But at least there is no "generation difference".

Therefore, even if Ming Dynasty refused to sell weapons to Russia, the Ottoman Empire might not be able to recover from the battlefield.

But if the Ming Empire obtained a military port in Ottoman, then the Tsarist Russian army would not dare to continue going south.

As an ally of Ottoman, Britain failed to give Ottoman strong support in this Russian-Turkish war.

It is understandable that Osman chose to hug another thigh.

"Where are the American emissaries? What do they say?"

"The Americans are concerned about our stronghold in the New World, but now the Americans only have a small piece of land on the east coast of the New World. They have proposed a plan to carve up North America together."

"Carve up North America?"

Emperor Zhu was a little surprised.

But if you think about it carefully, you can understand it.

How could Americans today think that they would be able to dominate the world later.

Today's United States of America is just a loose federation, and its territory is the east coast of the New World and the south of Wudalian Lake.

The total area is about 100 million square kilometers.

It is far from the big country of more than 900 million square kilometers in later generations.

They don't have the ambition to monopolize most of the warm territory in North America now.

even.

The British army in the British and Canadian colonies in the north may go south at any time to destroy the "weak" United States of America.

Compared to Daming west of the Andes.

The British Empire next to it is actually a big threat to the Americans.

people are watching
Moreover, the United States, which has not experienced the Civil War between the North and the South, does not actually have a strong central government.

States are more often left to their own devices.

Some Americans hope to form an alliance with Spain and Britain to fight against Ming Dynasty.

Some Americans hope to unite with Ming Dynasty, introduce the strength of Ming Dynasty, and maintain a balance in the New World.

It's all understandable.

"Yes, this envoy is the special envoy of Washington, the commander of the United States. It is said that he has a very close relationship with Washington. Based on the information he has received from various places. The US leader Washington still believes that the British and Canadian colonies are the most threatening to the United States. It's France's new colony of Louisiana."

Emperor Zhu nodded slightly.

If he remembered correctly.

Washington retired after serving only two terms as President of the United States.

In this way, this year should be the time for him to step down.
but.

Who will be the next President of the United States?

Emperor Zhu shook his head.

Although he is good at history.

But the history of the United States is really not much in the textbooks of later generations of China.

Therefore, Emperor Zhu only remembered the name of the first commander-in-chief of the United States.

As for the rest..
I really don't remember much.

However, he also knows that in a country like the United States, partisanship is inevitable, so even Washington's special envoy, it is estimated that it will be difficult to guarantee that the agreement reached with Ming can be implemented by the United States of America—because the current United States is too loose .

Policies are subject to change at any time.

"The agreement with the United States doesn't make much sense. They can't reach an agreement themselves now." Emperor Zhu said with a curl of his lips.

Grand Duke Lin nodded.

"The so-called federal system will probably be disbanded in the end." Dagong Lin said.

America breaks up?
Will they really break up?

Emperor Zhu was vaguely looking forward to it.

"By the way, what's the name of that American envoy?"

"Back to the emperor, his name is James Madison."

"James Madison? This name sounds familiar."

Emperor Zhu muttered in a low voice.

On the train to Beijing.

US envoy James Madison is buried in writing something.

He raised his head and saw the Russian envoy Muragev on the opposite side.

It surprised me that.

in this era.

The United States and Russia are actually very close.

Originally, in history, the United States and Russia did not have much contact in this era.

But because of the rise of the Ming Empire.

There are some common interests between the United States and Russia.

First of all, they are all countries on the fringes of European civilization.

The Slavs are regarded as barbarians by Western European countries, and have almost the same status as Mongolia and Tatars.

Also.

Russia and the United States suffered similarly when facing the Ming Empire.

East Siberia in Russia was occupied by Ming Dynasty.

The United States is about to face the pressure of the Ming Empire from landing in the west of the New World—even though the territory in the west of the New World has little to do with the United States.But in the eyes of many American politicians, those territories that now belong to some indigenous tribes will be occupied sooner or later, and the United States, which was founded in the New World, is the definite future hegemon of the Americas.

James Jefferson looked a little dazed.

this time.

He saw the strength of the Ming Empire.

This country has a huge population, a huge territory, a developed industrial system and a very strong central government-these are all things that the United States lacks.

What really terrified James Jefferson was the hostility he felt towards the United States of America from the emperor of the Ming Empire when he was in Zhongdu.

Yes.

Even if the emperor did not meet him.

But he learned from some words and deeds of the emperor.

But one can clearly feel the emperor's fear and hostility towards the United States.

This shouldn't be!
There are two countries separated by the Pacific Ocean, and the United States of America has no world interests, they are just a small regional country.

Why did the emperor of the Ming Empire have hostility towards the United States?
This is just too absurd.

Logically speaking, there shouldn't be much conflict of interest between the two countries, right?

Most politicians in the United States do not even object to the Ming Empire's attempt to seize land in the western part of the New World-because these do not belong to the United States in the first place.

They only hope to reach an agreement with the Ming Empire and use a treaty to ensure the security of the western United States.

He was not received by the emperor of the Ming Empire.

Let James Jefferson feel a little lost.

He is taking an investment group composed of American businessmen to Beijing for investigation.

By the way, together with the envoys of Tsarist Russia, I went to Moscow to visit Russia through Irkutsk, a river port that has now been renamed Beihai Fucheng.

The United States and Russia, two countries on the fringes of European civilization, now also need to hold together for warmth.

Just now.

The train slowly stopped at a railway station named "Shijiazhuang".

This place was originally a small town, but because of this railway station, this small town has gradually become an important transportation node in the Central Plains.

especially.

Many immigrants recruited from the Central Plains.

To start from here, head to the Tohoku region.

Standing by the window, James Jefferson looked at the immigrants on the railway station, supporting the old and the young, taking the train to the northeast region of the Ming Empire, with a bit of emotion on his face.

"It's a really big country, isn't it?"

Muragev said.

"Of course, there are a lot of them."

James Jefferson said.

"It's just that it seems that the emperor's rule has not brought much benefit to the country's appointment."

"Benefits? Isn't this considered a benefit? As far as I know, the population in the Central Plains of the Ming Empire is too dense. If you don't immigrate to the surrounding areas, within a few years, hungry farmers will rebel, and Chinese history Like every dynastic change on Earth. These hungry peasants will devour everything, land, resources, and most importantly, population!"

Muragev said.

"When the war is over and a new dynasty is established, the sharply reduced population will ease the land conflict in China, and a so-called prosperous age will begin. Hundreds of years later, this dynasty will be swallowed up by hungry peasants , start again and again.”

"That's why this great emperor cared so much about those farming lands that could accommodate a large number of people. He occupied Manmeng, that is, the northeast region of Ming Dynasty. This huge area has plains and cultivated land larger than the Central Plains. In addition, there are There are Nanyang and Australia, and of course he is now eyeing the New World again."

Muragev spread his hands and said.

"Being a neighbor to such an empire is really... too scary. Fortunately, West Siberia is covered with frozen soil, otherwise"

James Jefferson gave Muragev a sympathetic look.

"This great emperor is too young, and his empire is so powerful. The future world needs to learn how to deal with this great emperor."

Great Emperor.

It is what Westerners call Zhu Daohua.

What he has done is indeed worthy of this title.

Just now.

On the platform ahead, a group of immigrants were huddling together, as if something had happened.

"Go and see what's going on?"

James Jefferson asked his attendants to get off the train to inquire about the situation.

Soon.

The attendant came back: "There is an immigrant who fell ill, and the officer in charge of escort refused his request to board the train. Many immigrants are very dissatisfied with this, and the two sides are confronting each other."

James Jefferson and Muragev exchanged glances.

"Such things happen often, right?"

"may be."

"Will there be a revolution?"

"There won't be, certainly not. This country has too much territory to accommodate an excessive population. The United States and Russia should unite, and we all have to face pressure from Europe and Ming Dynasty."

"Oh, another one died."

"Isn't it."

"too bitter."

outside the train.

Many immigrants are complaining.

The establishment of the new dynasty did not give the peasants a comfortable life.

Instead, it became even more frustrating.

Just as these immigrants who were going to the unknown front were complaining, the officials who were escorting them urged them to get on the train.

Sichuan.

Luojiang County.

A group of farmers also gathered together to chat.

Looking at their shabby clothes, it is obvious that they are not living well.

"Thinking about it, it would be better to be a tenant of the old Li's family. Although I can't save much money, it's not as tiring as it is now! At that time, there were still busy and slack seasons. How can you make it through the year like now?"

"Yes, good morning. Rent a ten-acre irrigated land. After paying the rent, it is enough to feed the whole family for ten months. Planting some sweet potatoes can last for a year. The wife and daughter can spin and weave. Cloth, you can sell it for two or three pennies! No matter what it is like now, it’s all foreign cloth, and no one wants the homespun cloth woven by women.”

When it comes to homemade cloth, everyone sighs. The life of men farming and women weaving must have been lived by Chinese farmers for thousands of years.

But since Emperor Zhu came, such days gradually came to an end.

In Guangdong and Jiangnan, machine weaving factories have sprung up like mushrooms!

The cloth woven by the machine is cheap and high-quality, which cannot be resisted by homespun cloth.

Now it has been dumped in large quantities to Sichuan!

It makes the life of small and poor families more and more difficult.

What makes farmers even more miserable is the gradual disintegration of feudal land ownership!

According to later generations, the replacement of feudal land ownership by capitalist agriculture has greatly improved productivity.

But for the bottom farmers.

Landlords are replaced by capitalists, but it may not be a good thing.

after all.

The exploitation of the landlords is nothing compared to the capitalists.

The so-called feudal land ownership system is not the private ownership of land plus leases as everyone imagines—otherwise, buying and renting out houses can also be called feudal housing ownership.

In fact, feudal ownership is embodied in the unity of the right to rule over people and the ownership of land.

The scholar-bureaucrats were the actual rulers of the countryside and at the same time the landowners. They were feudal lords in disguise.

And the basis of the rule of these disguised lords is not the force of knights and warriors, but the imperial examination system!

Therefore, after a series of reforms in the imperial examination system, a considerable number of landlords who had lost their qualifications for the examination and had no fame were no longer gentry.

He lost his status as a gentry, lost the right to rule the countryside and the ability to control the tenants personally.

Then they are not feudal lords, but agricultural capitalists.

And the farm laborers exploited by these emerging agricultural capitalists are the rural proletariat!

"It's hard now. I'm a long-term worker for Li Papi's family. Not only can I not rest in spring and autumn, but I have to work in the Li family's fields in summer, and I have to repair dams and waterwheels in winter. I don't have a head for a year!"

"It is said that the country is spreading its prestige overseas and expanding its land for thousands of miles, but the life of our common people is not as good as that of the previous dynasty..."

This topic seems to be a bit sensitive. Once this word came out, no one dared to answer it.

After a long time, someone sighed.

"Speaking of which, it's not like there's no way out... the gates of the yamen for recruiting collective farm households in the town are open. I heard that there are more ways to go to Nanyang. The rubber company of the emperor is recruiting people to go to Borneo to open up wasteland and plant rubber trees and palm trees. Yes. On average, each person has 100 mu of land to plant trees, as long as they pay [-]% of the harvest to the company for local rent. It seems to be a very good deal..."

"Fat is good, you have to have life flowers! That collective farm is a place where people die! The cultivated land in Borneo has been developed by the rubber company a long time ago. Now we are going to develop on the land of the indigenous people... say yes Farms are actually military households! Every family shoots guns and fights every day! Otherwise, why do they build collective farms? 100 households organize one village, this is the army!"

"Hey, there is no such thing as free gain in the world! Staying in your hometown is suffering, and going out for a living is trading your life for wealth! After all, the common people cannot be at ease..."

(End of this chapter)