I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 594 Alliance

Although the emperor made a decision, the details must not be so straightforward. The cabinet and Honglu Temple must also discuss and negotiate to strive for the greatest benefits.

This is the normal state of diplomacy between countries.

Even during the Song Dynasty, while paying tribute to the ministers, they also tried to make up for their interests in other aspects.

In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, these banknotes were used to lure the Jurchens of Jin into a trap, thus causing a financial crisis for them.

Of course, I am invincible in the Qing Dynasty, so I will definitely do this.

Measure China's material resources and bring joy to the country.

This is the confidence of being "rich and wealthy"!

After more than half a month of negotiations, Ming Dynasty and Britain officially signed the Treaty of Tianzhu in Nanjing:

First, the Ming Dynasty and Britain formed strategic allies to jointly fight against all third-party colonial forces and enemies in Tianzhu.

Second, the two countries jointly monopolize all cotton textile industries in Tianzhu, and merchants from the two countries will no longer impose additional taxes on each other.

Third, the commercial and trade privileges enjoyed by the British in Tianzhu must also be enjoyed by the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty and the British should jointly protect all the rights of the merchants and people of the two countries in Tianzhu.

Fourth, the two countries took the Deccan Plateau as the boundary and equally divided the colonial territory in Tianzhu.

Fifth, all British colonial areas in Bengal, including Calcutta and Chittagong, were transferred to Ming China, except for the colonial areas of Surat and Bombay.

Sixth, Ceylon does not belong to the southern Tianzhu divided by the agreement.

This agreement was signed by representatives of the British envoys, and it was the British East India Company that gave it legal effect.

But the British royal family and Parliament will definitely admit it, and this is indeed profitable for the British.

Although they lost a colony, it was still a colony that developed quite well, but in exchange it gained Ming, the overlord of the Far East, as a strategic ally.

The French and Dutch will be nothing. The British can bring Ming and China together to fight against the navies of the two countries.

The strength of the French lasted until decades later, when the Americans started the War of Independence and the British advanced by sea and land, but were completely defeated by French reinforcements.

Not to mention the American army, they were almost defeated by the British.

The British envoy left Nanjing with satisfaction. He wanted to go back as soon as possible to report the results of the negotiations and bring a copy of the treaty back to the company's senior management.

The transfer of property and people in the Calcutta colonial area is already in progress. It is just a colony, and it can be thrown away if it can be exchanged for greater benefits.

The current British have not yet realized what the Indian subcontinent means to them, nor do they know how easy this broken place can be. Even the French, who are regarded as their formidable enemies, only have decades of experience.

The French envoy Frank was currently sightseeing in the streets of Nanjing. His Majesty the Emperor of Ming China rejected the proposal to form an alliance with the Kingdom of France.

However, Frank did not react much to this, not only because he was just a businessman, but also because the French East India Company was different from the British and Dutch.

The British East India Company was supported by the government, and in turn suppressed the government through economic control, eventually forming a political entity in which officials and businessmen colluded.

Not to mention the Dutch, the entire country is a toy of Dutch businessmen.

Only the French were different. Their East India Company was created purely by the French King to disgust the British, and was specifically set up to fight against the British and grab business in India.

Therefore, the French East India Company had no government support and could not represent the French King.

It is for this important reason that in the struggle between India and the British, the French East India Company quickly became unable to withstand it, and its trade volume was far less than that of the British. Before the collapse of France, the company declared bankruptcy .

For Frank, if their king hadn't gone crazy, no one would have wanted to come to this poor corner of India. Moreover, for the sake of political interests, he did not hesitate to spend a lot of time and energy to compete with the British for business, but he failed to do so.

As early as ten years ago, the company had declared bankruptcy due to financial difficulties and was then forcibly reorganized.

But it was of no use. Until now, the French's trade volume in India was less than half that of the British, so they encouraged the Marathas to sneak attack the British colonial area of ​​Bombay.

By the way, the French East India Company lost all the wars it fought with the British from its establishment.

The Chinese emperor refused to ally with France, and Frank's mission was a direct failure. However, he was not in a hurry to return to India, and instead went sightseeing in Nanjing.

Before coming to Nanjing, he disembarked in Macau and did some sightseeing. The Portuguese there were completely different from those he had seen before. A group of Portuguese people with European faces, dressed in Ming Dynasty Chinese costumes, communicated with each other in fluent Chinese.

Arriving all the way from Macau to Nanjing, Frank was even more surprised to find that in any big port city, the streets and alleys were almost always clean.

It's not the cleanliness of later generations, but the sewers are not as clogged as French cities and villages should be. Feces and urine are scattered everywhere, and the city is full of stench.

The French city is notorious for its stinky smell. Even the king's palace has no one to clean the toilets for a long time, and the palace corridors are full of human feces. In the end, I couldn't stand the smell anymore, so I simply moved out of the original palace and built a new one.

Not to mention that Europeans are civilized. Europeans in the early days of the great voyage were not very civilized.

From the Sun King who never bathed, to the British who only eat "finger food"... The British's current knife and fork habits were brought over by a Portuguese princess who married to England.

After Frank asked the officials of Honglu Temple, he learned that it was because there is a professional worker in China who specializes in collecting feces.

These people will go from house to house every day, cleaning up the feces and filth in citizens' homes, public toilets, and sewers and taking them out of the city.

The government even set up a dung bidding office specifically for this purpose, and contracted dung collectors to different dung collectors in the inner and outer urban areas of Nanjing, down to the specific streets.

It would be impossible if the government did not intervene. In the past, there was no management of the dung collectors in Nanjing, and it all depended on who had the biggest fist. In addition, due to the change of dynasties, the imperial court abolished the status of untouchables. Those excrement collectors gathered and fought there almost every day for excrement, and the officials arrested them to no avail.

In the end, there was no choice but to have the imperial court come forward and divide areas for these dung collectors. They were contracted by the government, and they didn't have to pay anyway.

Frank was quite surprised to hear that these people could collect manure for free without paying any money.

You know, in French cities, even Paris, there are not enough workers to clean up feces, causing the city to be filled with stench. Then it gave birth to France, which is rich in perfumes, and the famous Renaissance movement.

Frank visited the neighborhood markets in Nanjing for several days and visited almost the entire inner city of Nanjing. There were only a few places where it was forbidden to approach and there were even soldiers stationed there.

After inquiry, it was found that there was the Academy of Sciences of Ming Dynasty China, which seemed to be the same as European science. Even China's current cotton spinning technology came from there.

Frank did not insist and returned to the French Guest House in Honglu Temple.

At night, Frank lit an oil lamp and began to write in his diary (these Europeans seem to like writing diary essays):

"As a businessman of the Kingdom, I am honored to be able to represent the Kingdom as an envoy to this powerful empire in the Far East!"

"This Far Eastern Empire called the Ming Dynasty was powerful and prosperous. There was not gold everywhere, but there were neat and clean streets. They even had special excrement collectors installed by the government to collect and clean the streets and sewers. The feces and filth in it..."

"These workers still don't receive wages. They seem to need the excrement as fertilizer for farming. Perhaps, when I return to the kingdom, I should also persuade my king and the nobles and bureaucrats to pay attention to the disposal of excrement. …”

"Oh, I'm so crazy! Those aristocratic bureaucrats only have money and tax collection in their eyes. Dealing with the excrement in the city so that the common people can harvest more food is nothing to them. As for the gradual collapse of the kingdom, Finance, if it weren’t for them, I’m afraid these situations wouldn’t have happened…”

"Moreover, my king is still too young now. He is eager to establish merit. Maybe I should start from this aspect. Learn how the Ming Dynasty made civilians and the country prosperous. Their education system is also more complete than France. At least. Learning knowledge here does not require learning Latin, and the kingdom should follow this example..."

"It's a pity that this Far Eastern Empire has very strict control over their cotton spinning machines. It's almost difficult for me to get close. I can only rely on hearsay. If I can also get their cotton spinning machines and mass-produce them, the kingdom's cotton trade will definitely be destroyed." Towards prosperity…”

"I also bought a globe from their bookstore. The territory of this Far Eastern Empire is so vast that it actually includes the North Pole. Now they are allied with the hateful Anglo-Saxons (British), and the French East India Company is in India. , will also become more difficult. The king really shouldn't set up a company in India. The losses are already so huge, and now war is just around the corner..."

This French businessman and envoy named Frank wrote these diaries with mixed feelings. At the end, he also felt a little worried about the speed of Ming's expansion.

However, this is obviously of no use. France is now in a complex political entity that is dominated by national doubts and combines politics and religion.

Since six years ago, the entire France has been ruled by Cardinal Fleury, with the strong support of the young French King Louis XV behind the scenes.

A country is ruled by a cardinal. If China were to learn the truth, even the cabinet would find it incredible.

This concept is basically equivalent to asking the abbot of Shaolin Temple to serve as regent for the emperor... It is difficult to evaluate.

Anyway, this cardinal is a pacifist. France under his rule can pay all costs for peace and avoiding war.

Although sometimes Louis XV would be willful, at least in the Far East, if the Ming and British coalition forces fought on the Indian battlefield, the French East India Company would most likely not have any reinforcements.

After all, they are not a government organization in the first place. How dare they go to war on behalf of France without permission?

　Louis XV was the grandfather of Louis XVI, and he was even more romantic and lecherous than the Sun King Louis XIV. He was basically used for prostitution during his reign.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)