The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 378: There are conditions for becoming a vassal state

News from all over the world and all aspects was sent to Shuntian Prefecture one after another, and after being summarized, it was presented to the Ming Emperor Zhu Jianxuan.

Zhu Jianxuan was not surprised by the reactions of countries such as Spain, Denmark and Sweden.

The Ming Dynasty destroyed the Ottoman Empire and Russia in one fell swoop, and its deterrent power on the nobles and officials of European countries reached an unprecedented peak.

In the next few decades, no country or organization will dare to challenge the Ming army.

However, it was only at this time that they took the initiative to submit to the Ming Dynasty and pay tribute. The conditions that the Ming Dynasty could give them would no longer be the same as a few years ago.

Many people in this world take it for granted that Zhu Jianxuan must want to unify the entire world as soon as possible.

European politicians even feel that Zhu Jianxuan definitely wants to realize the title of world ruler.

Therefore, if the few countries that are still independent are willing to take the initiative to become vassals of the Ming Dynasty, they should be able to receive some care.

But Zhu Jianxuan’s mentality is not like this.

The Ming Dynasty's military power was invincible, and it also controlled the vast majority of the world's population, land, resources, and industry.

If the few countries outside the Ming Dynasty's vassal system could not integrate into this system, they would be comprehensively targeted and isolated from the whole world.

Now they want to join this system. Not only will the Ming Dynasty take care of them, they will also have to pay a price in exchange for the qualification to enter.

So when the Honglu Temple submitted the applications from these countries, Zhu Jianxuan asked the Honglu Temple to propose conditions to these countries.

Spain needs to hand over the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean to the Ming Dynasty's European Province, and divide the Catalonia and Aragon regions among the other two royal family members.

The Balearic Islands have a total area of ​​more than 5,000 square kilometers and are the largest archipelago in Spain.

In 1713, after the War of the Spanish Succession, the warring countries signed the Treaty of Utrecht, and Minorca, the outermost island of the Balearic Islands, was ceded to Britain along with Gibraltar.

After the American War of 1780, Spain was unable to regain Gibraltar, but did regain the Mediterranean island of Menorca.

What the Ming Dynasty is demanding now is the entire archipelago, including Menorca.

Britain originally obtained the island of Minorca, and now the Ming Dynasty is asking for the entire Paris Islands including Minorca.

The Ming Dynasty has a unique geographical endowment, with vast and complex inland territory and depth, as well as a long and winding warm coastline.

When the overall strength of the Ming Dynasty was weak, the defense pressure on both land and sea was probably very great.

However, if a country is strong enough, it can also take into account both sea power and land power.

Russia is a natural land power, with little defense pressure at sea, but it is also difficult to develop maritime power as its seaports are blocked by other countries.

Britain and the United States are both typical maritime powers, and there are almost no threats and strategic pressures on land, so the status and overall level of the army are also very low.

For a long time, Britain did not allow the country to have a standing army, and the early US standing army had only a few hundred people.

In the eyes of many traditional British people, the army is used to suppress the country's citizens, so it is better to just cut it off and leave issues such as public security to the police.

When the Ming Dynasty was on land, it had to build a strong army like Russia, and when it was at sea it had to build a huge navy like Britain.

In terms of its naval and overseas colonial strategies, the Ming Dynasty behaved very much like a typical maritime power, and its logic was naturally very similar to that of Britain.

It’s just that the Ming Dynasty was larger in size, and the scale of its demands and control of colonies would also be larger.

As for Catalonia and Aragon, they are places with relatively high independence within mainland Spain.

The current Kingdom of Spain was formed during the Reconquista by uniting the three major regions of Catalonia, Aragon and Castile.

After the formation of the Kingdom of Spain, the ruling center was Castile on the plateau, and Catalonia was gradually marginalized.

This is how the conflict between Catalonia and the Spanish central court arose.

In its original history, Catalonia has repeatedly jumped back and forth between France and Spain, and has declared independence many times when conflicts broke out between the two countries.

However, once the conflict between France and Spain is resolved, Catalonia will once again be controlled by Spain.

Because Catalonia can't actually do without Spain.

Barcelona, ​​the capital of Catalonia, is an important port for Spain on the Mediterranean. Spain relies on this port for its outward trade.

Catalonia also relies on resources and industries from inland Spain for support.

Catalonia's repeated calls for independence are actually aimed at demanding a higher status and repeatedly emphasizing its own importance.

If Catalonia really becomes independent, goods in Spain that would have entered and left Barcelona would be transferred to other ports.

Catalonia’s wealth and status would decline rapidly.

So the people of Catalonia and Barcelona want independence in spirit, but they cannot be truly independent physically and materially.

The Ming Dynasty now simply allows them to become semi-independent in reality, splitting up Spain's already not-so-strong force and increasing the conflict between Catalonia and the Spanish court.

As for Denmark, it still retains the legacy of its former great power. Greenland, Iceland and Norway currently belong to Denmark.

But the Ming Dynasty would not allow him to continue to retain all the land.

Greenland and Iceland will be assigned to the Ming Dynasty's American Province, Schleswig in the southern part of the mainland will be assigned to the Ming Dynasty's European Province, and the Norwegian region will also be divided among other members of the royal family.

For Denmark at that time, Iceland and Greenland were of no use. Norway was originally a united region and had been ceded to Sweden in history.

If only these places were ceded, it would be a significant loss, but it would be far from unacceptable.

But Schleswig in his native country has pushed the conditions to the critical point. Let's see if Denmark can give in. If not, then wait for a beating. There is no need for the imperial court to intervene in Denmark.

It would be easy to let the mad king of Hanover, Zhu Jingjian, and his wife go to fight.

As for Sweden, it wanted to cede several large islands in the Baltic Sea to the Ming Dynasty's European province and grant Finland to another member of the royal family.

Although Sweden was also in decline at this time, it was still stronger than Denmark.

Otherwise, Norway would not have been taken from Denmark during the same period of history, so Sweden was treated slightly better and was allowed to retain its entire homeland.

But he cannot be allowed to continue to be sandwiched between the Baltic Sea, and all the islands in the Baltic Sea must be abandoned.

Zhu Jianxuan directly reminded the Honglu Temple that these conditions and demands could only be agreed to or not, there was no room for bargaining, and the Ming Dynasty did not need to argue with them.

If they don't accept it, then we will formally implement comprehensive trade sanctions and a comprehensive trade blockade.

No ship could leave their borders.

Even war.

This attitude shown by Zhu Jianxuan and Daming will definitely cause a huge psychological gap to the parties involved.

But that is not what Zhu Jianxuan needs to consider.

At the same time, the news of the death of the old Austrian king and the Austrians' questions about the king's coronation ceremony were also delivered to Zhu Jianxuan on time.

When Zhu Jianxuan looked at the news from Austria, his first reaction was that Joseph II in this world was really lucky.

In the original history, Joseph died of tuberculosis in 1790, but now he lived until 1816, which means he had lived twenty-six more years.

Moreover, his achievements in this life far exceed his original historical achievements.

But it is obvious that Joseph II himself did not know that his current performance was already extremely high, and he might end up depressed because of paying tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Jianxuan was filled with emotion when he thought about this matter.

When I was just beginning to understand things, the world outside Ming Dynasty and India was still basically the same as the original history, but now it has been completely overturned.

Faced with the Austrians' concerns, Zhu Jianxuan also seriously considered for a while whether to take this opportunity to dismember Austria.

Tear up this patchwork monster and let Hungary, Bohemia, Austria and Bavaria become independent.

But Austria was also a hero in this war. Not only was he not rewarded right after the victory, but his fiefdom was deliberately split up, which really damaged his political reputation.

Moreover, even if it is not dismembered, the threat posed by Austria in its current stitched state to the Ming Dynasty is also limited, and may even be less than that posed by Poland.

In the future, Europe will have three powerful feudal states: France, Poland and Austria. Let them check and balance each other.

In the end, Zhu Jianxuan basically accepted the suggestions made by Metternich of Austria.

Let the envoys of the Ming Dynasty's Honglu Temple cooperate with the Habsburgs to hold a ceremony of enthronement that combines the Eastern and Western elements in Austria, Hungary and other places.

Combine the coronation and investiture ceremonies into one.

By the way, he should also be given the rewards that Austria deserves after this war.

Zhu Jianxuan asked someone to bring a map of Europe. He looked at and planned on the map for a while and determined the new borders of Austria.

From northeast to southwest, the east continues to be bounded by the Carpathian Mountains, which is the natural geographical boundary of Hungary.

To the south and west, along the central Balkan mountain range, the island stretches to the Adriatic Sea.

The lands east and north of the Adriatic Sea, central and northern parts of the former Yugoslavia, and Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina were directly ceded to Austria.

Joseph II's son Karl was named Duke of Montenegro, with his fief in the Montenegro region south of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

When Zhu Jianxuan was drawing the borders of Austria and arranging the matters of enfeoffment, he gradually realized that the administrative divisions of the entire Old Continent should also be sorted out as a whole.

First of all, in order for the world to be truly unified, it is natural to reorganize the administrative divisions within the system of Shenzhou Tianchao.

That is to say, the implementation of the real unification of systems and management levels.

Secondly, in history, India, Central Asia, Persia, the Ottoman Empire, Europe and other regions have been in a state of war for a long time, resulting in chaotic borders among countries.

Now that these places have been incorporated into the Ming Dynasty, there will be no more wars.

It is also necessary to re-define more reasonable boundaries for them based on the natural geographical environment and the scope of ethnic activities.

It was during this process that it was determined which lands would be left for the imperial court to establish provinces directly under its jurisdiction, and which lands could be distributed to meritorious officials and vassal states.

Zhu Jianxuan asked his secretary to bring the maps of Shenzhou and the world, and spread them on his desk to observe and consider.

All places ruled by dynasties throughout history must be directly incorporated into the court's jurisdiction, including the Western Regions, the Snowy Regions, and Central Asia.

On this basis, in order to control Central Asia and Europe, the lands along the future glaciers and rivers will also be brought under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court.

In addition, there are areas around the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, including the Greek region, and around St. Petersburg next to the Baltic Sea.

These areas will then be connected together through railways and canals to ensure convenient transportation and communications.

Then, extremely sparsely populated and desolate areas, such as northern Siberia, can be directly incorporated into the provinces directly under the court, and there is no need to establish vassal states.

On the contrary, those densely populated areas, especially the inland areas of India, should be allocated to vassal states for development and construction as much as possible.

(End of this chapter)