There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 414 Alliances and Prospecting

After the daytime military parade concluded, the British delegation returned to their embassy to rest in the evening.

Edmund went to his desk, took out his pen, and began writing in his diary, a record of his trip to China as the company's special envoy: "Dear shareholders and Your Excellency the Governor, I think it's time for us to re-examine and change our attitude towards China, this distant and powerful Eastern empire..."

"It is no longer the backward, corrupt, closed-off, and antiquated Qing Empire that Mr. Macartney described, rejecting all foreign influences. The new Chinese emperor has defeated the corrupt Qing emperor and established a new empire called the Great Han..."

"As far as I know, the Great Han seems to be an ancient name for this Eastern empire, representing a powerful Eastern dynasty. I now have reason to suspect that the new Chinese emperor is a prince descended from this Great Han dynasty, and this is a restoration movement launched by a prince..."

"A few days ago, we met with the Chinese Emperor. I presented Mr. Macartney's list and was reprimanded by the emperor and expelled from his palace. It couldn't even be called a palace; the luxurious estate of any great European nobleman could compare to the Chinese Emperor's palace. This shows that the Chinese Emperor lived a frugal life..."

"Although we were expelled from the Chinese emperor's palace, we were not expelled from the tributary embassy, ​​and the negotiations were not over. We were taken by the accompanying Chinese officials to participate in the Chinese emperor's military review ceremony, a special celebration held by the Chinese emperor to inspect his troops..."

"On the castle in Nanjing, we saw the army of the Chinese emperor. It was a powerful army, the soldiers marching in perfect unison, their formations almost flawless. Both soldiers and officers had eyes filled with honor and courage, something unseen in the armies of any European country..."

"We asked the accompanying Chinese officials whether these troops were the Chinese Emperor's personal guard, but they claimed they were all newly recruited this year. I was very shocked by this. How much salary must soldiers be paid to have such a strong sense of honor? It wasn't until I asked them that they told me the answer without reservation... I think this is not a good idea..."

"The military parade has concluded. I have decided to lead the delegation tomorrow to express our sincerest respect (admit defeat) to the Chinese Emperor..."

At this point, Edmund abruptly stopped writing and closed his diary.

He plans to lead his delegation to the Chinese emperor tomorrow to apologize and discuss the details of cooperation between the two sides.

It was impossible for him not to back down. Before he saw the military parade of the Han Dynasty, he still had some confidence to stand firm, but after seeing it, he completely surrendered.

As mentioned earlier, at that time, the armies of various countries in continental Europe were still largely limited to mercenaries and officers and nobles engaged in "limited warfare".

It wasn't until eight years ago, when the European coalition against France attacked France, leading to France's "conscription order," that the European continent began to transform into a modern standing army system.

The timeframe was too short; institutional reform of the military cannot be accomplished with a single order. Moreover, the British, being an isolated maritime power, still operate under the "New Model Army" or, one might say, the Redcoats, established by Lord Protector Cromwell.

To be more specific, the current number of British troops is less than 80 corps. During the Victorian era (the First Opium War), it expanded to 100 corps. A British corps has about 700 to 1000 men (usually an underestimation), so the total strength of the British army is less than 10.

Moreover, in order to manage the colonies, three-quarters of the British army was stationed in the colonies, which further reduced the fighting capacity of the British army.

This is not surprising. In the later Napoleonic Wars, which were extremely intense, Napoleon's invincible French army, which had almost swept across the European continent, had an average of only 8 troops participating in the war.

Looking back, almost none of the large-scale battles in which France participated involved more than 5 troops. During the Thirty Years' War, the average number of troops involved in a single battle was only 1.9, which was like children playing house.

What truly fueled the British ambitions was the formal unification of Great Britain and Ireland this year, which led to the first post-unification census confirming that the United Kingdom's population had reached 1600 million, instantly boosting the British people's confidence.

Then, after 50 years, the British army finally reached 100,000 men, which was one-third the size of the French army and one-eighth the size of the Russian army at the same time.

Unfortunately, this is the reality for maritime and island nations; they can only prioritize naval development, while their army is merely an auxiliary force to help the navy fight on land.

The East India Company, now a colony in India, could muster an army of 20 men, but only a few percent of them were British troops; the rest were all Indian auxiliary forces.

The British themselves were quite troubled by the fighting capabilities of these Indian auxiliary forces. At most, they were only good at suppressing colonies and fighting other countries. Sending their own people to their deaths was considered their hard work.

In the great war in which the British defeated the Mughal Empire, the Mughals mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops, while the British deployed 700 troops, successfully crushing the Mughal Empire.

This battle report is recorded in a rather abstract way.

Edmund thought that the company couldn't beat the Chinese emperor, and he even had to persuade the detestable governor not to get into a conflict with the Chinese emperor.

The only weakness of the Chinese emperor at present may be his naval power. However, he has already seen the Chinese emperor's navy. He is not sure whether those large ships can fight. He can only judge based on the inertia and experience of Europeans that such large warships should have some combat capabilities.

Moreover, there were too many of them. The British could only send a fleet from India, passing through Mingulian. There certainly wouldn't be enough warships to get through. If they were surrounded by the Chinese fleet, whether they could escape would be another matter entirely.

Historically, the Qing Dynasty suffered a crushing defeat in the First Opium War, but what is truly baffling is that the British fleet that actually invaded the Qing coast was merely a scout fleet sent to explore the area.

Before the outbreak of war, Guan Tianpei, the Qing Dynasty's Guangdong naval commander, was truly in despair. This fellow came to Guangdong and decided to reorganize the firearms and armaments, but after a round of cannon testing at Humen, six cannons exploded.

Upon inspection, relics from the Ming Dynasty were even found inside. With great difficulty, permission was obtained to recast 59 new cannons in Foshan Town. During the test firing, three cannons exploded and ten duds, resulting in a failure rate as high as 22%. One soldier was killed and another was wounded during the test firing.

The explosion stunned Guan Junmen. An investigation later revealed that the new cannon was full of air vents and could hold four bowls of water.

The Qing Dynasty was quite remarkable; its water-cooled cannons were 100 years ahead of the West.

...The temporary palace of the Han emperor.

Nie Yu was reviewing memorials: "Is the British delegation willing to talk things out properly now?"

Shen Huaiyuan, the Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies, said: "Edmund, the English envoy, wishes to express England's highest respect to His Majesty the Emperor of our Dynasty!"

pat!

Nie Yu casually tossed a newly reviewed memorial onto the table and said, "No need for so much useless talk. I really like this saying: If diplomacy between two countries doesn't discuss interests and demands, wouldn't it be a waste of the blood shed by our soldiers?"

Shen Huaiyuan quickly cupped his hands in greeting: "Your Majesty is wise; what you say is true."

Nie Yu gave his instructions: "In the subsequent negotiations between the Court of State Ceremonial and the British delegation, the two countries can form a strategic alliance, but the Han Dynasty cannot agree to the remaining six demands of Britain. Moreover, Britain was in the wrong first, and must transport another 1000 Indian warhorses to the Han Dynasty this year, maintaining 500 warhorses annually thereafter, and these horses cannot be castrated. Also, I've heard that the South China Sea is quite lively now. Luzon is the territory of the Portuguese, and Borneo has been invaded by foreign devils. I don't like so many foreign vassals lingering under my nose!"

Nie Yu's political intentions have become clear: in addition to getting more horses from the British, the Han Dynasty also needs the British to be hostile to the Spanish and Dutch.

Just then, Lanfang and Daiyan, two overseas Chinese, became annexed by the Chinese government. The Han Dynasty was unsure how to deal with them. The Han Dynasty was not a puppet Qing Dynasty, so it was full of worries.

What the Han Dynasty was truly worried about was its insufficient military strength, especially its naval power, which might make it difficult to control the two countries of Lanfang and Daiyan.

The cabinet was also concerned about whether such overseas vassal states were a gain or a loss for the Han Dynasty.

Although Emperor Nie Yu guaranteed that overseas territories were good tools for raising national revenue, relieving population pressure, and expanding overseas, they still preferred to believe the historical records that managing vassal territories was a pure loss.

The Han and Tang dynasties made great efforts to manage the Western Regions, building cities, stationing troops, and constructing post stations and official roads. Despite all these efforts, they still lost the Western Regions.

The continuous invasions by the Xiongnu and Tibetans, coupled with the fact that the Western Regions campaigns were indeed too unprofitable, dragging down the finances of the Han and Tang dynasties.

While the Western Regions did indeed have the Silk Road, the imperial court's efforts to manage the Western Regions were purely unprofitable. The Western Regions were desolate and had few Han Chinese inhabitants. How could the commercial profits from the Silk Road possibly support such a vast territory? At best, it served as a strategic area, protecting the country's borders and land power.

The situation in Lanfang is similar. The cabinet has never seen Lanfang in person, but upon hearing that there are less than 50 Han Chinese people occupying an area almost the size of a province, they wonder how to manage it.

Regardless of whether accepting it will cause trouble later, there is currently a Dutchman who covets Lanfang's territory that needs to be dealt with.

The Dutch caused Koxinga quite a bit of trouble.

Fortunately, just when you're sleepy, you find a pillow. Nie Yu now has a reason to pressure the British into intervening in Borneo. There's no need for war; it's enough for China and Britain to work together to put pressure on the Dutch.

The British would certainly agree, because the British East India Company had commercial competition with the Spanish and Dutch, and Britain had just merged with Ireland this year, making it a time of great ambition.

Britain and France were sworn enemies; Spain had just annexed the French, and the Netherlands was already a French protectorate.

After discussing the matter with the British, Shen Huaiyuan took his leave, and Nie Yu continued reviewing memorials.

After approving only a few letters, a report came in from the Hunan Ministry of Works' prospecting team: the prospecting team had found nothing and requested instructions from the court whether to stop.

Nie Yu could only sigh helplessly. He vaguely remembered that industrial exploration in Hunan in later years seemed to have a huge gold vein, more than 40 in total, known as the "Golden Belt".

He didn't remember very clearly how these veins were mined, and before he transmigrated here, there weren't even many large gold mines.

Nie Yu thought for a moment, then wrote in vermilion ink: "Read. You should strive to explore for minerals for the country."

Mineral exploration must continue. Large mines are not easy to find. There is geological evidence from later generations, and in Yiyang County of this era, it is indeed possible to occasionally find nuggets of gold, which means that there must be huge mineral veins.

Nie Yu is temporarily abandoning the gold standard, but gold itself has value, and it is still very valuable even without the gold standard.

Moreover, Nie Yu did not fixate on one place. The prospecting teams in Hunan are currently mainly exploring in three locations: Yiyang County, Pingjiang County, and Yuanzhou Prefecture.

These three areas roughly mark the boundaries of the "Golden Belt" mineral vein.

Yiyang County is known for its occasional discovery of exposed gold nuggets, while Pingjiang County was rumored to be the site of China's largest gold mine before he transmigrated there.

Yuanzhou Prefecture is purely a matter of luck. If you find it, you won't lose anything; if you don't, it's okay. Just consider it as accumulating geological experience.

(End of this chapter)