There's a saying that goes, if you have to say it, then say it. The current Ming Dynasty's Embroidered Uniform Guard was only gradually rebuilt from the remnants after the seventeenth year of Chongzhen. They had infiltrated the Qing Dynasty's court quite thoroughly, but in terms of intelligence scope, they not only couldn't compare to the Embroidered Uniform Guard before Chongzhen but even fell short of the Qing Dynasty's Ladak.
Therefore, the Ming Dynasty had little understanding of the situation in India at the moment. They had no idea that England had not yet fully conquered India. The so-called cession of a part of India was merely offering a favor with borrowed flowers. It was giving away benefits they hadn't yet obtained.
However, this did not prevent Zeng Cheng from forming a preliminary judgment on Macartney's proposal. It was a typical case of a toad trying to court a frog: ugly but adventurous.
After some private deliberation, Zeng Cheng spoke, "If the Ming Dynasty is willing to establish this organization with your country, who would be in charge? Would the Ming Dynasty be respected? Would your King agree to that? If your country were to be respected… forgive my bluntness, but as the saying goes, two tigers cannot share one mountain. If such an organization were to be established, I fear conflicts would sooner or later arise between the Ming Dynasty and your country."
Zeng Cheng's words made Macartney a little flustered.
England naturally did not have the saying of "two tigers cannot share one mountain," but they understood the similar principle. After all, as descendants of the Anglo-Saxons, the greed of the British Empire was endless, and conflicts with the Ming Empire were bound to occur sooner or later.
Then Macartney felt it was even more necessary to establish such an organization.
If such an organization existed, even if the British Empire and the Ming Empire came into conflict, the conflict between them could be transferred to other countries in the world.
For example, any place could be chosen. The British and the Ming would not act directly but would each support a faction, letting two subordinates fight to determine the distribution of benefits between them.
In this way, the British and the Ming could join hands and treat the whole world as their own farm.
If such an organization did not exist… then once any conflict arose between the British and the Ming, it would inevitably lead to both sides taking direct action, and it might even drag the entire world into it.
The thought of such a bloody scene made Macartney feel terrible.
Not at all gentlemanly.
After careful consideration, Macartney suddenly slapped his thigh and said, "Why don't we bring in the foolish robber eagle? They are on the distant American continent, and there are no direct conflicts of interest between them and the Ming Dynasty or the British Empire."
"I think you should know that among all geometric structures, the triangle is the most stable. The Ming Dynasty, the British Empire, and the foolish robber eagle can form a triangular structure."
"Of course, if your country has a country it favors – as long as it's not France – then the rest can be discussed?"
Zeng Cheng shook his head and said, "Setting aside the fact that I cannot directly agree to Mr. Macartney's proposal at this moment, even if I could, I would certainly pull in France. The foolish robber eagle was originally part of your John Bull, and now they have simply split up. You are far more closely related to each other than your country is to the Ming Dynasty."
Yes, compared to the "scheming" Macartney, Zeng Cheng still found players like Pierre more likable, at least easier to fool.
But Macartney became anxious, "No, Lord Zeng, you may not know, Britain is Britain, and the foolish robber eagle is the foolish robber eagle. If Britain is a gentleman, then the foolish robber eagle is a hooligan, a swindler, a thief, a robber, a charlatan. In short, they are a group of criminals."
"The reason for bringing in the foolish robber eagle is because of their geographical location, which will not cause direct conflicts on land with the Ming Dynasty and the British Empire."
"Please believe me, my proposal is entirely for the benefit of the Ming Dynasty and the British Empire, not simply because the foolish robber eagle was once part of the British Empire. In fact, Britain and the foolish robber eagle have just fought a war, and their relationship is not friendly."
"Furthermore, if France is also allowed to join, it will become four countries. Once opinions are split two by two, it will be equivalent to returning to the situation where there were only the Ming Dynasty and the British Empire."
Zeng Cheng said without hesitation, "Then let's bring in another one. In fact, five countries are much better than three."
Then Macartney took out a globe, "Lord Zeng, you choose. Which country do you think is suitable? In fact, the most suitable situation is for the Ming Dynasty and the British Empire to form the two poles of the world, with the addition of the foolish robber eagle, and that would basically be enough. Moreover, this would be more advantageous to the Ming Dynasty."
Frankly speaking, the plan proposed by Macartney was indeed more advantageous to the Ming Dynasty, because the foolish robber eagle at this time had just broken free from British colonial rule and was at odds with Britain.
The reason for proposing this was that Macartney was acting on the principle of being willing to suffer a slight loss in order to win over the Ming Dynasty as an ally.
Could Britain defeat the Ming Dynasty?
No, and they might even be beaten to their knees and forced to call them daddy.
Since that was the case, they had to find a way to join forces with the big brother first, and then take the big brother to fight other easier targets, thereby strengthening themselves bit by bit.
At the very least, calling someone "big brother" was better than calling someone "daddy," as it was a generation higher, wasn't it?
Zeng Cheng naturally understood that Macartney's proposal was most beneficial to the Ming Dynasty.
But understanding it was one thing, and sometimes, accounts were not calculated that way.
If it were according to Macartney's initial idea, where this organization, whose name was yet to be decided, would have the Ming Dynasty and England as its two poles, and other countries would be drawn in to play together, what would be the difference from the Ming Dynasty continuing to play the tributary system and Britain opening a tributary system in Europe?
On the surface, it would greatly increase the influence of both countries within their respective spheres of influence, but would other countries foolishly join? They might even form an anti-Ming and anti-British alliance!
Don't forget, no matter how powerful your England is, France is not to be trifled with. They have been fighting you back and forth for over a hundred years. If any other country in Europe were to rise up one day, wouldn't England still need the Ming Dynasty's help?
Therefore, rather than waiting for England to be beaten and then dragging the Ming Dynasty down, it would be better to directly win over a few countries that have some influence and play together now.
As for the specific way to play…
A lot of ways of playing suddenly popped into Zeng Cheng's mind.
While thinking of various chaotic ways of playing in his mind, Zeng Cheng slowly spun the globe. After turning it back and forth for a long time, he couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated.
From a geographical perspective, someone should be chosen as the spokesperson for the Xikunlun that Zheng He visited in the past. However, that was an important production area for Kunlun slaves, and no country had the qualification to be the spokesperson. Moreover, it was inherently Ming Dynasty territory since ancient times – this dates back to the time of the Queen Mother of the West. Which unfilial descendant would dare abandon such important territory?
From the perspective of Europe having two spokespersons, England and France, the Ming Dynasty should have a spokesperson nearby. Russia seemed suitable, but most of the territory occupied by Russia was Ming Dynasty territory since ancient times – including the area of the Northern Sea where Su Wu herded sheep, the area controlled by the Protectorate of Anxi, and the land of the Golden Horde. Therefore, Russia would not do.
After struggling for a while, Zeng Cheng said to Macartney, "How about this: the Ming Dynasty, the British Empire, plus France and the foolish robber eagle, and then Russia. A total of five parties will decide matters."
"It's just that the territory currently occupied by Russia is a bit problematic—Nurgan Commandery is the territory of the Ming Dynasty since ancient times, Persia was a tributary state of the Tang Dynasty, and the Kazakh region is the territory of the Golden Horde, and more importantly, it is the birthplace of the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai. Therefore…"
Macartney unhesitatingly sold out Russia, "Of course, the British Empire is willing to recognize the Ming Dynasty's territorial rights since ancient times."
Zeng Cheng then nodded and said to Macartney, "This is a matter of great importance, and I cannot directly reply to Mr. Macartney at this moment. However, I will strive to facilitate this matter."
Macartney nodded in agreement, "That is natural. Lord Zeng can discuss it with your Emperor. I am indeed acting with utmost sincerity for the benefit of the Ming Dynasty and the British Empire."
…
Zhu Jinsong's face remained impassive, but his mind was in a mess. He had a thousand and ten thousand things he wanted to say.
Zhu Jinsong was not surprised that Macartney could come up with this kind of play. After all, they were barbarians from Europe, and their minds were always magical.
In a few more years, in 1795, Immanuel Kant would propose the concept of representative government and a world federation in his work "Perpetual Peace," published that year.
In about twenty years, the Concert of Europe would begin to develop, not only promoting international law, including the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions, but also setting standards for humanitarianism in international law.
In more than ninety years, the League of Nations would officially appear.
This meant that similar theories were already emerging in Europe, and it was normal for Macartney to propose it now.
The problem was that the Ming Dynasty itself still had a lot of unfinished business.
The Qing Dynasty had just advanced into the Yakesa and Chakhtu regions, and the Ming Dynasty had not yet had the chance to punish the Qing Dynasty. The Western Regions Protectorate had not been rebuilt, the large island where kangaroos were produced had not been obtained, and the southern barbarian states were still in chaos.
Not to mention the ancient territories like Xikunlun and Yin Diyan that had not yet been recovered.
Even setting aside the lost territories that had not yet been recovered, the situation of the Ming Dynasty alone was enough to cause a headache. The base of 300 million people in the Ming Dynasty meant that any trivial problem could be infinitely amplified.
To give just one example, it took more than three years to implement the policy of eradicating local bullies and distributing land, and to expand it from Shandong and Henan to more than a dozen other provinces.
The social schools were even more so. It had been a full five years since Zhu Jinsong ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, yet on average across all the territories controlled by the Ming Dynasty, it was considered good if each county had two or three social schools.
Not to mention various roads, bridges, rivers, and other miscellaneous projects. Although Zhu Jinsong and all the high officials in the Ming court had been working hard to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, since the Ming Dynasty's paper currency was linked to gold and silver, the national treasury's silver reserves had never exceeded five million taels of silver.
Given this situation, playing the joint pot with Macartney and the others?
It was hard to say what others would think of this matter, but Liu Huaiwen would definitely ask Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, for money to buy cats.
Besides, didn't the United Nations have five permanent members?
Just thinking about the United Nations, Zhu Jinsong thought of another way to make money.
If played well, it could at least earn the treasury hundreds of thousands or even more taels of silver.
After thinking about it, Zhu Jinsong immediately summoned all the leading figures in the Ming court. He first explained Macartney's proposal and then got straight to the point, saying, "Now there is an opportunity to make money. It depends on whether we can seize it."