Burying the Great Qing
Volume IV, Chapter 464: The Monkey to Scare the Chickens Has Arrived
When Mustafa Pasha proposed leveraging the Great Ming’s power to resolve the issues with the Ottoman Janissaries and traditional nobility, Mahmud II also found himself unable to sit still.
Unlike the twelve enlightened Ming emperors who were constantly immersed in dreams, the successive Ottoman Sultans were remarkably clear-headed. Even when faced with situations that felt like “crushing two eggs,” they rarely deviated from their original intentions, and figures like Mustafa IV were uncommon.
As for Mahmud II…
It is widely known that heretics are more detestable than infidels, and people often feel that other factions within the same camp are more deserving of death than enemies from opposing camps.
With the tragic and farcical events of Selim III’s brutal death and Mustafa IV’s rebellion, coupled with the Ottoman Empire repeatedly transferring benefits to the Great Ming, to the point where Mahmud II himself was treated like a dog by Emperor Zhu, Mahmud II became even more eager to eliminate the Ottoman Janissaries.
As a certain principal once said: “To repel external threats, one must first pacify the internal.”
If the Ottoman Empire were viewed as a person, the Janissaries, who had existed for hundreds of years, would be akin to a cancerous tumor within the body.
Mahmud II knew very well that without resolving the issue of the Ottoman Janissaries, all his reformist ideas would remain mere visions, and all his reformist plans would be confined to paper, never to be truly implemented.
Thinking of Selim III, who died because he failed to eliminate the Janissaries, Mahmud II made up his mind.
Nodding slightly towards Mustafa Pasha, Mahmud II gritted his teeth and said, “Send word to the Emperor of the Great Ming that this Sultan will personally lead the Ottoman Janissaries and navy to Cape Acesol to participate in the Great Ming’s maritime military exercise.”
Mustafa Pasha nodded in agreement and then steered the conversation back to the Suez Canal. “According to the intelligence we’ve gathered, England, the Russian Empire, and the Habsburgs are all interested in the Suez Canal project. The only problem now is that we don’t have enough laborers to excavate the canal.”
Mahmud II was taken aback and asked, “What? Did the method proposed by the Emperor of the Great Ming not work?”
The method proposed by the Emperor of the Great Ming, which Mahmud II was referring to, was for the Ottomans to first find ways to attract nobles, officials, and gentry to invest, and then use money to recruit Ottoman civilians to work at the canal construction site. The advantages of this approach were twofold: it would excavate the canal and increase the income of the Ottoman civilians, and once the canal was opened, it would enrich the Ottoman treasury.
However, Mustafa Pasha shook his head slightly. “At first, I also thought the method proposed by the Emperor of the Great Ming was excellent. But after I sent people to survey the canal project, I discovered that the difficulty of excavating the Suez Canal is far greater than we imagined.”
“If all the work is done by civilians, the civilian casualties will be very high, and it might affect the progress and stability of the entire project.”
“If we want to use a large number of laborers like the Great Ming…”
Mustafa Pasha said with a look of consternation, “Firstly, we don’t have that many laborers. Secondly, we don’t have a stable source of laborers like the Great Ming. In other words, we can’t use a large number of laborers at all like the Great Ming.”
Hearing Mustafa Pasha’s words, Mahmud II also felt a sense of helplessness.
It is well known that both the English East India Company and the Dutch East India Company were merely labor dispatch companies for the Great Ming. These companies, despite their names, were actually slave trading syndicates. They scoured for slaves, even selling common Europeans like pigs to the Great Ming, which allowed the Great Ming to use labor without any reservations.
With the support of the Great Ming, the English and Dutch East India Companies had monopolized nearly ninety percent of the labor dispatch business on Earth. The remaining ten percent was divided among the approximately one hundred countries on Earth.
In other words, apart from the Great Ming, it was a question of whether other countries on Earth could afford laborers. More importantly, they lacked labor dispatch partners like the East India Companies and had no stable source of labor. Even if they wanted to use laborers, they had none to use.
After thinking for a moment, Mahmud II simply looked at Mustafa Pasha and asked, “Do you have any good ideas?”
Mustafa Pasha pondered before replying, “It’s not that there are no solutions. It mainly depends on whether they can be successful. According to the deductions of those scholars, the excavation of the Suez Canal is likely to result in thousands of casualties. If the Sultan can truly rely on the Emperor of the Great Ming and the Great Ming army to deal with the Janissaries, then these laborers will be available, won’t they?”
Using the Janissaries as laborers?
Mahmud II suddenly felt a stir of interest.
After carefully considering it, Mahmud II couldn’t help but grit his teeth and say, “I will find a way to turn the Janissaries into laborers.”
…
While Mahmud II and Mustafa Pasha were plotting how to use the Emperor of the Great Ming’s sword to kill the Ottoman Janissaries, Emperor Zhu was basking in the sun at Cape Acesol.
The main reason was that he was too idle.
Maritime military exercises were not something that could be accomplished with mere words. They required the preparation of supplies, the deployment of participating fleets and armies, the clearing of nearby sea areas, and various other miscellaneous tasks that needed to be in place. This process was not a matter of days.
However, the crucial point was that these issues did not require Emperor Zhu’s personal attention. Someone would naturally consider all aspects of the preparations and carry them out in advance for Emperor Zhu.
Therefore, besides sunbathing, Emperor Zhu really had nothing else to do.
That was until the Embroidered Uniform Guard delivered intelligence from Sri Lanka.
“Yamamoto Ichihon, leading fifty thousand of his subjugated倭奴 (wōnú - derogatory term for Japanese) troops, launched a large-scale attack on Sri Lanka. The East India Company was defeated and retreated. General Manager Howard had an arm severed. Deputy General Managers Little Wallace and Marshall are temporarily handling all affairs of the East India Company in place of Howard.”
“The English side has received news that Yamamoto Nijuhachi (Yamamoto Twenty-eight) is leading troops to attack Sri Lanka. They have dispatched a fleet of twelve warships to Sri Lanka to support the East India Company and have sent envoys to Japan, attempting to resolve the Sri Lankan issue by applying pressure on the Japanese government.”
“George III has uttered many rebellious and disloyal words in his palace. His heart deserves to be punished!”
“…”
After roughly reviewing the intelligence, Emperor Zhu casually handed it over to his eldest son, Prince Zhu Jianying, and said with a smile, “Take a good look at this intelligence.”
Prince Zhu Jianying quickly read through the intelligence, but after finishing, he was somewhat bewildered.
According to the intelligence provided by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the English East India Company was a not insignificant force west of India. They were equipped with various large warships and cannons. Although the commander of the military base in Chennai, Luo Hong, stated that the East India Company was not a regular army but merely desperate mercenaries driven by profit, with their equipment and troop numbers, they shouldn’t have been so easily suppressed by a mere fifty thousand short stature individuals.
Also, was England’s George III truly foolish, or was he feigning ignorance? He knew very well that Japan was a dog raised by the Great Ming. Did this fool still think of sending people to Japan to pressure the Japanese court? Did he truly not know that Japan was ruled by the Shogunate?
The last piece of intelligence was quite amusing. The Embroidered Uniform Guard who provided this intelligence seemed to regard George III not as a monarch of a country but as a subordinate to Emperor Zhu.
Of course, as it is said, “Under heaven, all lands belong to the king; all who dwell within its borders are the king’s subjects.” Emperor Zhu, having received the mandate of heaven and holding the universe, seeing George III as his subject was not an issue.
Seeing Prince Zhu Jianying’s bewildered expression, Emperor Zhu, trying but failing to suppress his amusement, couldn’t help but smile and say, “The monkey to scare the chickens has appeared. What are you still pondering about?”
Prince Zhu Jianying shook his head slightly and thoughtfully replied, “I just find it hard to believe that the East India Company would be so thoroughly beaten by a mere fifty thousand short stature individuals?”
Prince Zhu Jianying’s words left Emperor Zhu momentarily speechless. After a while, Emperor Zhu hesitantly said, “Could there be a possibility that fifty thousand troops are considered a very powerful military force in Europe?”
Prince Zhu Jianying became even more bewildered, almost disbelieving his own ears. “Fifty thousand? Fifty thousand is considered a very powerful military force? Then our Great Ming…”
Emperor Zhu waved his hand with a smile and said, “Just like our Central Plains region, those short stature individuals also had what they call a Warring States period. But do you know that their so-called Warring States period, when compared to our Central Plains region, was merely the level of a few villages engaging in armed conflict?”
Prince Zhu Jianying nodded slightly.
Compared to the historical records of Europe, which were either recorded on parchment or passed down orally, leading to increasingly exaggerated accounts, the short stature individuals, who could be considered descendants of the Central Plains, had at least some decent records. There were many references available for Japan’s so-called Warring States period, and Prince Zhu Jianying certainly knew the true nature of Japan’s Warring States period.
To put it this way, compared to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods in the history of the Central Plains region, where battles involved hundreds of thousands of soldiers and tens or even hundreds of thousands of people were massacred, Japan’s so-called Warring States period was truly just the level of a few villages engaging in armed conflict.
Especially after reading the records of the armed conflicts between Xingping Village and Xing’an Village, Prince Zhu Jianying realized more profoundly that Japan’s so-called national warfare level might not even match that of two villages in the Great Ming.
Emperor Zhu continued, “Then let me tell you, the barbarian countries in Europe are also similar to the short stature individuals’ so-called Warring States period. They are all small countries with little territory. Especially England – its land is no more than a thousand li, and its population no more than ten million. What do you think is the size of the East India Company’s army given England’s scale?”
Speaking of this, Emperor Zhu suddenly changed the subject. “Of course, you shouldn’t underestimate England because of this. George III has tens of thousands of troops in his hands, making him a rather remarkable power in Europe.”
“Especially England’s navy, which once contended with Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, France, and other European countries for dominance at sea. They are not someone you can casually dismiss.”
Prince Zhu Jianying nodded, then asked with some curiosity, “Then the English East India Company must have at least twenty thousand men in Sri Lanka, right? Even if twenty thousand men couldn’t defeat those short stature individuals, they should at least be able to defend themselves. But from this intelligence, it seems they can’t even hold their ground?”
“Also, if England’s navy is truly as powerful as you say, then could those short stature individuals from Japan defeat the British East India Company before the English navy arrives in Sri Lanka? And could they hold Sri Lanka?”
“Or is it that you, Your Highness, never intended for those short stature individuals to hold Sri Lanka in the first place, but merely intended to use their name to lure England into the trap, and then, after they attacked the short stature individuals, you would strike the English navy in the capacity of Japan’s suzerain?”
When Prince Zhu Jianying asked these questions consecutively, Emperor Zhu smiled with satisfaction.
Emperor Zhu smiled and said, “The English East India Company cannot hold Sri Lanka, but those short stature individuals from Japan can hold Sri Lanka.”
“This is not because the East India Company’s troops are too incompetent, nor because the short stature individuals are too formidable, but because of Sri Lanka’s geographical location and other factors.”
“Firstly, Sri Lanka is surrounded by the sea, with no defensible positions. Secondly, the short stature individuals have a numerical advantage, and there is no significant difference in their weaponry. Moreover, the Japanese have abnormal minds and don’t care about life or death. It is naturally easy for fifty thousand short stature individuals to fight against twenty thousand cowardly East India Company troops.”
“Conversely, England has dispatched a fleet of twelve warships on an expedition to Sri Lanka. By the time these twelve warships reach Sri Lanka, the East India Company troops might have already been slaughtered by the short stature individuals. Without the coordination of the British East India Company’s ground forces, how can these twelve warships land to attack the short stature individuals?”
Prince Zhu Jianying nodded and thoughtfully asked, “Then, your sudden decision to conduct a maritime military exercise with the Ottomans is probably not just to deter the Ottomans, but also likely aimed at the fleet England sent to reinforce Sri Lanka?”
Upon hearing Prince Zhu Jianying’s words, Emperor Zhu’s expression became even more pleased and delighted. “That’s right. If it were purely for the Ottomans, I would only need to order the Tianzi Hao fleet to sail near the Suez Canal and fire a few shots. Why would I need to involve the Ottomans?”
“In fact, my real purpose is to use the guise of military exercises to drive a wedge between the alliances of the Ottoman Empire with England, the Russian Empire, and the Habsburgs. The Ottoman navy will conduct maritime military exercises with our Great Ming navy, and our Great Ming navy will then beat up the English navy. What do you think George III and the English side will think?”