This matter is complicated to explain, but simple to understand – whether two starving Chihuahuas fight or a pack of starving Chihuahuas fight, it has no impact on five well-fed Tibetan Mastiffs.
But what if two of the five Tibetan Mastiffs start fighting each other?
If the Five Great Benevolent Ones of the Little Broken Pot start a conflict and ignite true anger, it means all their energy will be focused on each other. All the surrounding smaller nations, whether they want to fight or not, will eventually be forced to take sides, thus implicating the entire Little Broken Ball.
After careful consideration, Zhu Jinsong suddenly sighed and said, "As for what happens next, it will depend on how far those two fools, England and France, go in their fighting – according to the news from the Brocade Guards, Tojo Nijuhachi plans to engage Napoleon in a decisive battle, and that too on French soil."
Liu Hemming and the other military officials were all stunned speechless by this news.
Tojo Nijuhachi plans to engage Napoleon in a decisive battle, and on French soil at that?
Liu Hemming hesitantly asked, "Is this Tojo Nijuhachi, by any chance, a fool like Erniu?"
Liu Erniu was instantly furious and glared at Liu Hemming, shouting, "If you want to talk about Tojo Nijuhachi, talk about him. Why bring me into it?"
Liu Hemming ignored Liu Erniu. He gestured back and forth on the map, his brow furrowed, and said, "Tojo Nijuhachi is gambling, gambling with the entire England."
Liu Erniu leaned in and, after observing the map Liu Hemming was pointing at, couldn't help but burst into laughter. "I'm the fool? In my opinion, that Tojo Nijuhachi is even stupider than I am!"
As he spoke, Liu Erniu suddenly realized something and slapped his forehead with a bang, exclaiming, "No, this Tojo Nijuhachi isn't stupid; this fellow has gone mad!"
"Fighting a decisive battle on French territory with the French army, it's like achieving what the academy scholars said about repelling enemies beyond our borders. If they win, it's naturally a great achievement. But this idiot hasn't considered the logistics; neither the troop strength nor the supplies are sufficient to support his plan."
"Once Napoleon adapts to his fighting style, Tojo Nijuhachi will have no choice but to passively take a beating."
"This time it's over," Liu Erniu said, clicking his tongue. "This bastard might completely ruin England's national fortune?"
Zhu Jinsong chuckled, saying, "That's also normal. After all, he's a short and squat fellow, his specialty is gambling with national fortunes, especially now when he's gambling with England's national fortune. This short and squat fellow cares even less about winning or losing."
Liu Hemming suddenly frowned and said, "If England loses some of its elite forces to the short and squat fellow, will England then concede and seek peace? If England can concede and seek peace, and if the Tsar quickly deals with the Habsburg family alliance, perhaps the Little Broken Ball won't break out into a full-scale war?"
After Liu Hemming's analysis, Liu Erniu and Geng Rui, along with the other bigwigs, immediately nodded in agreement – it seemed the problem lay with England and France. The Tsar's side was more like an add-on. As long as these three parties could stabilize, wouldn't the Little Broken Ball also stabilize?
However, to the surprise of Liu Hemming and the other bigwigs, Zhu Jinsong actually smiled and shook his head, saying, "Impossible. Even if these three parties behave themselves, the Little Broken Ball will inevitably break out into a full-scale war."
"As I said just now, the problem with the Little Broken Ball is not just because of the Five Great Benevolent Ones of the Little Broken Pot; it's more because the people of many smaller countries can no longer survive. Those smaller countries must find a way to vent their pressure outwards."
"Therefore, if these three parties descend into chaos, the result will be the Five Great Benevolent Ones, each leading their followers, forming teams to fight. If these three parties don't descend into chaos, the result will be the Five Great Benevolent Ones being swept into fighting by them."
"Just like the Habsburgs dragging England and France into this mess."
Liu Erniu couldn't help but tentatively ask, "Didn't Your Majesty just say earlier that it depends on how England and France fight?"
Zhu Jinsong nodded and said, "It is crucial how the two of them fight. Although it won't affect the day the Little Broken Ball breaks out into a full-scale war, it can affect the situation in Europa."
Speaking of this, Zhu Jinsong couldn't help but find it a bit amusing.
If you were to really talk about it, the entire Europa, while not small, is also not large – if you don't count the Tsar and the Ottomans, who have always wanted to join Europa, the actual area of Europa is not that big. The situation of England and France as two powers has maintained stability in Europa for nearly hundreds of years. xxs1
However, the stability of the entire Europa is directly related to the stability of the entire Little Broken Ball.
This matter has to start from the Manchu's entry into the pass.
Back when the Great Ming was still in power, the technological level of the Central Plains halls was not much behind Europa. Even if there was a slight gap, the scholars of the Central Plains halls were constantly trying to learn and catch up.
If it weren't for the constant natural disasters and the Manchu's entry into the pass, which directly interrupted the process of learning from Europa, the subsequent events might have been uncertain.
Unfortunately, the Manchu entered the pass.
For example, the famous Brother Mazi once said, "Do not be learned by the Mongols or the Han."
Under the efforts of the wise and virtuous monarchs of the Manchu, the scholars of the Central Plains halls were all turned into useless beings who were idle, ignorant of farming, unable to carry anything, and weak in the shoulders. Their minds were filled with nothing but classical quotations and the pursuit of official careers through the eight-legged essay. The technological development process of the Central Plains halls was directly and forcibly terminated.
As the saying goes, sailing against the current means falling behind. Not progressing is considered retreating, let alone being ruthlessly suppressed and forcibly reversing the course of history.
While the Central Plains halls were completely bound by the eight-legged essay, the barbarians of Europa embarked on the path of the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution.
As a result, the distance between the Central Plains halls and Europa was artificially magnified to an extreme. Whether in mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, or biology, the Central Plains halls fell into a state of backwardness.
The economic center of the Little Broken Ball also gradually shifted towards Europa.
Although Zhu Jinsong raised an army to eliminate the Manchu, established the Royal Academy and numerous universities, and even copied the "Compendium of Backyard Manufacturing" and other essential manuals for transmigrators, the weapons and equipment of the Great Ming successfully achieved a reversal. Louis XVI, as a die-hard fan and promoter of the Great Ming, spared no effort in praising and promoting the Great Ming throughout Europa. However, to achieve a comprehensive reversal by the Central Plains halls over Europa was not as easy as imagined.
The reversal of weapons and equipment is a completely different concept from a comprehensive reversal. The former can determine the outcome of battles on the battlefield, while the latter concerns the survival of the entire nation's destiny.
What troubled Zhu Jinsong even more was that the Great Ming currently needed a large number of laborers and also the money and grain from those European countries.
This meant that once Europa fell into chaos, the Great Ming would inevitably be affected to a certain extent, and there would be no possibility of remaining aloof.
After thinking for a moment, Zhu Jinsong instructed Liu Hemming and the other bigwigs, "Later, have the soldiers at the overseas military bases make preparations and heighten their alert. Not only should they be ready to withdraw the Great Ming citizens at any time, but they should also be prepared for war and protracted warfare."
"In addition, besides the Brocade Guards increasing their infiltration into Europa, your Five Army Commanderies should also find ways to strengthen the intelligence acquisition efforts regarding Europa. If there is any change in Europa, we can make preparations in advance."
...
While Zhu Jinsong was discussing with Liu Hemming and the other bigwigs on how to deal with the full-scale outbreak of war on the Little Broken Ball, Tojo Nijuhachi had already made preparations to engage Napoleon in a head-on decisive battle.
Tojo Nijuhachi was a typical Japanese samurai, short in stature, with strong limbs, a headband tied around his head with the character for "victory" written on it, a small topknot pointing upwards, and always carrying a long and a short Japanese sword at his waist. According to Tojo Nijuhachi himself, the long Japanese sword was for chopping people, and the short Japanese sword was for disembowelment.
Yes, disembowelment was very popular in Japan at that time – it was an activity that had been prevalent since the Kamakura shogunate, originally intended to display one's upright soul to others as proof of their innocence. During the Tokugawa shogunate, it was further popularized, and many ronin samurai who had lost their masters even used the reputation of seppuku to scam money.
You read that right; the seppuku, which the Japanese barbarians praised to the heavens, was actually a trick used to scam money for a long time.
This matter dates back to the Tokugawa shogunate.
In the seventh year of Kan'ei, during the reign of the third shogun Iemitsu of the Tokugawa shogunate, central authority was implemented, weakening the power of many feudal lords.
The samurai class, once dominant, lost their patrons and many became unemployed ronin.
For samurai who had once been glorious, a life of destitution was without dignity. Thus, many samurai preferred to commit seppuku rather than live on in disgrace. And "Seppuku, to be performed in the courtyard, is formal."
Therefore, many shameless individuals came up with a good idea: to borrow a courtyard from a reputable family to perform seppuku, under the guise of dying with more dignity.
Of course, seppuku was the pretense, and seeking alms was the reality – taking a desperate gamble to get the master to pity them or show appreciation, send them money or income, and grant them a job; this was the ultimate goal of those ronin samurai.
It is quite normal for short and squat fellows to do such things; it would be abnormal if they ever acted like human beings.
As Mr. Lu Shuren said, "No matter how heroic or magnificent the samurai's actions are, they cannot hide the fact that samurai are slaves who sell their lives."
Zhou Xunfei also once said, "The so-called spirit of bushido is used to fool idiots; anyone who believes it is an idiot."
Tojo Nijuhachi was naturally no exception – although he constantly stated that he would commit seppuku to apologize if he failed, Tojo Nijuhachi never intended to actually commit seppuku to apologize.
Unfortunately, Edward and Richard took him seriously, and even greatly admired Japan's so-called spirit of bushido seppuku. They followed Tojo Nijuhachi's arrangements meticulously.
When Tojo Nijuhachi said he would gather all of England's land forces for a frontal assault, Edward mobilized all the English land forces currently in France, intending to confront the French army led by Napoleon head-on.
When Tojo Nijuhachi demanded that Richard transport large quantities of supplies and then sink the warships, so that all English soldiers would have no retreat and fight the French army to the death, Richard actually collected a large number of supplies and then sank many warships used for transporting supplies, keeping only a few warships for naval operations.
This extremely insane operation even bewildered Napoleon.
Napoleon could not fathom Tojo Nijuhachi's strategic intentions – was he trying to emulate the Great Ming's "breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats"? Was he really leaving no way back? Or did those short and squat fellows from Japan have any sure-win confidence?
The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. The more confused he became, the more he thought. As he thought, Napoleon began to feel a bit timid and decided to temporarily retreat a few dozen miles to see what trump cards these rose-beef eaters had.
Then, Tojo Nijuhachi became happy: "Look, Napoleon, who was originally aggressive, has now obediently retreated a few dozen miles! Why retreat? Isn't it because he's afraid?"
"Gentlemen, as the saying goes, a desperate soldier is bound to win – only with a resolve to die can we fight every battle with all our might and make that French frog Napoleon feel fear!"
At this point, Edward and Richard were completely fooled. Richard even wanted to sink all the warships and openly decide the outcome with Napoleon.
Fortunately, Tojo Nijuhachi stopped Richard: "Sinking warships that transport supplies and personnel cuts off the hope of retreat or escape. Sinking warships used for combat is seeking death."
Well, they must leave a few warships that can engage in naval warfare, otherwise, if they lose, won't they lose their escape route?
Meanwhile, George III, far away in England, was almost driven mad.
Killing Queen Charlotte and the doctor was easy; cleaning up the Charlotte family was not difficult. The problem was that the war that had already begun had lost control and could not be stopped at all.
The person sent to take over military authority was apprehended by Tojo Nijuhachi, who brushed him off with the nonsensical excuse that a commander in the field is not subject to orders.
The envoy sent to France was also intercepted by Tojo Nijuhachi. The English envoy returned to London in disgrace without even setting foot on French soil.
Helpless, George III, who was so angry he almost spat blood, could only repeatedly send people to urge Tojo Nijuhachi to withdraw his troops, and even attempted to send people to relieve Edward and Richard of their military authority.
The crucial thing was that those two imbeciles, Edward and Richard, had been fed some kind of hallucinogen and actually believed the nonsensical words of that scoundrel Tojo Nijuhachi, completely ignoring the orders of George III, the King of England!
"What should we do!"
George III's eyes were bloodshot, and his gaze towards Pitt and Fox was full of hostility: "England's meager assets have all been brought to France by that short and squat fellow from Japan, and Edward and Richard are now disobeying orders!"