When the carriage in which Mitsu Ohtani and Napoleon were riding slowly drove towards the Otani Medical College on the outskirts of Macau. Mitsushi Otani unfolded the newspaper and handed the international political edition to Napoleon, while he himself looked at the literary edition with great interest, which was full of all kinds of lace news and serialized novels. He read quickly, and the pages of the newspaper were quickly finished, and when he looked up, Napoleon, who was sitting opposite him, had his eyebrows furrowed tightly, and his mind was all on the international political edition of the newspaper in front of him.

Ordinary people here in Macau generally do not care much about international current affairs, so there is very little relevant content in the newspapers. What can be published is basically a major international event. I don't know what news was published in the newspaper today, how can I make this student of mine so concerned?

Mitsushi Ohtani looked at Napoleon with some curiosity, but he was not surprised. Because these students from the Qing Dynasty are generally very concerned about politics, and they have also established many various political groups. What is the Rejuvenation, what is the Liberation Society, what is the Young France, what is the Free Germany......

In Macau's Otani Medical College, a pheasant university run by the Eastern Sacred School (mainly recruiting white students from the Qing Dynasty, and the flag students of the Qing Kingdom usually go to more formal schools to study), Otani Mitsushi has been familiar with these Qing students who are full of strange ideas - these people are like the ancients of China in Ohtani Mitsushi's view, regardless of thinking, language and clothing (the Hanfu of this time and space is evolved, Just as Europeans in the 21st century don't wear 13th-century clothes all day), it's like the Han people of the Song Dynasty. Little is known about the rapid progress of science.

Moreover, these "white-skinned" ancient Chinese people. Most of them also have a sense of the Heavenly Empire's kingdom that seems strange to Mitsushi Otani. It is thought that the Great Qing Kingdom is a "powerful and powerful country" like the Ming Empire, and the Great Qing Dynasty is the upper kingdom of the West. The Ming Dynasty is the kingdom of the East.

For the countries around the Great Qing Dynasty, which were really ruled by Europeans. These Europeans of the Great Qing Dynasty looked down on them from the bottom of their hearts, and they were all regarded as small states, and they could only look up to the existence of the Great Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, decades ago, the Qing Dynasty was bullied by Italy, Greece, Serbia and other European "small states", which gave the Qing Dynasty a great stimulus. It also prompted the reform of the Qing Dynasty, which began to form a new army (the main force was the Europeans), set up industries, and at the same time sent some foreign students to foreign countries. A few years ago, restrictions on private study abroad were relaxed, so that the number of ordinary young Europeans studying in Macau and Hong Kong increased – in fact. Because of the emergence of the concession in the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty's ability to control the border has declined very much in recent decades, and the number of people who go abroad privately has increased significantly.

And these self-financed students are not the same as the previous government-funded students, they study harder, and at the same time they are more radical in their thinking, and they are more interested in politics - this may be related to the fact that these self-financed students are not recognized by the Qing Dynasty and have no guarantee for their careers after returning to China. It may also be that these students were influenced by the growing nationalism in the countries of Europa......

And Napoleon, who was very talented in learning, was also a rather radical nationalist!

Unlike most European students, his hometown is not on Europa. Rather, on the island of Corsica in the Mediterranean. The island fell to the Qing Dynasty relatively late, having only been ruled by the Qing Dynasty for more than 200 years. Moreover, the Qing dynasty ruled Corsica and Sardinia more subduedly, without eliminating the European nobility and clergy. Christianity is also allowed to continue to exist. Nor did it ban the written and cultural history of Europeans.

Hence this Napoleon. Bonaparte (Europeans in Corsica and Sardinia still put their first names before their surnames) also knew far more about European history and culture than ordinary European students in the Qing Dynasty. Moreover, Napoleon . Bonaparte also knew some Italian and Latin. You can read the original Italian books. This knowledge, combined with a certain innate leadership ability, made Napoleon. Bonaparte became a leading figure among the self-financed students of the Qing Dynasty in Macau. It was also supported by several wealthy European businessmen from the Qing Dynasty. A small party organization was established for the Rejuvenation of Europe.

Moreover, this Napoleon . Bonaparte also attracted the attention of the Governor's Office of Macau, with whom Mitsutsu Otani befriended. In fact, it was a request made by the dignitaries of the Governor's Office of Macau.

I don't know how long it took, Napoleon. Bonaparte slowly put down the newspaper in his hand, and then he noticed that Mitsushi Ohtani, who was sitting opposite him, was looking at him curiously, so he pointed to the headline in the newspaper and said with a forced smile: "It seems that the English are going to war with the Qing Kingdom!" ”

"Oh? Is it? Otani didn't show much surprise, he often traveled between Hong Kong and Macau, and he had already smelled the smell of H medicine.

Although England was also a traditional friend of the Qing Dynasty, England was a friend of the Great Yuan Dynasty, and the trade between Hong Kong and Rouen brought great benefits to England.

Moreover, England has always been under the control of the Ming Empire, and it cannot make a move against the Qing Dynasty at will. Even during the Balkan Wars a few decades ago, England did not take advantage of the fire.

But with the Great Revolution in England thirty years ago, the Ming Empire's control over England gradually loosened.

The Plantagenet Dynasty, which had ruled England for hundreds of years, lost its throne for a time, and finally under the threat of armed intervention by the Ming Empire, the leaders of the Christian Datong Party in England agreed to implement a constitutional monarchy - this was just to give the Ming Empire a face. The kings and nobles of England lost almost all their feudal privileges and property during the Revolution. The factors that restricted the complete transformation of the Kingdom of England into a civic nation-state also disappeared.

In the current era when there are no high-tech weapons and no information-based warfare, but there are artillery, rifles, and machine guns, and wars do not rely on martial arts, the civil nation-state is undoubtedly the most superior. Because this system can mobilize cannon fodder to the maximum, and cannon fodder can become a qualified cannon fodder as long as they have a short period of training.

The nation-states in which citizens are masters of their own affairs or think they are masters of their own affairs are now the Chinese Empire and the United Kingdom of China, as well as the Kingdom of England...... All three countries have populations of only a few tens of millions, but they all have systems of national mobilization. You can quickly assemble a cannon fodder army of millions of people!

Moreover, the industries of these three countries are also capable of providing weapons and ammunition for such a large army.

Compared with. The Ming Empire, which dominated the world, was still a country ruled by an elite of aristocrats and gentry, with only a few million people having the right to vote. It accounts for less than 1 percent of the total population. And because the Ming Empire has dominated the world for a long time, the sense of national crisis in the country is almost zero.

Almost all adult citizens of the Ming Dynasty have received nine years of compulsory education, so they have the ability to think independently. They are well aware that the masters of the country are a handful of nobles and elites...... Therefore, the dick of the Ming Empire will not stand up for the hegemony of the country on the other side of the world.

Therefore, the Ming Empire is an old imperialist that has neither much nationalist blessing nor the golden finger of a civil state. There are 1.1 billion people, but they cannot be fully mobilized. can only continue to use the recruitment system of spending money to hire soldiers, so the scale of the Ming army is only one hundred thousand. This is probably the reason why the Ming Empire has not been able to completely defeat the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom for hundreds of years.

For the same reason, the Ming Empire now did not have enough land power to strike at the Kingdom of England, a new civic state tens of thousands of miles away...... To fight a war with such a country that can easily pull out millions of new armies, the Ming Empire will have to come up with at least hundreds of thousands of mercenaries! Moreover, the Ming Dynasty also needed to maintain heavy troops in the western part of the mainland to fight against the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom. It is also necessary to maintain a strong military presence in Mingzhou. to balance the superiority of the Chinese Empire over the United Kingdom of China. At the same time, the Ming had to maintain the necessary garrisons in the eastern part of the mainland and in overseas territories around the world—so the Ming could not draw as many troops from the more than one million troops they already had. He can only spend money on employment again, which will be a very heavy pressure on Daming's finances.

In addition, spending money to hire soldiers does not come quickly to mobilize conscripts under an order! Spending money to hire soldiers is a transaction, and people who refuse to be soldiers can't tie them up with ropes! Conscription, on the other hand, is a citizen's obligation to the state, and it is not appropriate to do so.

"England has announced a general mobilization!" Napoleon. Bonaparte handed the newspaper to Koseki Otani, "The newspaper estimates that the Kingdom of England will be able to expand its army to 1 million in three months. 1 million new army is a ...... that the Qing Dynasty cannot resist"

The military system of the Great Qing State was semi-mercenary and semi-hereditary, and the bannermen and strong men in the European area were all hereditary soldiers. He has been raised by the imperial court for generations, so he naturally has the obligation to serve as a soldier. Now the hundreds of thousands of bannermen and the new army are all doing it. And the 40 million people in the Banner People District have been under the actual control of the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom for decades, and the Banner People population there. It has long been impossible for the Great Qing State to mobilize.

The new European army of the Qing Dynasty was a mercenary, but it was not the same as the mercenary army of the Ming Dynasty - the recruitment of the Ming Dynasty was open, and anyone could apply. And the salary is relatively high, so the quality of the soldiers is very high. Officers, in turn, are trained by regular military academies. Therefore, the overall quality of the Ming Army is very high, and the whole world, that is, the Heavenly Dao Knights (religious fanatics with formal military education) can be compared with it.

The mercenaries of the Qing Dynasty all had a way. Many of them are the descendants of European officers and soldiers who took refuge in Zhu Chongba more than 300 years ago...... After all, these people are reliable! The Great Qing Kingdom is outnumbered in the European area, and reliability is always in the first place. After more than 300 years of inbreeding, it is conceivable what the combat effectiveness of the Great Fresh Annexed Army is.

After all, the Ming Empire was a nation-state, and there were powerful nobles and gentry to rely on - the officers were basically from among them - so they didn't worry about the unreliable army, so they put quality first. The same mercenary, the two are not the same thing at all.

In addition, the military salary of the Daqing Attached Army has not risen in three hundred years! The silver of 300 years ago is not the same thing as the silver of today. Moreover, the silver that has been depreciated by a few dollars has to be deducted by officers at all levels, and there are not many big coins that can really be sent to the soldiers. Therefore, none of the soldiers of the new annex army can make a living on military pay, and most of them have other errands. Being a soldier is just an amateur, and you can't be counted on in terms of combat effectiveness or anything, and it's good to be able to maintain local order.

Therefore, what the Great Qing Kingdom can fight now is the new army of more than 100,000 bannermen and the Beiyang Naval Division. And the main role of the 100,000 Eight Banners New Army is still the town...... That's the foundation of the flag people! If it is lost, what will it do to deter more than 300 million Europeans?

Napoleon. Bonaparte snorted coldly, "Now it's up to the Beiyang Naval Division!" If the sailors can win, the Qing Dynasty will be able to remain undefeated. Otherwise......"

Mitsushi Ohtani looked at the headline on the front page of the newspaper marked with black and bold Chinese characters - the Kingdom of England announced a general mobilization, and the Anglo-Qing War was about to break out!

"Maybe the Atlantic Governor will find a way to mediate, right?" Mitsushi Ohtani frowned. He really didn't understand, why would the Ming Empire let England challenge the stability of the Qing Empire?

Although England's million-dollar army was not something the Ming Empire could defeat, the Atlantic Fleet could have six 15,000-ton battleships and twelve 5,000-ton fast cruisers.

That's a force that the entire European navy combined can't defeat!

And the Pacific Fleet of the Ming Empire also has two powerful battleships with an empty displacement of more than 20,000 tons! It was the most powerful warship in the world, and just one sailing to Europe would be enough to sink the entire English navy.

If England was a country bordering the Qing Dynasty like the Divine Heavenly Dao Country, the Ming might not be able to do anything. But England is an island nation......

Why didn't the Ming stop England?

"Governor Cao will not come forward to mediate, at least not now!" Napoleon. Bonaparte's brow was already twisted. "Although he has a good personal relationship with Haizhongtang and Empress Dowager Ye. However, for major national affairs, we still have to listen to the instructions of the Ming Cabinet. ”

"The Ming Cabinet?" Mitsushi Ohtani was stunned, he knew that his student's judgment of current affairs was very accurate, and it must make sense to say this now. "Could it be that the Ming court has already given up on the Qing Dynasty?"

Napoleon nodded, "It must be so!" Daming must give up the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty is going to be over this time. ”

He frowned and analyzed, "This matter must be related to the preparation of the Divine Heavenly Dao Kingdom to annex Bulgaria, Asia Minor, and Constantinople...... Wasn't it rumored a while ago that the imperial court was preparing to cede the territory of Bulgaria, Asia Minor, and Constantinople to the Divine Heavenly Dao State, as long as the Divine Heavenly Dao State was willing to withdraw from Romania and restore the alliance with the Qing Dynasty? The Ming Empire must not tolerate such a thing, so it asked England and the United Kingdom of Northern Europe to wage war against the Great Qing Kingdom under the pretext of the territorial dispute between Zealand Island (which belonged to Denmark in later generations, and this island was a disputed island between the Qing Dynasty and the United Kingdom of Northern Europe, but it has always been controlled by the Great Qing Kingdom). ”

He suddenly looked at Mitsushi Otani seriously: "Mr. Otani, are you familiar with the dignitaries of the Atlantic Governor's Mansion?" (To be continued.) )