parentshiftbook Chapter 885: European Countries Are In Chaos And Their Vitality Is Greatly Weakened [Please Subscrib
Chapter 885: European Countries Are In Chaos And Their Vitality Is Greatly Weakened [Please Subscrib
Qin King Zhu Xi and his party set out on October 15th in the fifth year of Shengping (1394) and wandered on the sea for less than half a year.
Just now, we followed the coastline of the Asian continent, detoured around the coastline of Africa, and finally arrived in Europe on March 6, the sixth year of Shengping.
As for Europe, King Qin Zhu and his party also had some understanding.
After all, if you don't know anything about the situation in Europe, you can just rush over and say you want to conquer Europe.
Then that is not to conquer Europe, that is to directly die!
Therefore, when the Ming Navy's exploration fleet arrived in Europe a few years ago, the Ming Navy's exploration fleet would also leave some Jin Yiwei in Europe to inquire for information.
When the Ming Dynasty Navy's exploration fleet arrives in Europe next time, some Jin Yiwei will bring or send the information back to the Ming Dynasty, and then a new group of Jin Yiwei will be left to continue to search for information in Europe.
Therefore, in the past few years, those Jin Yiwei who stayed in Europe to inquire about information have even learned to communicate in simple English every day.
In Europe during this period, the main languages used were Latin, French and English.
Among them, Latin is the language used by religious circles, French is the language used by powerful people in the upper class, and English is only the weak language used by ordinary people in the lower class.
Jin Yiwei, who has stayed in Europe in the past few years, even has the skill of "money clearing the way" given by the Ming Dynasty.
But for the time being, he has not been able to contact the powerful figures in the upper class of Europe, or the big figures in the European religious circles.
Therefore, Jin Yiwei, who stayed in Europe to inquire about news, had only temporarily learned some daily English conversations.
But it is barely enough for chatting with the European people at the bottom and getting some information from them.
With this part of the news sent back by Jin Yiwei, plus Yan Changqing's addition.
Yes, Chang Shen also has some understanding of medieval Europe.
Therefore, I made a simple supplement based on the information sent back by European Jinyiwei.
Of course, it's a simple addition to Yan Changqing.
But in the eyes of Zhu Yuanzhang, King of Qin Zhu Di and others, it was as if the inner treasuries of various European countries were stripped down and shown to them.
For example, the British Isles outside the main continent of Europe are the three British islands of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
In terms of territorial area, the area of England Island is about 130,000 square kilometers.
The area of the Scottish islands is about 77,000 square kilometers, and the area of the Northern Ireland islands is about 14,000 square kilometers.
In addition, there is an English Channel separating the British Isles and the main continent of Europe.
It can be said that the English Channel is the natural defense of the British Isles. If Europe wants to invade the British Isles, it must first break through the English Channel.
But in other words, once the English Channel is blocked, from a certain perspective, it is equivalent to completely cutting off the connection between the British Isles and the European continent.
As long as the English Channel does not fall, the British Isles will not be able to ask for help from the European countries, and similarly the European countries will not be able to support the British Main Island.
From this perspective, the British Isles and the European continent are actually quite similar to the four Japanese islands.
Because the four Japanese islands only need to block the key straits between the islands, they can cut off the interconnection between the islands, leaving them without Dharma Body to rescue each other and can only become isolated islands.
Even from a certain perspective, the British Isles may not be as good as the four Japanese islands.
Because the total area of the British Isles is only about 221,000 square kilometers.
The territory of Japan's Honshu Island alone is about 227,400 square kilometers.
One can imagine how small the territory of the British Isles is.
Therefore, when King Zhu Xi of Qin saw that "the main body is an island country, if it controls the strait, it can cut off follow-up support, and the island territory is not large." After seeing these key elements, he couldn't help but laugh.
Tsk tsk, he is familiar with this question!
How he conquered the four Japanese islands before, so now he can do it all over again in the British Islands.
Even benefiting from the previous experience of conquering the four islands of Japan, it is reborn every day and familiar twice.
This time it may be faster than the speed of conquering the four islands of Japan.
After all, the island of England is only about half the territory of Honshu Island, and the island of Scotland is about one-eighth smaller than the territory of North Sea Island.
Similarly, the island of Northern Ireland is about 3,000 square kilometers smaller than the island of Shikoku, the smallest island of Japan.
It’s impossible that the British Isles have a smaller territory than the four Japanese islands, but it would take more time to conquer it, right?
If we say that the population of common people on the British Isles is greater than that of the four Japanese islands.
Moreover, the countries and people on the British Isles are more united than the daimyo and Japanese on the four Japanese islands.
As well as weapons and equipment in other aspects, if they are as advanced as their Ming Dynasty.
So even if the British Isles are smaller than the four Japanese islands, it may indeed require him to spend more time conquering them.
However, there is actually no such if.
First of all, in terms of the population, from 1150 to 1300, the overall population of Europe increased from 5,000 cities to about 73 million.
But between 1347 and 1353, a plague broke out that swept across Europe—the Black Death!
This Black Death plague took away a third of the population of Europe!
Until around 1400, the overall population of Europe was only about 45 million.
It is conceivable how horrific the number of deaths caused by the Black Death was.
If it weren't for the fact that the King of Qin Zhu Xi and his party arrived in Europe in the sixth year of Shengping (1395), more than forty years had passed since the original Black Death, and the Black Death plague had basically subsided, Yan Changqing would have He did not dare to let Qin King Zhu Di immigrate to Europe.
Otherwise, if you immigrate to Europe just when the Black Death breaks out in Europe.
So that's not called immigrating to Europe, that's called taking the initiative to go to Europe and die.
But if you immigrate to Europe after the outbreak of the Black Death, then that is a very suitable time.
After all, Europe had just experienced an extremely terrifying Black Death plague, and now that all European countries were severely weakened, it was a good time for Qin King Zhu Ping and his entourage to take advantage of the situation.
For example, in England, around 1340, the population of England was about $500,000.
However, after experiencing the Black Death plague, around 1350, the population of England dropped to about 2.8 million.
Then there were the Anglo-French wars and various domestic uprisings. By around 1377, the population of England had dropped to about 2.5 million.
As of now in 1395, the overall population of England has dropped to about 2.3 million to 2.5 million.
what does that mean?
This means that once King Zhu Di of Qin immigrated to England, the number of immigrant people under King Zhu Di of Qin alone would be equivalent to about half of the number of people entering England as a whole!
Regardless of other factors, the millions of immigrants under the command of King Zhu Di of Qin alone are enough to annex the entire population of about 2.3 million to 2.5 million people in England!
Let’s talk about England’s domestic and foreign political and social situations.
The current dynasty on the island of England is called the Plantagenets.
When the Plantagenet Dynasty was first established, it could be called the most powerful country in Europe at that time except the Holy Roman Empire.
However, after John I succeeded to the throne, the Plantagenet dynasty suffered repeated defeats, and its vast territory was annexed by King Philip II of France.
Since then, there has been a war between Britain and France that lasted for more than a hundred years, also known as the Hundred Years' War between Britain and France.
The Hundred Years' War between England and France was divided into four stages.
The first stage was from 1337 to 1360, which ended with France being forced to sign the extremely unequal Peace of Bredigny and cede all the territory south of the Loire River to the Pyrenees.
The second stage was from 1369 to 1380, which ended with England's defeat and the British army's retreat to the coastal areas.
The third stage was from 1415 to 1424, and ended with England's defeat of the French and Chongqing Scottish forces that besieged Craven.
The fourth stage was from 1424 to 1453, when the French army captured Canada, England lost its last city on the European continent, and the Hundred Years War ended.
At present, the time when King Zhu Ping of Qin arrived in Europe was the sixth year of Shengping, that is, 1395.
This time point is the middle time point between the second and third stages of the Hundred Years' War between England and France, if the original history is followed.
Then next year, that is, in 1396, Britain and France will conclude a twenty-year armistice agreement. In the future, Britain and France will have a twenty-year window of peace.
But before Britain and France sign a twenty-year armistice agreement next year, Britain and France are still in a stage of mutual hostility.
Although no large-scale war broke out, small-scale conflicts still existed.
This is an external trouble for England, but the internal trouble is also very serious.
The current king of England is Richard II, who succeeded to the throne in 1377 when he was ten years old.
However, because he was too young, the real power in England at that time was controlled by his uncle, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Another uncle, Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, was also ambitious and attempted to be regent.
So after Richard II came of age, he took revenge on them.
This act of retaliation was essentially England's own civil strife, which consumed England's own strength. This is also the reason why England failed in the second stage of the Hundred Years' War between England and France.
After the failure of the second phase of the Hundred Years' War between England and France, Richard II decided to impose a third poll tax in 1380 in order to cope with the war with France, and continued to increase the tax amount.
The people of England themselves had experienced several blows from the Black Death. Coupled with the long-term war between England and France, England's domestic economy was deteriorating, the people were in dire straits, and social conflicts became more and more serious.
............
This tax increase is like the last straw for the people of England.
Finally, the people of England broke out in a peasant uprising in 1381. The leader was the mason Watt Taylor, which was known as "Watt Taylor's Rebellion" in history.
Although the uprising failed in the end, it dealt a heavy blow to the king and the old aristocratic forces in England.
Of course, it's not just England.
In fact, the current European environment is basically like this.
Between 1378 and 1382, such peasant uprisings spread throughout Europe.
In Florence, textile workers occupied the city hall.
Flanders followed the example of the weavers in Ghent and started another riot.
The wave of sudden wealth took over the slogan "Long live Ghent" and spread to Rouen, Bezières and Montpellier.
In Languedoc, "poor men" joined forces with house-robbery gangs to ravage and destroy the entire province.
In Catalonia, peasants revolted against the nobility.
By the beginning of the 15th century, a new wave of rebellion appeared in France, Catalonia and Bohemia.
It can be said that the time when King Zhu Di of Qin arrived in Europe happened to be the most chaotic time for European countries in the Middle Ages.
To put it bluntly, the current medieval Europe is somewhat similar to the chaotic period in the late Yuan Dynasty.
It's just that during the chaotic times of the late Yuan Dynasty in China, there would be Zhu Yuanzhang, Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng and other troubled princes who wanted to reunify the world and end the war.
There were no such princes in European countries. After all, Qin Shihuang in Asia and the Roman Empire in Europe chose different development paths.
Moreover, the purpose of the peasant uprisings in European countries was different from the purpose of the Huayuan peasant uprising.
.....O
The purpose of the peasant uprisings in various European countries was not to overthrow the hierarchical society at that time, nor to drive away the king, but more importantly, to oppose exorbitant taxes or extremely unjust laws.
Just like the "Watt Taylor Rebellion" that broke out in England just mentioned, those English farmers followed Watt Taylor into London, executed the Archbishop of Canterbury, forced Richard II and his ministers to hide in the Tower of London, and executed Prime Minister Sar After Debury.
Some of the revolting farmers thought that their grievances were out, so they left London and returned to their hometowns!
What does this mean to China?
This is equivalent to Zhu Yuanzhang leading a group of peasant rebels to conquer the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, killing the prime minister and generals of the Yuan Dynasty, forcing the emperor and ministers of the Yuan Dynasty to hide in the palace and barely survive.
It seems that as long as they attack the palace again and kill the emperor and a group of ministers of the Yuan Dynasty, they can completely overthrow the Yuan Dynasty.
As a result, at this time, some of the peasant rebels who followed Zhu Yuanzhang said:
"Ah, after killing the prime minister and general of the Yuan Dynasty, I no longer hate the Yuan Dynasty so much. I won't fight anymore. I will go back to my hometown to farm.'
After saying that, a large part of the peasant rebel army actually withdrew from Dadu in the Yuan Dynasty and returned to their hometown to farm.
Even the most ignorant people in China will find it extremely difficult to understand such an explosive thing, right?
However, the reason why this strange phenomenon occurs is ultimately caused by the cultural and historical differences between China and Europe.
Just like the matter of rebellion, rebellion in China is basically the entertainment of the nine tribes.
Anyone who chooses to rebel, whether they are the highest-ranking dignitaries or the most ordinary people, is risking their own family, children, and even the lives of their nine tribes in a narrow escape risk.
Therefore, as long as someone chooses to rebel, the result will be progress but no retreat.
Because once he retreats, all nine of his clans will be buried with him.
In this case, let alone just one step away from killing the emperor and ministers, even if the emperor and ministers escaped, they must be pursued.
Just like in the original history, the emperor and ministers of the Yuan Dynasty fled north to the grasslands of Northern Xinjiang. Zhu Yuanzhang still organized thirteen Northern Expeditions. The main purpose was to eradicate the weeds and never let them go.
But Europe is different. Most European kings and nobles, and nobles and nobles, have marriage relationships.
Under such circumstances, if the king punishes the nine tribes for rebellious nobles, then all the nobles in the country may die!
In addition, the political system implemented in Europe is essentially a feudal system, and the so-called king is just the most powerful one among the nobles.
However, the king's strength is not really strong enough to suppress all the nobles. A group of nobles united are also strong and capable to overthrow the king.
Just like Richard II, he was deposed and abandoned by a group of nobles in the end because he violated the collective interests of the nobles in the country.
Therefore, if European nobles rebelled, they would either be imprisoned or exiled, and few would die.
Even if it is death, it will only be the death of individual people, or at most, the death of a family, but there will be no such thing as the elimination of the nine tribes.
From this perspective, because the consequences of choosing to rebel are not too serious, it is understandable that after half of the rebellion, one surrenders and chooses not to continue the rebellion. .