Chapter 1467: Total War: The King Has Fled

In the winter of the 25th year of Hongxing of the Great Ming, at the end of 1672 by the Western calendar, a total war that would sweep across the world had already reached the brink of eruption.

This was a clash between Eastern and Western civilizations, and also a contest between the races of East Asia and Western Europe.

The fortunes of the Great Ming Empire — the leader of the Eastern civilization and East Asian race that had begun its revival in the last years of Chongzhen — had rebounded from their lowest ebb and had been on an upward trajectory for nearly thirty years.

This was not the 20th century, when Western civilization and the European race were at their zenith, but the 17th century, when the Eastern world could still rival the Western world in many respects. Even the Great Ming of the last Chongzhen years could still crush any single European power in fiscal revenue, national production, population, and numerous other indicators. If it could successfully integrate its national strength, the Great Ming alone could even match the whole of Europe.

And after nearly thirty years of revival and ascent, the Great Ming Empire — great once more and restored to the majesty of a Celestial Empire — had not only taken a bite out of Western civilization's and the European race's cheese, but had already begun to touch their bottom line!

In the Americas, the continuous growth and expansion of the New Continent United States had already nearly driven the Kingdom of New Spain into a corner. Although Don Juan José had tried every means to increase the white population of the Kingdom of New Spain, Spain proper, after all, had only a little over five million people — how could it compete with a Celestial Empire of two hundred million in the speed of migration?

Moreover, when Zhu Hehao had gone to take up his fief, he had brought with him a large number of garrison-farmer households with far more women than men (the men of those households had either died in battle or followed the army to Yunnan and Burma), which had greatly alleviated the shortage of Han women in the New Continent United States — and women of childbearing age were strategic resources in the New World!

With a sufficient number of women of childbearing age, the birth rate of the New Continent United States began to surge as well. With births and migration combined, it would not be many years before the national population of the New Continent United States surpassed that of the Kingdom of New Spain.

That was why the Regent of New Spain, Don Juan José, could no longer restrain himself from returning to the battlefield!

For him, fighting late was worse than fighting early, and fighting small was worse than fighting big. If they never fought and dragged things out another twenty or thirty years, it would be a war they were certain to lose!

The only question now was when Louis XIV would make up his mind to go to war.

Another who, like Don Juan José, had made up his mind for war was Tsar Alexei I of the Russian Empire.

The expansionist momentum of the Ming's three vassal states in Central Asia had clearly broken through Russia's bottom line as well. Even setting aside the "Caspian trade route" with the Kingdom of Persia, Alexei I still had to guard against the emergence of another Golden Horde!

Weren't the Dzungar Khanate and the Golden Horde both Mongols? If the Dzungar Khanate were allowed to swell to a degree comparable to the Golden Horde, wouldn't the Russians have to suffer a second round of misery and a second helping of calamity?

Therefore, Alexei I, who for the past dozen or so years had consistently avoided direct war with the Great Ming Empire, in the winter of 1672 — faced with the aggressive pressure from the Dzungars, the Khoshuts, and the state of Dai — also made up his mind for war.

Of course, the Russians did not dare provoke the colossal Celestial Empire alone. So the question before Tsar Alexei I was likewise when the Sun King of France, Louis, could make up his mind for war.

And the third party that could no longer endure the Great Ming was Grand Pensionary De Witt of the Republic of the United Netherlands.

The reason De Witt could no longer endure it was the emergence of the Republic of Batavia. Although Zhu Cilang had still fully safeguarded the interests of the shareholders of the Dutch East India Company, and had even let the Dutch of Batavia serve as the republic's stadtholder, in the eyes of the people of the Netherlands proper — especially the shareholders of the East India Company — this Republic of Batavia was nothing but a puppet of the Great Ming Empire. Before many years passed, the Dutch would completely lose the East India Company and all their interests in the East Indies.

Moreover, after the discovery of the Southern Continent, the Great Ming Empire's activities in the Indian Ocean had visibly intensified!

At the same time, the friendship between the Great Ming Empire and the Timurid Empire of India was also warming by the day. Because of the development of the "Junior Grand Secretary trade," the Timurid Empire's supply chain of child soldiers was firmly in the hands of the Great Ming Empire, so Aurangzeb had no choice but to maintain friendship with Emperor Zhu. And the friendship between Zhu Cilang and Aurangzeb made the Dutch feel a new threat.

Their interests in the Indian Ocean would sooner or later be seized by the Great Ming Empire as well!

Without the enormous profits from the East Indies and the Indian Ocean, the good days of the Republic of the United Netherlands would come to an end.

Therefore, on the eve of Christmas in 1672, Grand Pensionary De Witt left The Hague, the capital of the Dutch Republic, and arrived at the magnificent Palace of Versailles outside Paris. Without France to play the bird that sticks its neck out, the Republic of the United Netherlands could not possibly fight the mighty Great Ming Empire.

On December 23, 1672, just as Christmas was approaching, De Witt from the Netherlands, Ivan Naryshkin from Russia, and De Velasco from the Kingdom of New Spain all gathered at the Sun King's Palace of Versailles, prepared to do their utmost to persuade this Sun of France to lead the most powerful army in all Europe onto the battlefield against the Great Ming Empire.

However, Louis XIV did not receive the three of them at once. It was not that the French king wanted to leave the three of them cooling their heels, but rather that an even more important guest had secretly arrived at Versailles.

Because this guest had come so suddenly and so mysteriously, Louis XIV had no choice but to temporarily leave the Palace of Versailles and go to a country villa near Saint-Germain belonging to the House of Savoy.

There, Louis XIV met his somewhat alluringly beautiful distant niece, Maria Francisca Isabel de Savoy — the former Queen of Portugal and current Princess Regent of Portugal.

Although she no longer held the title of queen, she was in fact the queen of Portugal. To suddenly travel from Lisbon to Saint-Germain in France under conditions of complete secrecy, and moreover to specifically request a meeting with Louis XIV, truly gave King Louis some rather improper thoughts. Could it be that the Portuguese Regent Pedro, like his brother, had developed a physical defect? That would be troublesome indeed!

The ever "obliging" King Louis would of course not leave his beautiful niece unattended, so he canceled his meetings with De Witt, Ivan Naryshkin, De Velasco, and the others, and with only a few trusted attendants, escorted by a small squad of cavalry, quietly made his way to the Savoy villa at Saint-Germain.

But contrary to King Louis's expectations, what he got at the Savoy villa was not a romantic encounter, but a distant niece so frantic she was at her wit's end.

"Your Majesty, the king has fled!"

In the reception hall of the Savoy villa, Maria Francisca first dismissed all her own and Louis's attendants, and then, with a mournful face, reported a terrible piece of news to Louis.

"What?" Louis was shocked. "Maria Francisca, have you driven away another husband?"

Maria Francisca was taken aback for a moment, then realized that King Louis had misunderstood her words, and hurriedly explained: "Your Majesty, you misunderstand. The king I speak of is not Pedro."

"Then..." Louis was briefly stunned, then suddenly understood. "Could it be Afonso? Wasn't he imprisoned by you people on the Azores?"

"He has escaped!" Maria Francisca gritted her teeth. "That treacherous man actually left the Azores with a band of pirates who appeared from who knows where!"

At these words, Louis XIV's brow furrowed deeply. You, Maria Francisca, as Queen of Portugal, colluded with the king's brother, claimed the king had a physical problem, used that as a pretext to incite a coup, and exiled the king to a desolate island overseas — and now you have the nerve to call the king treacherous!

"Do not worry," Louis XIV drew a breath and consoled his niece. "He is not fit to be king. He has a physical defect!"

Louis thought to himself: a physical defect doesn't actually seem to be a disqualification for being king!

Maria Francisca, however, shook her head and said: "No, it is not like that. He... he..."

"What about him?" Louis looked at his niece's expression, and his heart gave a thump.

"He has no physical problem!" Maria Francisca gritted her teeth. "Your Majesty, in truth, he has no problem..."

"What?" Louis XIV was astonished. "Then, then you and Pedro are simply..."

"It is adultery!" Maria Francisca said. "Your Majesty, if this matter is ever exposed, Pedro and I will be in great trouble!"

Louis rolled his eyes and thought: couldn't the two of you just go all the way? You've already committed adultery and staged a coup — how can you not manage a murder?

"It does not matter!" Louis XIV gritted his teeth. "I am the Sun King. If I say he is incapable, then he is incapable. Capable or not, he is incapable."

Maria Francisca shook her head and said: "Your Majesty, the pirates who rescued Afonso from the Azores very likely came from the East — from the colony of Goa!"

(End of Chapter)