Chapter 1496: A Western Rome Would Be Pretty Nice Too!

It was no easy matter to get the Timurid Empire of India to put up money in support of the Ottoman Empire's capture of Vienna — at the very least, it was not something Princess Nisha could accomplish with just a letter or two.

Her letters could only let Aurangzeb know that the Celestial Empire's "World Conqueror" had lost his nerve — that after encountering the combined blockade of France, the Netherlands, and the Shun in the Indian Ocean, he had chosen to fall back and hold the strait rather than push westward in force. So Aurangzeb could no longer count on a four-way mutual ruin among the Great Ming, France, the Netherlands, and the Shun.

Since there would be no "four-way mutual ruin," the Timurid Empire of India was in a bad spot — it would have to face a gang-beating by France, the Netherlands, and the Shun all at once. And the Indians had a habit of "welcoming a new master" — it seemed that as long as the new master was not a native of India, anyone would do!

This time three had come at once: France's "I am the state" (not yet liberty, equality, fraternity), the Netherlands' "money is all-powerful," and the Shun's "building is worse than buying, buying is worse than seizing." Surely one of these approaches would suit the working people of India.

So Aurangzeb had to get nervous, had to make every effort to ensure that his great Indian empire would not be snatched away!

Supporting and allying with the Ottoman Empire to flatten Austria and put an end to that Holy Roman Empire — which was neither Roman nor holy — was only one of the many means by which Aurangzeb defended India.

And the end of the Holy Roman Empire was bound to have the most profound consequences!

The course of world history, especially European history, was bound to undergo a major change because of the fall of Vienna.

"Imperial Father, the fact that this House of Habsburg has developed to its present state is actually the result of the rise and westward expansion of the Ottoman Empire. It was precisely because the Christians of Europe, after the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire, needed a powerful state capable of resisting the Ottoman Empire that they joined forces to promote the rise and prosperity of the House of Habsburg. If the Ottoman Empire seizes the core territories of the House of Habsburg, then the Holy Roman Empire led by the Habsburgs is bound to collapse, and the Christians of Europe will surely strive to push France's House of Bourbon to become a new Roman state capable of resisting the Ottoman Empire!

When that time comes, France, Spain, Italy, and even northern Germany — including Poland — will all prostrate themselves at the feet of the Sun King Louis! France will become the new Rome, and Louis XIV will become a Caesar and an Augustus. Our Great Ming will then face an unprecedented powerful enemy!"

The person sitting in a room filled with French-style luxury, holding a cup of Mancini milk tea and analyzing with Zhu Cilang the possible consequences of the Ottoman Empire's capture of Vienna, was a rather handsome young man with a mixed-race face, half Chinese and half Western.

This young man's name was Zhu Hengli, the son of Zhu Cilang and Marie Mancini. Because Marie Mancini's status was "royal mistress," Zhu Hengli was not initially entered into the jade register and clan genealogy, and so was not named according to the Ming imperial family's generational characters.

Later, however, he did become a prince of the Great Ming, received a fine education, and not only stood to inherit the enormous fortune under Marie Mancini's name but also possessed a large tract of overseas land — Hengli Island (New Zealand).

Unlike those princes who were entered into the jade register and clan genealogy at birth, Zhu Hengli had not been raised to be a professional soldier — he was free to choose his own path in life. Even if he became a "stay-at-home king" and never went to Hengli Island to take up his fief for his entire life, Zhu Cilang would not interfere. In any case, the development of Hengli Island was proceeding very slowly; without thirty to fifty years of development, there would be no conditions for founding a state at all.

From childhood, however, Hengli displayed an extraordinary talent for study. After graduating from Laoshan Middle School, he was admitted to Yingtian Imperial University. Whether it was because he had a Western face and a foreign mother, during his studies at the university he showed a great interest in international affairs. He had even proposed to Zhu Cilang that after graduating from the university he go to France to study.

At the time, Zhu Cilang had agreed to his son's request, and had Marie Mancini write to her sister Olympia Mancini (the mother of François Eugène), asking her to apply to the University of Paris on Hengli's behalf.

But because the Great Ming and France were now in a state of war, Zhu Hengli had no chance to attend university in Paris. Still, he hoped to travel in Europe, his mother's homeland, so after graduating from the university he entered the Great Ming's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and became an official there.

He had assumed he would be posted to Europe after the war ended or negotiations began; he never expected that as soon as the war started, he would get the chance to be posted abroad. He would go to Europe — not to Paris, however, but to Istanbul.

And Zhu Cilang intended to entrust him with a major mission that very likely would change the world!

Zhu Cilang hoped that Zhu Hengli, as deputy envoy of a special Great Ming mission, would accompany the "Landlord King" Zhu Cixuan to India and the Ottoman Empire, to persuade the Timurid Empire of India to support the Ottoman Empire in attacking Vienna.

When Zhu Hengli learned of his father's plan, he immediately raised an objection — he was a true Europe expert, so he knew very well that once Vienna fell, the Holy Roman Empire of the House of Habsburg would collapse, and the Kingdom of France under the House of Bourbon would seize the moment to rise and become an incomparably powerful "new Rome"!

In his view, a unified new Rome was certainly disadvantageous to the Great Ming Empire.

Zhu Cilang listened to his son's question and merely nodded approvingly.

This son was not bad — he himself had hardly paid any attention to the boy's education, yet the boy had on his own gained admission to the hardest university to enter in the Great Ming, and after graduation had been admitted to the Great Ming's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Moreover, he was thoroughly versed in European affairs — a true Europe expert!

It seemed this son had a great future ahead of him; perhaps he could even become Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Zhu Cilang smiled and said, "Hengli, a unified new Rome is not necessarily disadvantageous to our Great Ming. In fact, your father also hopes that on the soil of Western Europe there can be a unified Western Roman Empire."

"A unified Roman Empire is good for us?" Zhu Hengli truly could not figure out what the old man was scheming.

Europe, now shattered into a heap of pieces, already had so many great powers; if it were unified, would that not be even more formidable? If there really were a Roman Empire, would the Great Ming not have an endless headache in the future?

"Unification is good!" Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "Once it's unified, there won't be so many troublesome matters! And once the House of Bourbon unifies Rome, its prestige is bound to soar, and its rule will be easy to stabilize — that is also to our advantage."

Indeed, little France would have become great Rome!

The map would be huge, and the people of Paris would be happy just looking at it! If the House of Bourbon were to be overthrown, perhaps there would be no great Rome, and then the map would show only a tiny patch — how ugly that would be!

Moreover, the House of Bourbon would then be the defender of Catholicism. Without the Bourbons, without great Rome, the Ottoman Sultan and the Emir of India might well march into Paris, and then belief in God would no longer be permitted — people would have to believe in Allah or in Brahma.

The French Revolution and the like — one could not say it would absolutely never happen, but at the very least it would be postponed.

And if the French Revolution did not happen or was postponed, would that not be beneficial to the Great Ming's feudal dynasty?

Furthermore, once a French version of great Rome appeared, the external pressure on the House of Bourbon and its impetus for expansion would be greatly reduced — for the House of Bourbon, consolidating the unity of the new Rome and its own imperial power would be what mattered most.

Europe had been divided for so many years; once unified, would it not need a good long period of consolidation?

And did the French know how to consolidate the unity of a great empire? The Great Ming had a great deal of advanced experience here, all of which could be passed on to the House of Bourbon.

For example, the civil service examination system was very progressive!

The intellectuals of the new Rome should all be made to take examinations and become officials — pass the Roman jinshi examination and serve the House of Bourbon well as officials, and stop making revolutions.

Another example: ruling the military through civil officials. The Grand Secretaries of Roman jinshi background should be put in charge of the lawless military aristocrats, so that they could not go around stirring up trouble everywhere.

Of course, there was also centralization of power — France was already learning this. Louis XIV was "I am the state," but that was still not enough; it had to be strengthened further! The trunk must be strengthened and the branches weakened; military power in the border regions must be concentrated in the central government!

Therefore, for a considerably long time to come, the new Rome's main energies would certainly be devoted to internal affairs, and its drive to contend with the Great Ming for supremacy would be insufficient.

(End of Chapter)