Chapter 1615: Farewell, Chongzhen

Any document called a "Charter of So-and-So" is usually about grand principles and fundamental rules. The Celestial Alliance Grand Charter that appeared at the end of the fifty-second year of Ming Hongxing was no exception.

According to later history books, this "Grand Charter" was jointly formulated through the collective wisdom of all the princes and high ministers of the Huaxia states who attended the Chongzhen funeral, with everyone speaking freely and pooling their efforts.

But in reality, the main content of this Celestial Alliance Grand Charter was dictated by Zhu Cilang's golden words and jade sayings.

Zhu Cilang was the "absolute monarch" of the Great Ming Celestial Dynasty, and also the undisputed leader of the Celestial Alliance!

Even such "unruly powers" as the United States, Western Chu, Dzungar, Jiaging, and the United Kingdom dared not defy Zhu Cilang's sacred will. If Zhu Cilang were gone, Zhu Hexing might not be able to serve as absolute monarch and undisputed leader of the Celestial Alliance.

But Zhu Cilang was still here, and since he was still here, he had to responsibly exercise power. Recklessly delegating authority was neither feasible nor responsible.

Even if Zhu Cilang formally abdicated, he would still support Zhu Hexing for a while — he had to properly help the Lucky Crown Prince along a good stretch of road, and only when he truly could no longer support him could he let go!

So although the Celestial Alliance Grand Charter was said to be the result of everyone's consultation, in practice Zhu Cilang set the principles, and everyone discussed the minor details together.

And the principles the Zhu Emperor now proposed were mainly these few.

First, steadfastly follow the path of Huaxia-ization. Of course, this Huaxia-ization did not mean rigid immutability or an insistence on archaism.

With the "Zilun Gewu Chapter," Huaxia civilization already possessed an intellectual weapon a hundred times more powerful than "venerating antiquity," so there was no need to drag out the old ancestors.

Of course, the current Celestial Alliance common market was not exclusionary. What the Celestial Dynasty Alliance upheld was still the principle of open and free trade.

So Zhu Cilang's Huaxia-ization meant upholding certain things in language, culture, belief, and customs. Among these, language and culture were hard targets, but ancient speech and classical Chinese were not pursued. Belief was defined more broadly, while customs could be adapted to local conditions and evolve with the times.

The second grand principle was to take Great Ming as the elder brother!

Great Ming would no longer act as lord and father. The responsibility of lord and father was too heavy, and it was also easy to smother the son-states below. While Zhu Cilang lived, he could of course be the father — he was originally the father! The military rulers of the United States and the United Kingdom among the unruly powers were originally his sons! The queen dowager ruling the Kingdom of Dzungar was his goddaughter, and the "hegemon" of Western Chu was his nephew. And Zhu Cilang also had sufficient means to discipline the kings and queen dowagers of these states — he could fully act as father.

But Zhu Hexing did not have such authority, and the Ming rulers after Zhu Hexing would be even more lacking in the authority to restrain powerful vassals.

And as those powerful vassals multiplied in population and developed economically, sooner or later they would be unwilling to be dominated by Great Ming. If Great Ming insisted on positioning itself as the father-state, sooner or later it would come into serious conflict with them — and who knew, a future world war might break out among the Huaxia states.

But Great Ming not acting as the father-state did not mean pursuing "Huaxia equality" either — that would not do. Because as the Huaxia states grew more numerous and more chaotic, there had to be a leading elder brother to guide everyone, establish order, and maintain order.

So the Huaxia states had to have an elder brother, and that elder brother could only be Great Ming!

The third grand principle was joint governance by greater and lesser alliance leaders — that is, the five great powers each managed their own sphere. The Ming Empire, as the overall alliance leader, also had its own sphere. Besides serving as overall leader, Great Ming was also the alliance leader of the Eastern Divine Continent and the Northeastern Divine Continent. Including Japan, Joseon, Jeju, Annam, Siam, Laos, Chenla, Tumed, and Chahar — nine states in all — these were Great Ming's "direct little brothers."

The remaining territory was divided into four "great regions": the Southern Seas and Lesser Western Ocean, the Southern Continent, the New Continent, and the Western Regions. Each great region had a lesser alliance leader controlling its own sphere.

The fourth grand principle was the Celestial Alliance common market and common currency. Only talking culture without talking money would not do! For the Celestial Alliance to endure, close economic ties had to be established among member states.

Moreover, organizing a common market with Great Ming at the core also served the interests of all Celestial Alliance member states.

Of course, the current Celestial Alliance common market was not exclusionary. What the Celestial Dynasty Alliance upheld was still the principle of open and free trade.

And the fifth grand principle of the Celestial Dynasty Alliance was destined to be extremely controversial.

So after Zhu Cilang finished the first four grand principles, when he came to the fifth, his tone had already grown grave: "The world today is still an age of great contention! So we absolutely cannot have only a Celestial Alliance without Celestial Armies. Our Celestial Dynasty, a superior state and a land of propriety, is of course the most reasonable of all! But without soldiers, we cannot properly reason with others!"

That was the truth!

Zhu Cilang truly was a very reasonable Son of Heaven of China. He could reason well with words, and he was also highly skilled at reasoning with guns and cannons! The "wooden-stock flowering salute" and the "wooden-ramrod rifled musket salute" were both his "inventions." Because of his inventions, the efficiency of reasoning in the world had been greatly improved! So everyone was becoming more and more reasonable.

But the princes and dukes of the states in the square outside the Hall of Imperial Supremacy were all somewhat stunned when they heard about forming Celestial Armies — just who were these troops supposed to reason with? The enemy, or themselves?

The atmosphere outside the Gate of Imperial Supremacy also suddenly became somewhat oppressive along with the question marks in everyone's heads, and no one stepped forward to take up Zhu Cilang's words.

This was going to be an awkward silence!

The Zhu Emperor thought of this and cast a glance at Zhu Anu, who stood near the front of the ranks. This Queen Mother of Dzungar immediately stepped out of formation, walked forward onto the white marble platform, first performed a blessing curtsey to Zhu Cilang, and then asked: "May I ask, Imperial Father, to whom will this Celestial Alliance joint army belong? Where will the funds for its establishment and maintenance come from? How many soldiers will the Celestial Alliance's Celestial Armies recruit, and from where will they be recruited?"

With these words, she in effect expressed support for the Celestial Alliance joint army! At the same time, she shifted everyone's attention to the matter of army-building itself, sparing everyone from getting tangled up in the question of whether to establish the Celestial Dynasty Alliance army at all.

Well asked! Truly a considerate and intimate person!

Zhu Cilang nodded and smiled: "This Celestial Alliance joint army is of course jointly owned by all the states, and placed under the joint management of the Celestial Alliance Assembly."

"What is the Celestial Alliance Assembly?" Zhu Anu asked again.

"The Celestial Alliance must also have a deliberative assembly, to be called the Celestial Alliance Assembly," Zhu Cilang explained. "The general assembly of the Celestial Alliance Assembly shall be established in Yingtian Prefecture, and every state joining the alliance should dispatch envoys to be permanently stationed at the Celestial Alliance Assembly."

This Celestial Alliance Assembly looked rather like the United Nations, and in fact it was the United Nations of the Huaxia states!

The five alliance leaders of the Celestial Alliance were somewhat like the five great powers of the Security Council. The difference was that the Celestial Alliance did not practice sovereign equality. So there were properly designated alliance leaders.

In addition, the Celestial Alliance also had four "deputy lesser alliance leaders" who could each administer one region, and could be said to rule as kings and hegemons in their own territories!

Zhu Cilang then continued: "Furthermore, the Celestial Alliance Assembly will also select one great city each in the Western Regions, the Southern Seas, the Southern Continent, and the New Continent to serve as the seats of the Celestial Alliance's branch assemblies."