Chapter 1629: The First World Unification War

The Romans who returned dejectedly to Paris from the battlefields of Austria and Bohemia suddenly discovered that the city they had wanted to "save" was actually richer, more peaceful, and more beautiful than their own homeland! The people they had wanted to "liberate" also lived better than the Romans of Paris and its surrounding regions, and suffered lighter oppression.

How could these proud Romans — oh, or rather, Frenchmen — tolerate such a thing? Was this Roman Empire not supposed to be the sun illuminating the world, the earthly paradise all men yearned for? How was it that everywhere was now richer and more civilized than Rome?

That Rome was inferior to England and the Netherlands they could still endure — those two were nations of profiteering merchants, swindling money from the whole world, so it was only natural they lived rather comfortably. But those profiteers would go to hell after death, so there was no need to envy their earthly pleasures.

But how had Austria and Bohemia become so prosperous too? Both were landlocked countries in Central Europe, utterly incapable of seizing enormous profits from overseas trade, and they had also been enslaved by the Ottomans — they had only just stood up again a few decades ago!

Although Vienna in Austria had quite a few banks, these usurious bankers could hardly be expected to subsidize Austria's common people out of their own pockets!

Yet the Roman officers and soldiers who had gone out from the province of France clearly saw that the living standards of the Austrian people were higher than those of the Romans in the province of France!

Moreover, in Austria there were not so many useless nobles lording it over everyone, drawing large annual pensions each year, legitimately exempt from taxes, and monopolizing most of the lucrative official posts.

These two countries, Austria and Bohemia, seemed in every way more progressive than the Roman Empire! Perhaps the Archduke of Austria and the King of Bohemia had done what they ought to have done.

And the present Emperor of Rome was nothing but a muddle-headed, incompetent, lecherous, and profligate tyrant and enemy of the people!

After the end of the Twelve Years' War, Louis II had in fact already fallen into a ruling crisis — not only had his prestige been utterly destroyed, but his finances were on the verge of bankruptcy, and he had also lost the allegiance of most of the soldiers of French provincial origin.

But Louis II's rule did not collapse because of this, for he had ruled the Roman Empire for too long — he had not only cultivated a great number of trusted followers, but also knew where the bottom line of the common people lay.

Furthermore, after the Ottoman Empire lost Istanbul, Louis II had without hesitation torn up the peace treaty with the Ottomans and dispatched troops to seize back Egypt, the richest part of North Africa, which could be considered a small recovery of blood for his empire.

Yet even if he could barely maintain his position, Louis II could not defeat Death. In the sixth year after the end of the Twelve Years' War, Louis II, at the age of sixty-five, finally completed his rather pleasurable but not at all successful life, leaving a complete mess to his grandson, Louis III, who was only twenty years old.

Only one year after Louis III ascended the imperial throne, a war of independence erupted in the New Rome colony under the rule of the Roman Empire!

That is right — in this timeline, the American War of Independence was not started by the British Thirteen Colonies of North America, but by the province of New Rome under the Roman Empire. The Thirteen Colonies of North America were already independent, so what independence war would they fight? Moreover, the United Kingdom of New England had not participated in the Twelve Years' War, so naturally it had no need to raise taxes on its people.

But the situation of the province of New Rome under the rule of the Roman Empire was quite dire indeed!

First, this New Rome, originally intended to absorb the Roman Catholic believers of Europe, had become a place of exile for Protestants within Roman territory because of Louis I's edict of 1685 declaring Protestantism illegal within the provinces of the Roman Empire.

Second, due to the influx of large numbers of Roman Protestants, the actual controlled area of the province of New Rome expanded rapidly in the decades after 1685. From originally having only the single Governor-Generalship of Louisiana, it grew to possess five Governor-Generalships — Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee — and later Florida and Cuba were also incorporated, forming a total of seven Governor-Generalships.

By around 1775, the seven Governor-Generalships of New Rome already possessed a population of over 1.3 million white or mixed-white people, of whom as many as one million were Protestants, most of them Protestants expelled from the Roman Empire.

These people had no affection whatsoever for the Roman Empire of Louis III.

Moreover, on the North American continent at this time there already existed three semi-independent states with a very high degree of autonomy — the United States of New Continent, the Kingdom of Qing, and the United Kingdom of New England — as well as one fully independent and sovereign Great Soviet Khanate.

These four independent or semi-independent states served as excellent examples for the Protestants of New Rome, and therefore the current of thought favoring independence and nation-building had always existed among the people of New Rome.

And when the Roman Empire began levying heavy taxes on the seven provinces of New Rome to make up for the enormous financial deficit caused by the Twelve Years' War, the people of New Rome fired the first shot of the War of Independence!

This was truly a great loss of face for Louis III. Having just become Emperor of the Roman Empire, Louis III could not sit idly by and watch New Rome become independent — not only because of face, but also because the independence of New Rome would trigger a very serious chain reaction, possibly causing New Spain, rich in gold and silver, to follow suit.

Thus Louis III immediately dispatched a large force to New Rome and began suppression. But beyond Louis III's expectations, this war that had seemed a sure thing evolved into a protracted war because the United States of New Continent and the Great Soviet Khanate openly supported the newborn American Federation, and because the United Kingdom of New England did nothing.

The war dragged on for a full ten years, and after exhausting the financial resources of the Roman Empire and leaving the empire deeply in debt, it still ended in Rome's defeat.

And the failure of this North American war tolled the death knell for the Western Roman Empire, which was already tottering on the brink of collapse!

In 1787, two years after the end of the North American war, Louis III, driven to desperation by the fiscal crisis, decided to break the absolute monarchy that had been practiced since Louis the Great took personal rule, and convened the Estates-General, which had been suspended for over a hundred years — and at the same time tolled his own death knell.

For at the Estates-General, the nobles and clergy came into severe confrontation with the representatives of the so-called "Third Estate," and the "Third Estate" representatives even put forward utterly outrageous demands — to draw up a constitution, limit the power of the king, and implement constitutional monarchy.

Louis III naturally would not agree to constitutional monarchy, so the "Third Estate" representatives in the Estates-General, together with some clerical representatives, began convening a constituent assembly on their own, sidelining Louis III. Under these circumstances, Louis III secretly mobilized troops in an attempt to disperse the constituent assembly, finally provoking the uprising of the people of Paris on July 14.

And when disaster struck, Louis III, because of his dull wits, failed to flee in time, and was consequently arrested by the National Guard. Finally, after a series of brainless operations, this Louis III successfully delivered himself to the guillotine!

The Western Roman Empire also became the Roman Republic after the death of Louis III!

And the news that the Roman Emperor had been executed by the Parisian mob would soon shock the world.

The first to react was, of course, Philip III, who had already taken up residence in Constantinople. Although he utterly looked down upon Louis III, as Emperor of the Eastern Rome, he naturally did not wish to see the Emperor of the Western Rome lose his head.

Moreover, he believed that he should become Emperor of all Rome after the death of Louis III, so he immediately launched a war, attempting to suppress the revolution while winning for himself the golden crown of the Roman Empire!

All of Europe was thereby plunged into one crisis after another.

And in the East of the world, the news that the Roman Emperor had been executed by the mob and that the empire had become a republic likewise caused a great uproar!

At the same time, some men of insight also realized that the death of Louis III had set a very bad precedent, and that all of Europe must be trembling in fear — so now was the best time for the Great Ming Empire to intervene in European affairs!