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European countries have already become the most advanced countries in the world. Their culture and technology are not much different from those of the Qin Dynasty, and their weapons are also very advanced.
As the strength of the Qin navy continues to increase, perhaps we can defeat them temporarily with all our strength, but it is unlikely that we can rule Europe for a long time.
Moreover, a full-scale military conflict with the West is not conducive to the economic development of Daqin, nor is it conducive to the advancement of the industrial revolution. As the emperor of Daqin, Qin Mu must consider what is the most beneficial thing for Daqin.
The main force of the ocean-going fleet is about to advance into India. Currently, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Britain all have their own interests in India, but the Dutch are in the dominant position, and it is also the Dutch who occupied the Cape of Good Hope.
Qin Mu thought about it and decided to adopt a divide and conquer strategy. Specifically, he would target the Dutch and try to avoid further conflicts with the British, Spanish and Portuguese.
Occupy the Dutch territory and further expand the sphere of interests of the Qin Dynasty, while allowing the British and Portuguese to have a small share, to avoid all Western countries from uniting to confront the Qin Dynasty. This may be much better than making an enemy of the whole world.
Regarding the conflicts among civilizations, Qin Mu once again summoned the cabinet ministers and military officials from the Ministry of War, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Six Military Commandery to the Jianjia Palace for discussion.
Admiral Di Zhongxing spoke first, "Your Majesty, don't worry. This time the ocean-going fleet is advancing into India mainly to target the Dutch. As long as other countries do not take the initiative to attack, the ocean-going fleet will not take the initiative to attack them either."
Qin Mu shook his head and said, "It's not that simple. After all, we have fought with them before. After the ocean-going fleet enters the Indian Ocean, it is inevitable that it will cause misunderstandings among countries."
Gan Nan, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: "Your Majesty, in this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is trying to contact Britain, Spain, and Portugal through business channels and reach an understanding. In addition to Spain, I believe that Britain and Portugal are willing to shake hands and make peace with Daqin."
Qin Mu pondered in silence. When he decided to let the army replace the navy to station in the South Pacific islands and then let the navy withdraw to advance into the Indian Ocean, these strategies had already been planned. Qin Mu was clear about this. He summoned the ministers to discuss the matter today for another reason.
The Prime Minister Sima An asked, "Your Majesty, is it the Ottoman Empire that you are worried about?"
Qin Mu said: "I'm not worried. However, since the Qin Empire and the Ottoman Empire had no contact before, our huge empire doesn't know much about European countries. Not knowing our enemies is an extremely dangerous thing."
Today, the Emperor Qin summoned all his ministers to discuss the relationship between the Qin Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and other European countries. He asked the eunuch to bring up a globe and said, "It can be clearly seen from the globe that the world is currently divided into three major civilization blocks. The Christian civilization represented by Western Europe, the Islamic civilization represented by the Ottoman Empire, the Chinese civilization represented by the Qin Empire,
Among these three civilizations, Western European countries take the ocean as their lifeline, so they represent maritime civilization. Although the Ottoman Empire has a vast coastline including the Sea of the Sea, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, its center of gravity is inland. It is a typical land civilization.
In the past, land civilization surpassed ocean civilization, but with the development of shipbuilding and navigation technology, ocean civilization will definitely surpass land civilization, because through ships, people can go to farther places, see more things, develop greater trade, and gain more opportunities for communication.
And have you noticed that, in a country like our Great Qin, the entire economic center is in the southeast coast. Although the northwestern provinces are vast in area, their output is far less than that of the southeast coast. Moreover, this trend is irreversible and will become more and more obvious.
The same is true for Seoul in Korea and Edo in Japan. The ocean connects all the richest and most developed places in the world, so the superiority of ocean civilization is constantly expanding. In the next few hundred years, or even a thousand years, ocean civilization will definitely be ahead of land civilization.
This is why I chose Nanjing as my capital. I have tried hard to push Daqin toward the ocean, but for now, Daqin is still a civilized country that is half ocean and half land. "
The ministers in the Jianjia Palace listened with bated breath. In the entire Qin Dynasty, perhaps only the emperor himself had such a global vision, and only he could analyze the advantages and disadvantages of various civilizations.
This kind of insight and vision impressed all the ministers.
No one spoke, waiting quietly for the emperor's next words.
Qin Mu took a cup of tea to moisten his mouth, then continued, "Land civilization represented by Islam will gradually decline. This is the general trend, and no one can reverse it.
Land civilizations usually have one characteristic, which is that they are relatively closed, which is why land civilizations gradually fall behind. I have said so much, just to tell you one fact, whoever gives up the ocean, gives up the future. "
Jin Lei, the attendant, wrote down Qin Mu's words word for word with great speed.
"Today I have divided the world into three major civilizations. First of all, I want everyone to have an overall understanding. Now I will analyze the three major civilizations in detail.
Islamic civilization is still basically at the stage where religion and politics are not separated, and they show no signs of separation of religion and politics;
Christian civilization is getting rid of the situation of separation of church and state, and countries like the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have basically completed the separation of church and state, which is one of the reasons for the rapid rise of these two countries.
Islamic civilization does not distinguish between religion and politics, which is what I hate the most. Now, with our dynasty advancing into West Asia, India and the Persian Gulf, conflict with the Ottoman Empire is inevitable.
From a civilizational perspective, it is easier for our Great Qin to reach a consensus with Western European countries that have achieved separation of church and state, and trade relations between them will become closer and closer.”
When the ministers heard this, they could not help but nod their heads. Ma Yongzhen, the commander-in-chief of the Left Army, said, "Your Majesty, do you want to unite with the Western countries first and attack the Ottoman Empire?"
Gannan said: “As far as I know, the conflict between Christian civilization and Islamic civilization has a long history, which has lasted for more than a thousand years. In the past, there were the Christian Crusades;
Once Islamic civilization became strong, it never gave up its invasion and killing of Christian civilization. The Ottoman Empire is now in fierce conflict with European countries in Eastern Europe. If our Great Qin wants to unite European countries to deal with the Ottoman Empire, it is still possible to reach an agreement. "
"You think too much. I have no intention of joining forces with Christianity to suppress Islam. This is not very realistic. However, the conflict between Christianity and Islam can be used to make the Ottoman Empire and Europe fight more fiercely."
"I wonder what your majesty is planning?"
Qin Mu said calmly: "My plan has been made very clear. I want to make the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and European countries more intense. How to achieve this is exactly why I summoned all the ministers here. I have put forward an idea, and how to realize it is the business of all the ministers."
Sima An and others looked at each other in bewilderment. Well, it is true that one should be loyal to the emperor and be paid by him. But this strategic concept is too grand, and everyone does not know much about the Ottoman Empire. How can such a concept be implemented
Gan Nan tried to say: "Your Majesty, I suggest sending an envoy to Europe, first to the Vatican to meet with the Pope. I believe the Pope will be happy to hear your proposal. With the Pope integrating the power of European countries, and then attacking the Ottoman Empire together with the Qin Dynasty, it may not be impossible."
Qin Mu thought this was a very good suggestion. Although the Qin Dynasty did not necessarily need to unite with Europe to fight against the Ottoman Empire, it would definitely be a good thing to let the two sides fight more fiercely.
Moreover, when the Qin Dynasty advanced into India, its main enemy was the Dutch, who were precisely the "apostates" in the eyes of the Pope, so there was something to be said for this.
Qin Mu nodded immediately and said, "Minister Gan's proposal is feasible, but in order to send an envoy to Europe to meet the Pope smoothly, I'm afraid we still need some help. Let's release some Portuguese captives as a gesture of goodwill. On the one hand, it can promote smoother trade between Daqin and Europe, and on the other hand, let them provide some help so that our envoys can reach Europe smoothly.
This time, we need to plan carefully how to mediate with European countries when sending envoys. In addition, we have another important task, which is to look for talents from European countries and collect their advanced technologies. As long as they are useful talents, we must try our best to bring them back. "
"Yes, Your Majesty."
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.(To be continued..)
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