"The ambitions of the French must be curbed, must!" On October 20, 1687, a policy debate was being held in the Embassy of the Republic of China on the East Coast of China in England at the Iron Mansion in London. Both sides of the debate were staff members of the embassy and trading posts, and the main focus was on the next phase of the East Coast's policy towards continental Europe and the Kingdom of France.

There is no doubt that in today's East Coast Republic of China, although the idea of containing the continental powers prevails, there are still some people who will put forward other political ideas, such as developing good relations with the Ottomans, Russia, France, India, Qing, and Shun, expanding trade, and promoting the prosperity of domestic industry and commerce. These people, generally speaking, are mainly big businessmen, but there is also a considerable political force behind them, so the voice has always existed for many years.

France, for example, negotiated with the East Coast's ambassador to Paris, Lin Dingzhi, after trade was at a low ebb due to commercial sanctions imposed by the United Provinces, and finally reached an agreement to reduce import tariffs on some goods and prosper trade between the two countries. In order to repay this friendly gesture of the French and firmly bind to the largest single market in Europe, the East Coasters also exported some steam equipment to France to help them improve the backward industrial production facilities, such as the steam flour production line.

This is the first time that this kind of export of controlled goods has been introduced, but the effect has been very good, at least in the eyes of many people who are deeply involved in overseas trade. The French were also very excited about acquiring a steam engine that rivaled (or even surpassed) the British, who had been researching it for many years before them and invested more, but it was indeed a good thing that the French had obtained this level of equipment in one step by importing from China.

Of course, the British also ridiculed the French for dreaming sweetly, and the steam engine production line sold to them by the East Coast was better than that of the British, with higher quality, longevity, and reliability, but so what? This level of equipment could not be replicated at the level of the French—at least not at the same level—but the British could reproduce their own steam engines and other equipment indefinitely, and it can be said that they have their own core technology, and it is clear which is higher or lower between the two.

Nevertheless, this competition between Britain and France reflects their thirst for new technologies and their admiration for advanced productive forces. Therefore, some people on the east coast have pointed out that this kind of unauthorized export of cutting-edge technology to European countries is a "wrong behavior" that must be strictly prohibited. Even if France's neighbor England had already commercialized these engines and used them extensively in industry, the East Coast should not export them for so-called commercial gain, thereby increasing domestic mechanization. The reason is very simple, that is, once the European countries use the steam engine on a large scale (this trend is already more obvious), then their production efficiency will definitely rise, then the cost of many industrial products will also be reduced, and the goods on the east coast will naturally be affected.

Someone in the Founders' Assembly asked, who approved this blatant act of capital enemies? Do the bureaucrats of the Ministry of Science and Technology still have any points in their hearts? Just for the sake of commercial interests, the principle was abandoned, and now any cat or dog can be a state official? Parliamentarians, who agreed with this, ridiculed that it was not ridiculous that many people in the country were ignoring the fact that the steam engines made by the English were now appearing in the mines and lumberyards of Sweden and North Germany, reaping huge profits and the commercial benefits that came with them, and that many people in the country were constantly complaining about the Ministry of Commerce and Industry's inability to open up more markets.

Most of these people are large trading companies or export-oriented enterprises, and they are very excited about the reopening of the market in France, a country with a population of more than 20 million, so they look down on those who have been called "conservatives", feeling that these people have water in their heads and are completely blind to the changes in the international situation. Because according to their theory, the East Coast overseas colonies should not have access to steam engines, and everyone closed off the country. They are completely unaware that the correct thing to do is to constantly bring forth the new, improve their own technology, manufacture more advanced machinery and equipment, and then throw out the antique goods that are several generations behind, suppress other people's related industries, and grab excess profits.

The melee between these two currents of thought has now continued within the embassy in London. Many people here have lived in England for a long time, and they know a little bit about everything that happens in this country, and they know very well how far the British have come in the use of the steam engine, and they know that the British have begun to try to imitate the primitive and rudimentary trains, and how to bring the steam engine on the ship. Although such attempts have ended in failure so far (mainly due to the lack of support from other industries), their efforts speak for themselves, that is, their yearning for new technologies and new productive forces.

The Kingdom of France is only separated from England by a shallow strait, and it will not take long for a lot of news to reach London, so the staff of the Iron Mansion are also very aware of what is happening on the other side of the channel. They knew the size of the country's population, the fact that its level of productivity was in the upper middle of Europe, and that it was ruled by a proud, conceited, warlike king, and that many of the surrounding countries were so afraid of France that they had to unite against the deadly threat of this behemoth.

A part of the diplomat believed that it was necessary to unite with the rest of Europe and make every effort to curb the French ambitions, to prevent them from annexing the Low Countries, annexing the Rhine Valley, annexing the city-states of northern Italy, annexing the Iberian Peninsula, otherwise the country would grow into a freak, a populous, commercially developed power with a strong navy and army, which would be very detrimental to the interests of the people on the eastern coast in Europe, especially in the Mediterranean. Therefore, the act of exporting the local production line of steam engines and some civilian goods to France is a death, although in exchange for a part of the immediate market, earning a trade surplus of 780,000 yuan a year, but in the long run it seems that the gains outweigh the losses, and must be stopped immediately.

They even pointed out that, after years of development, the naval power of the Kingdom of France had reached a very good point, and its two fleets together were not inferior to the two old naval powers, United Province or England, at least in terms of the number and tonnage of warships. Although it is generally accepted that the French Navy is still far from in terms of personnel quality and strategy and tactics, the tonnage of the fleet is really there, and it is indeed a great threat. Their blockade of the coastline of the Republic of Geno* a few years ago is a clear proof of its inflated naval ambitions, and the people on the east coast should not let it go unchecked, but should take the initiative to intervene and cooperate with the United Provinces and England to jointly suppress the ambitions of the French and maintain the inherent order of Europe.

In opposition to them, there are also some people who have strengthened ties with France. Their reasons are very good, the French market is incomparable and coveted, and only a part of it has been opened now, and if they are persuaded to open it up further in the future, then the business community of the East Coast Republic will reap greater benefits, which will have a very positive effect on the country's finances and people's lives. On the other hand, the United Provinces, since Wilhelm III took power, have been relatively cold to the East Coast, and have also vigorously suppressed the republican parliamentarians led by Van Boiningen funded by the East Coast (sometimes even using dirty political assassination methods), and imported a large number of British and North German goods to compete with the East Coast, which is very hateful, so there is no need to put a hot face on the cold ass, it is more important to focus on the interests of the French market.

Cai Shengguo, the East Coast ambassador to England (who is also the favorite to be the next Special Envoy Plenipotentiary to Europe), is in favor of the former, that is, to uphold the strategy formulated by the older generation of diplomats to contain all possible land power states and protect the interests of the East Coast Republic of China, which favors sea power. Moreover, at present, the diplomatic mouth is generally dominated by the containment faction, rather than those who focus on commercial interests, so he still controls the diplomatic thinking of the Iron Mansion with ease, even if there are occasional disagreements within the country, they can be easily suppressed.

"Because of the cowardice of the Spaniards, the French tasted the sweetness of the Lowlands. Now that they had turned their evil eyes to the Rhine, Louis XIV coveted the German princes on the east bank of the Rhine and wanted to annex them to the Kingdom of France. And now it was a very good opportunity for them, as Leopold of the Kingdom of Austria, the co-lord of the German princes, was busy fighting in the Balkans, and most of his troops were involved there, and he could not cope with the two fronts at the same time. We fear that it will be difficult to contain the ambitions of the French in a single united province, and that we must find a way to unite more forces and bring them to fight against the French, so as to maintain the balance of power on the continent. A senior intelligence officer slapped the table vigorously and said, "Louis XIV was very jealous of Leopold's great prestige for fighting the infidels, so it is very likely that he will take action against the Holy Roman Empire, and we must take heart, otherwise I am afraid that no one will be able to hold the wild horse of France." ”

"Analyst Huang, let's not forget that our men are still trying to contain the Russians in the Black Sea, do you think that our power in Europe is enough to contain the ambitions of two land powers at the same time? You don't know how much money we spend to curb the ambitions of the Russians, do you? The head of the Mao detachment took more than 5,000 people to the Black Sea, which is not a small amount of daily consumption, do you think that the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate will pay the bill for us? Yes, that's right, the Black Sea trade is very important to us, and the annual profit is very high, but we've already thrown a lot of money into it, haven't we? Once Ukraine is disrupted, the order collapses, and then the Russian Empire is evil, the income from the Black Sea trade will also drop significantly, right? A commercial representative stood up and objected: "It is conceivable that no matter whether the Russians win or lose, the Black Sea trade will be semi-paralyzed for a period of time after the war, and a sharp drop in income is a high probability event." And what are you doing now? Want to ruin our kingdom of France, another important market in Europe, for some spurious reason? Have you, the intelligence elements, the warmongers, ever considered the problem from an economic point of view? Know how our diplomatic, commercial, intelligence and military establishments in Europe still operate with the loss of two important sources of trade profits in a row? Is it entirely dependent on local funding? I'm sorry, but after the trade collapse, there is not much money to support us locally, and on the contrary, there may be criticism of our work, which is unacceptable to us. ”

"You're afraid you don't know yet, do you? According to the latest information we have received, the Russians have been defeated outside Azov, the 150,000 army has collapsed, the Black Sea trade crisis has been resolved, and order on the ground should be restored as soon as possible. Now we can turn our attention to the French side, which is a grand strategy that has been at stake for a hundred years, and it is too superficial to focus only on immediate interests. You business representatives, you are too young, too simple, sometimes even naïve, and you only know how to make money, which is not good! Very bad! Analyst Huang lit a pipe and said leisurely in Cai Shengguo's encouraging gaze: "How can you just calculate economic accounts for such a thing as curbing the land power state?" The ambitions of the French are well known and must be curbed! You don't have to struggle too much, basically the tone of the country has been set, that is, to support England, the United Provinces, Spain, Austria and other countries to form a grand alliance to contain the Kingdom of France, dispel the aggressive ambitions of the French, and maintain the relative balance of power on the European continent. And only by maintaining the balance of power on the European continent can these Europeans have no intention of colonizing overseas, which is where our country's greatest interests lie, rather than staring at the petty profits in front of us. Xiao Zhang, you haven't been a business representative for a few years, so why do you have to speak for those traders? It has been more than 50 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and some small groups will only focus on their own business, and their interests are no longer quite consistent with the interests of the country. ”

Analyst Huang's words were actually a bit heavy, and the young business representative Xiao Zhang's face was red and white for a while, so he was not embarrassed. Ambassador Cai Shengguo watched everyone's debate with great interest, and did not stop it silently, it seems that he wants this Huang analyst to explain some things openly, explain them thoroughly, unify the thinking of the entire Iron Mansion, and lay a good foundation for the work in the next one to two years - once the French cross the red line in the future and want to annex more German, Italian and even Spanish lands, then the East Coast Ren will definitely not sit idly by, at least send the navy to intervene, and will definitely coordinate the interests of the Kingdom of England at that time. It's all the work of their Iron Mansion.

Of course, the people on the east coast will only use their navy to intervene. As far as the strength of the Portuguese garrison is concerned, it is not enough for the more than 200,000 French troops to stuff their teeth. Moreover, it would be a pity that those of them would have been more useful if they had stayed in the Don River and the North Caucasus, and would have been able to serve the interests of the Eastern Republic, rather than rush into the French battlefield and then be exhausted in an ordinary battle!

"The ambitions of the Russians to conquer Ukraine have been beaten back by us, as have the ambitions of the French to conquer Italy or Spain. Don't care about those pots and jars (loss of commercial interests), France is the market, Italy and Spain are not the market? Not to mention that we have been friends with Spain and Italy for so many years, and we cannot sit idly by and watch them get into trouble from an international moral point of view, so once the French cross the red line and launch a large-scale war of aggression, we must intervene, just as we decisively intervened a few years ago in the blockade of Genoa by the French Eastern Fleet, which won our country an excellent reputation in Italy, and made more and more states willing to cooperate with us, and we must also take into account these moral considerations. The ambitions of the French must be curbed, this is my point of view, and at the same time, it is also the point of view of the High Special Envoy, and it is also the point of view of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, everyone remember! After seeing that everyone had said about it, Cai Shengguo finally stood up and said to everyone: "I have received news that the Admiralty of the Native Republic has once again strengthened the strength of the Cape Verde Fleet, and at the end of this year, it should be diverted to Portugal to station, everyone should know the determination of the homeland, right?" Are you stupid to talk about the market and commercial interests at this time? ”