Japan's port can not be used This is a very passive thing, North Korea also has a port, the Ming Dynasty wants to use it forcibly, and the DPRK does not dare to refuse, the problem is that the port facilities of North Korea are too backward, and there is no coal supply, warships can't listen to it, they can't add coal, and there is no use value at all, the port of Vladivostok built by Russia can be used, but the Russians obviously can't let the Ming use it. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

In this case, the Ming Navy had only one choice, chartering a coaling ship, not entering the Japanese port, but loading coal in the port through the coaling ship, and then transporting it to the sea to replenish the warship, so as to successfully cross the oceanic barrier, as the French warships and the Russian warships in the Russo-Japanese War did so.

At the same time as the Ming Dynasty carried out diplomatic activities in Japan, it also carried out diplomatic activities in other places, the most important of which was the British, because only Britain could intervene in the war.

Daming was not worried that Britain and the United States would join forces to attack Daming, but if the British Navy intervened, it would bring huge trouble to Daming. Britain has a great incentive to intervene, because once the Ming Dynasty starts a war with the United States, Britain's trade with the United States will be affected, not to mention, mainly Canada will be threatened.

In addition, Canada, like the United States, also has the problem of Chinese exclusion, which gives Britain and the United States common interests.

For Britain's diplomacy, Hurd was directly responsible, and Zhu Jinglun's request to him was that as long as Britain could maintain neutrality.

Hurd reported that Britain very much did not want to see a war break out between the Ming and the United States, but the main consideration of the British was not Canada, but they hoped that the Ming would maintain its military power in East Asia, and they believed that once the Ming and the United States went to war, Russia would take the opportunity to go south.

Britain is still reporting the purpose of defending against Russia.

However, Hurd said that if there was a real war with the United States, Britain would not intervene in the war, and he was confident that Britain would remain neutral.

The reason Hurd did not say, and Zhu Jinglun could basically guess that the United States has never broken its ambitions for Canada, and has always wanted to incorporate Canada into the United States, and there are indeed such a group of pro-American members in the Canadian Parliament, who believe that Britain is too far away and the United States is closer, and Canada can only be more beneficial to Canada if it strengthens its relations with the United States. Canada's trade prospects with the United States are far better than those with the British Empire.

But the majority of Canadian parliamentarians are still royalists and more pro-British, but the US intentions are always a trouble.

Moreover, the industrial strength of the United States also made Britain jealous, and they feared that if the United States was allowed to develop, sooner or later Canada would be annexed by the United States. The high tariffs of the United States also displeased Britain, who once laughed at 40 percent of Britain's industrial products, but after the Civil War, the United States greatly increased tariffs, and exports of industrial products to the United States fell by more than half.

If a country stands up to weaken the United States at this time, why should Britain stop it, not to mention that Daming Sihu has also become too powerful, threatening Britain's control in the Far East, and these two potential competitors weaken each other, which is the greatest maintenance of British hegemony in the long run.

However, Hurd believed that if a war broke out between the Ming and the United States, Britain would not be able to support the Ming to occupy the American territory, especially the western territory of the United States, and Britain could not accept the Ming Dynasty to gain a foothold in the western United States. First, the annexation of U.S. territory will make the Ming Dynasty too powerful, and second, Canada's security is even more unguaranteed.

So this is likely to be a war in which even if the Ming Dynasty wins, it will not be able to obtain territory, and the biggest purpose of the Ming war, of course, is to let the Chinese continue to gain a foothold in the western United States, and where to let the Chinese gain a foothold is to protect the Ming Dynasty's chain of American interests.

Zhu Jinglun asked Hurd to continue to stabilize Britain, the ultimatum has been issued, if this battle is not fought, Daming will become a joke, and who will take what Daming says in the future.

Diplomatic activity towards the rest of Europe, although on the back burner, is also taking place at the same time.

France is the second most important, only a few years ago ended the war with France, France only maintained a foothold in Vietnam, and lost actual control, if the French can be happy, it would be strange, they are the most likely to unite with the United States against the Ming Dynasty, in history France has not been less allied with the United States, mainly to help the United States against the British. It was not until the Napoleonic era that the United States not only did not help Napoleon in the war, but took the opportunity to annex Louisiana, a French colony in North America, and the long-standing natural alliance between the United States and France came to an end.

The appeal to France is still to hope that France can help the Ming Dynasty, but as long as France remains as neutral as possible, even if France makes war money, sells weapons and helps the United States finance, this is acceptable to the Ming Dynasty. As long as France does not send troops directly, the strength of the French Navy is still not to be underestimated, once they occupy the geographical advantage, it is difficult to say whether the Ming Navy can reproduce the results of defeating the French army.

In Germany and Russia also carried out activities and temptations, but the atmosphere in these European countries was very relaxed, when the Ming minister was moving around, the American minister was also in contact with various countries, but everyone generally did not believe that the Ming would go to war, the American minister just wanted to maintain friendly relations with Europe, and constantly held various balls and drinking parties, and even the Ming minister invited, obviously the Ming minister's activities were understood as smoke bombs, as a kind of pressure, is to force the United States to give up the Chinese exclusion bill.

If war breaks out in the end, Americans don't think that European countries will help the Ming, after all, they are white countries of "the same language and the same species".

Although Germany and Russia did not think that the diplomatic activities of the Ming Dynasty necessarily represented their determination to go to war, they nevertheless took the opportunity to make their demands, Germany reiterated the matter of obtaining colonies in China or Korea, and Russia demanded that the Ming not block their efforts to establish a port on Huludao.

Germany's request must not be agreed, but Russia's request can be considered, even if Russia stands firm and proud in Huludao, what about that, they occupied Lushun back then, and in the end it was also taken away by Japan, as long as the Ming Dynasty can become stronger and stronger, in East Asia, it will still be able to control the right to speak, let the Russians run their business, don't let them operate, and they can be driven away at any time.

In principle, he did not oppose Tsarist Russia's use of Huludao as an economic activity, but he would never allow Tsarist Russia to use Huludao to build a military base.

At this time, the Russians realized that the Ming Dynasty had really decided to go to war.

Although he was presiding over diplomatic activities, Hurd's heart was very worried, he was preparing for war, but he himself was not ready for war, this time it was different from the last time with France, not to fight at home, but to take the initiative to attack a white country.

Last time, he always insisted that France declare war on the Ming Dynasty first, but this time he really had to declare war on the United States first.

He didn't know what the impact of this decision would have on him if he had made this decision to lead a yellow country to bring war to a white country, but he felt afraid, he felt that he could not afford this moral responsibility, and he was still a white man.

"Your Majesty, are we really going to war?"

He hesitated, or asked Zhu Jinglun, the longer he stayed in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, he became more and more like Chen Zhiting in the past, and paid more and more attention to the emperor's attitude, but Chen Zhiting finally developed to the point of starting to confront the imperial power, obviously Hurd's influence and support in the Ming officialdom were far inferior to Chen Zhiting, and he could not unite the entire bureaucracy at all, but had to use the emperor's power everywhere to suppress the bureaucracy.

Zhu Jinglun was puzzled: "Aren't we already at war?" ”

Hurd was confused: "We haven't declared war yet, have we?" ”

Zhu Jinglun sighed: "I thought our ultimatum had made it very clear, once the United States passed this crime, it would be a declaration of war on the Ming Dynasty, and now that they have forcibly passed the bill, aren't we automatically entering a state of war?" ”

Hurd was extremely shocked, and now the whole world is waiting to see if the Ming dares to declare war, but the emperor of the Ming Dynasty thinks that the two sides have entered a state of war, what a big oolong this is.

The pressure dropped in an instant, Hurd felt that the air had become thicker, he felt suffocated, the war had broken out, but everyone was in a dream, including him Hurd, and the emperor in front of him was so light and breezy that he felt terrified.

What he feared was that the Ming Dynasty had already started a war, and he, the prime minister, was still engaged in diplomacy without knowing it.

He understood that, according to the law, the emperor already had full power in his hands, and he was afraid that he had secretly ordered military operations, and he was completely excluded from the center of power.

But he had a big doubt, since the Ming Dynasty had already started the war, why didn't he mobilize.

If it was just a simple transfer of active troops, he would be able to imagine that he would not be aware of such a thing as war mobilization, which would be unjustifiable in any case.

He couldn't help but ask cautiously, "But Your Majesty, aren't we going to mobilize for war?" ”

Zhu Jinglun shook his head and said: "No, to fight the United States, there is no need to mobilize!" ”

Hurd completely understood that he was indeed excluded from the center of power, that he was a foreigner after all, that he was not trusted, and that he was very disappointed.

The military strength of the United States is not strong, there is no standing army, the Ming standing army is 600,000, and it is 600,000 elite veterans who have gone through two years of fierce war with France.

But he still didn't know anything, and on the surface, it seemed that the war was caused by the diplomatic failure of his prime minister, which caused the current tension, but when he looked back, he suddenly realized that it seemed that the emperor himself had wanted to fight this war from the beginning.

"Your Majesty, the minister has something unclear, why does Your Majesty have to attack the United States?"

yes, why fight the United States.