Beijing, Forbidden City, Huangji Gate.

On the platform in front of the Huangji Gate, Zhu Xijin, the Taiping Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and Zheng Yuhuan, the Empress Dowager, were all dressed in costumes with solemn expressions!

On Chang'an Avenue outside the Forbidden City, tens of thousands of Ming civilians held banners and chanted slogans calling for a declaration of war and punishment for the British and Indian authorities.

On the square in front of the Emperor's Gate, hundreds of courtiers and parliamentarians stood in the dark, and there were many imperial councils who were allowed to come to record the fortunes of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Lin Zexu rejected the ultimatum of the Indian Empire yesterday afternoon and declared a state of war with the Indian Empire. But that was not the result of the Imperial Council's deliberations, but a decision based on the Ming Dynasty's Guiding Principles of Diplomacy.

Of course, the Great Tomorrow Dynasty cannot accept an ultimatum from a foreign country, and must reject it to his face. This is stipulated in the "Diplomatic Guiding Principles" formulated by King Zhuge Wuzhong. It would be too embarrassing for the Celestial Empire to think about it for another 72 hours after receiving the ultimatum from the enemy country. Therefore, the minister who meets the enemy must refuse to meet with him and declare a state of war!

The reason for this, of course, is also to increase his own prestige - according to international practice, if an ultimatum is rejected, it must be a declaration of war. There is no ultimatum that is left to rest after it is rejected. And if you submit an ultimatum and let the other side take the lead, then you can't let the other side come anymore if you declare war. The Ming must declare war before the other side declares war.

And to make sure that war is declared first, it is natural that war should be declared as soon as the ultimatum is refused!

However, this was not an official declaration of war, as it had not yet been approved by the Council and the Ming Emperor. Of course, a declaration of war after rejecting an ultimatum was inevitable, so the subsequent Imperial Council was just a formality.

But the cutscene that should be taken still can't be omitted!

Moreover, the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty also needs to take advantage of the opportunity of this imperial council to discuss and pass a resolution to declare war, so that all the people know why the Ming Dynasty wants to go to war with India? At the same time, let everyone know that the culprit hiding behind the Indian Empire and manipulating India to the battlefield is the British Empire!

In fact, since the Battle of the Kii Waterway, the Zhuge family and the Zheng family have begun to work together to manipulate public opinion at home and carry out anti-British propaganda - in fact, the contradiction between the Ming Dynasty and the British has a long history, which is the hatred of "Chiguoguo" between the first industrial strength and the second industrial strength!

Moreover, Great Britain, the second industrial second, has long controlled the trade routes between the East and the West, and has a large number of resource-rich colonies, and also controls the seemingly interesting market of India.

Although Britain has never dared to completely exclude the goods of the Ming Dynasty from the market they can control, how can the capitalists think that the market is too big?

The market is money, and of course the more money, the better.

In the era of sails and sails of the navy, there was no certainty that we could win. But since the navy entered the era of steam ironclad ships, the hatred of this "red fruit" has become deeper and deeper, of course, the existence of "red fruit" hatred does not mean that there will be a war. After all, Daming Chengping has been peaceful for too long, and there is no certainty of winning up and down.

But the Battle of Daoguang Printing and the later Battle of the Kii Waterway and the Battle of the Sea Off the Sea of Goa all made the people of insight of the Ming Dynasty see that Britain is nothing more than that!

Since Great Britain is nothing more than that, what is needed now is a fuse.

And that fuse is now there!

"This is a copy of the ultimatum submitted by the Englishman Pu Dingcha to our Great Tomorrow Dynasty on behalf of Tianzhu!"

Lin Zexu looked indignant, holding high the transcript of the ultimatum of the Indian Empire (the original was returned, but the manuscript must be discarded), stood on the white marble platform where the emperor and the queen mother were located, and gritted his teeth in front of a floor-to-ceiling speaker: "Their British used despicable and barbaric means to conquer the rich and moderate Datianzhu, taking millions of square kilometers of vast land and the big market of hundreds of millions of people as their own, and exploiting Tianzhu like a bone and marrow, which is really hateful and hateful!" ”

"That's right! Hateful and hateful! ”

"The British are too bad!"

Immediately, the councillor chimed in.

Most of the politicians, courtiers, and reporters present nodded their heads again and again, and seemed to agree with Lin Zexu's words - the British are too hateful! India's market is so big, it should be monopolized by Daming!

The Ming Dynasty is a friendly neighbor of India, so why should you Britain occupy a small country on the edge of the Atlantic?

Lin Zexu clenched his fists, and his beard blew up - angry! It's all about to explode!

I saw him clenching his fists and said loudly: "What's even more hateful, Yingyi actually wants to blockade the Strait of Malacca in the name of the so-called Indian Empire, and force me to withdraw from the Persian Gulf, give up the newly established Gulf Kingdom, and never enter the west of Malacca and Burma, otherwise, Yingyi will manipulate India and consume the flesh and blood of the Indians with me!" Since ancient times, the vicious person is none other than Yingyi! For such barbarian thieves, how should my Heavenly Empire deal with it? ”

"Declare war!"

As soon as Lin Zexu's words fell, Zhu Xijin, the 20-year-old little emperor of the Ming Dynasty, jumped up and waved his fist and shouted loudly.

When the councillors below saw the emperor shouting to declare war, they all shouted together.

"Declare war! Declare war! Declare war."'

Seeing that the atmosphere was almost over, Lin Zexu glanced at Zheng Guozhong, the left minister, and the old man, the right minister, who were sitting still on the left and right.

Now it's time for both of them to behave.

This battle must be announced!

The question is how and to whom?

Yu Quanyu Old Man had already stood up, only to see him stride out, and when he arrived at the white marble platform, he first bowed to the little emperor and the Empress Dowager Zheng, and then stood up straight and said loudly: "Long live the lord, the queen mother, the old minister feels that the enemy of our Ming Dynasty this time is not India but the British colonial authorities who have conquered and enslaved Indian countries!" ”

"Indian countries?" Empress Dowager Zheng knowingly asked, "India is not only one country, how can there be countries?" ”

"The Queen Mother doesn't know," said the old man, "This India is actually a geographical term, not the name of a country, and it was the colonial tool of the British Empire, the East India Company, which used all kinds of despicable means to conquer all Indian countries one by one. And in order to facilitate colonial rule, they screwed these countries together to form what is now known as the Indian Empire. ”

"I see," asked Empress Dowager Zheng, "how many countries were there in India?" ”

Old man Yu said: "There are always more than 1,000 countries of all sizes, and even today, there are still as many as five or six hundred princely states under the rule of the so-called Indian Empire. ”

"So much?" The little emperor Zhu Xijin was taken aback, "Then we all want the country"

"Liberate them from British colonial rule!" Zheng Guozhong, the prime minister of Zuo, stood up at this time and took over the words of the little emperor, "Long live Lord, we can't learn from Britain and blindly engage in expansion and colonization. In this way, the people of India can be converted! ”

"Will a thousand nations be restored?" The little emperor was taken aback, "Isn't this seal shattered into slag?" ”

"It's not so broken," Zheng Guozhong said with a smile, "Among these thousand countries, there are still many countries that are China. That is, the small state depends on the big state, and the son country depends on the Lao Tzu country, which cannot be regarded as an independent country. If only independent countries are counted, it is estimated that there will be no more than 100. ”

"That's not a lot," asked the little emperor, "all of them will be restored?" ”

"Strive for all to recover!" Zheng Guozhong said.

"Can they all really be restored?" The little emperor was still a little unconvinced.

"It's up to man!" Zheng Guozhong said.

"Yes, yes," Yu Quandao said, "we should do our best, even if we really can't find the original royal family, we can choose another meritorious." ”

"That's reasonable," the little emperor looked back at the Queen Mother, he is not "pro-government" yet, he has to listen to the Queen Mother, "Queen Mother, do you think this is okay?" ”

"That's it!" Empress Dowager Zheng nodded, "Then draft an edict to declare the liberation of Indian countries as the purpose of this war against the British and Indian authorities!" ”

(End of chapter)