As the saying goes, a man fights for his dignity, and a Buddha fights for a stick of incense. Many things are like sailing against the current; if you don't advance, you fall behind. The struggle for national destiny is a real zero-sum game. The winner takes all, and the loser is at the mercy of others.
The Great Ming is currently leading other countries on this small planet, but those countries have not completely given up on catching up.
Even France, known as the Great Ming's most loyal ally, has never abandoned its industrial research. However, its investment in many areas has been reduced compared to before; it is far from being unable to survive without the Great Ming.
However, other countries have not reduced their investment like France; instead, they have continuously increased their investment in scientific research. After the Habsburg family and the Ottoman Empire were sanctioned by the Great Ming's steam engines and firearms and artillery, many countries realized the importance of technological research and development.
Although the human and material resources invested by other countries are far less than those invested by the Great Ming, this is still not a good signal for the Great Ming.
To continue to maintain the Great Ming's leading advantage over other countries, the Great Ming must at least maintain the existing investment scale unchanged, even if it does not increase the investment.
Then there is the annual consumption of one hundred million taels of silver, and often, there isn't even a ripple to be heard.
However, Liu Huaiwen also knew in his heart that what Zhu Jinsong said was correct. The competition between the Great Ming and other countries was like a heavy vehicle going uphill; there was no opportunity to stop and catch their breath.
Liu Huaiwen also became resolute, gritting his teeth and saying, "This time, we'll recruit more exchange students from the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg family and see how much oil we can extract from them. Then, the national treasury will make up the difference, and all of it will be allocated to the Royal Academy!"
Zeng Cheng looked at Liu Huaiwen with some surprise and said, "I never expected you, Old Miser Liu, to be so generous!"
Liu Huaiwen snorted and ignored Zeng Cheng.
However, Zhu Jinsong smiled and waved his hand, saying, "It's not wrong for the Great Ming to increase investment in the Royal Academy, but not to this extent. Often, you don't need to use real money to trap people; as long as you can drag them into the quagmire, that's enough."
Zeng Cheng was stunned at first. After realizing what Zhu Jinsong meant, he stroked his beard and said, "This will be up to our colleagues at the Royal Academy. Let them take some time to write more articles in the 'Great Ming Newspaper'."
Liu Huaiwen and the others first looked at Zeng Cheng, then at Zhu Jinsong, who was also nodding and smiling, but they couldn't understand what these two men were talking about in riddles.
Zhu Jinsong smiled slightly and said to Zeng Cheng, "Minister Zeng, you can elaborate."
Zeng Cheng bowed and agreed. He then said to Liu Huaiwen and the others, "For example, with steam engines, we all know that sealing performance greatly affects the steam engine. Even if all other components are exactly the same, as long as the sealing is slightly off, the steam engine's performance will differ by a thousand miles."
"Currently, all countries on this small planet are working hard to research steam engines, and the Great Ming is the leader among them. If the Great Ming does not mention the impact of sealing on steam engine performance, but only talks about the impact of fuel used on steam engines and the impact of boiler size on steam engines, what do you think other countries will do?"
"If nine out of ten articles are credible enough to convince them of such things, then one false article will be enough to drag all other countries in the wrong direction."
"In this way, their research speed will slow down, and as they slow down, it is equivalent to the Great Ming speeding up."
"Is it not more convenient to achieve the goal with a few articles than to madly invest money in the Royal Academy?"
Upon hearing Zeng Cheng's explanation, Liu Huaiwen, who had looked like he was making a sacrifice moments before, immediately became cheerful and said, "This is good, this is good. It saves money and allows us to trick the barbarians. This strategy is excellent."
Zhu Jinsong also nodded with a smile and said, "Since we're going to trap them, we need to go all the way."
"Your Ministry of Revenue should send people to the Royal Academy to see the manpower and resources the Royal Academy is expected to need in the next few years, calculating generously."
"The Ministry of Works should also send people to the Royal Academy to see if there are any suitable places nearby for the expansion of the academy."
"And for the Ottoman Empire, we still need to trap them as usual."
"Minister Zeng, remember to send people to contact the special envoy sent by the Ottoman Empire and discuss the matter of concessions with him."
...
Selim III has been in a bad mood lately.
The Ottoman Empire has been quite unlucky recently. It was like an old dog lying peacefully by the roadside, neither biting nor barking, yet it was inexplicably kicked and almost skinned and eaten.
Where can one reason this out?
In fact, Selim knew in his heart that the reason the Ottoman Empire was almost destroyed was mainly because the Ottoman Empire was already on the decline. Its strength was not enough, so naturally, others would covet it. The only difference was whether it would be killed by the Ming country or by the countries of Europe.
To avoid being skinned and eaten, the only way was to make the Ottoman Empire strong. There was no other way.
However, everyone understood the principle, but when it came to executing it on paper, not everyone could do it.
For example, Selim wanted to change the Ottoman military system and build an Ottoman army from scratch modeled after the Ming army or the English and French armies, but the various noble factions in the Ottoman Empire disagreed.
It was simply because their interests were affected.
The noble factions whose interests were affected opposed the military reforms proposed by Selim III, which then extended to opposing other reform plans proposed by Selim III. Later, it was probably just opposition for the sake of opposition.
It was like the Donglin faction during the Tianqi and Chongzhen reigns.
It didn't matter if it was for the sake of the Ottoman Empire or not, nor did it matter if it was beneficial or detrimental to the Ottoman Empire; what mattered was that Selim III must not be allowed to succeed in military system reform.
And Selim III was not like his ancestors.
Since Ahmed I abolished the "fratricide decree," the princes of the Ottoman Sultan no longer faced bloody succession struggles, and their mentality inevitably became lax.
However, Ahmed I not only abolished the "fratricide decree" but also established a new system of succession for the Sultan: before the death of the old Sultan, his children would no longer bear the responsibility of governing the country.
To put it bluntly, in most cases, unless it was the old Sultan's child's turn to inherit the throne, they would not even have the opportunity to go outside the Topkapi Palace.
This policy had a devastating impact on the Ottoman royal family, turning the old Sultan's children into prisoners confined in the palace. They had no experience in governance and did not understand the people's livelihood or politics.
As a result, the new Sultan grew up pampered by women in the inner palace, and apart from the pleasant palace life, he was generally indifferent to everything else. It would not be an exaggeration to call them useless drunkards.
Selim III was probably similar to Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty who wanted to carry out reforms; he was willing to change the Ottoman Empire drastically but could not manage the various noble factions in the Ottoman Empire.
And as the Great Ming announced the opening of hostilities against the Ottoman Empire and took practical action, the Ottoman Empire had already lost several oil-producing regions, especially those close to the coast.
In other words, although the Ottoman Empire still controlled a large number of oil fields, there was no longer any channel to sell the oil from these oil fields.
Europe?
The most powerful countries in Europe, England and France, were lapdogs of the Ming Empire planted in Europe!
The Habsburg family?
The Habsburg family was in trouble themselves!
Moreover, only the Ming country on this small planet needed a large amount of oil. The demand for oil in other countries was not very large. Even if the Ottoman Empire could sell oil, it didn't know who to sell it to.
Selim III was very disheartened.
What was more serious was that signs of instability had already appeared in the Ottoman Empire. Selim III's attempt to reform the Ottoman military system had caused dissatisfaction among many nobles, who were now secretly contacting Mustafa.
Mustafa was the son of Selim III's uncle, Abdul Hamid I.
From a blood relationship perspective, since Selim III could inherit the throne of Abdul Hamid I through the uncle-nephew succession, then Abdul Hamid I's own son, Mustafa, naturally had the qualification to inherit the throne.
Selim III knew very well that by offending the traditional nobles, he would surely face a frantic backlash from them, but he didn't know when they would strike.
The best way to avoid being confined was to eliminate those nobles before they could launch their counterattack.
Then the problem returned to the original point.
The Ottoman Empire practiced the Timar system and the Ghulam system. The Timar system was roughly equivalent to the reserve system, and the Ghulam system was roughly equivalent to the elite standing army system.
However, the armies under both these systems, especially the Kapıkulu cavalry of the Ghulam system, were primarily composed of those traditional nobles—precisely the targets of Selim III's reform.
To eliminate the traditional nobles, Selim III had to rely on the Kapıkulu cavalry under the Ghulam system, but the members of the Kapıkulu cavalry were precisely the targets Selim III wanted to eliminate.
As for the Ottoman Sultan's personal guards…
Although the name of this army contained the word "guard" and it was indeed loyal to the Ottoman Sultan, this army also happened to be on the list of armies that Selim III wanted to reform.
This resulted in a vicious cycle.
Of course, Selim III was not without other options. Selim III could first establish a new army that imitated the Ming army or the French and English armies. After training a certain level of combat effectiveness, he could then use this army to eliminate the nobles who opposed him.
The question was, how much preparation time would those nobles give him?
Putting himself in their shoes, if someone had a knife at their throat, would they calmly wait for the knife to be sharpened? The reason why the traditional nobles had not yet acted was mainly because the Ming army was still attacking the Ottoman Empire. Once the Ming army stopped its offensive…
Therefore, Selim III was very troubled.
What troubled Selim III even more was that the plenipotentiary envoy sent to the Ming country had not yet returned. According to the information Selim III had, the Small Pot Meeting held in the Ming country lasted only about half a month, and the envoy he sent should have returned long ago.
But now, the envoy hadn't returned, nor had any reliable news come back!
If he thought optimistically, perhaps the Ming country had allowed the Ottoman Empire to join the Small Pot, and was discussing procedural matters with the envoy?
But if he thought pessimistically, had the envoy he sent been eliminated by the Emperor of the Ming country?
If it was the former, it would be better, as it would at least buy him some time. But what if it was the latter…
The thought of failing to join the Small Pot again and having to deal with the attack of the Ming army made Selim III dare not think further.
After careful consideration, Selim III simply had Mustafa summoned to the Topkapi Palace.
When Mustafa entered the Topkapi Palace with trepidation, Selim III directly stated, "My dear brother, if I am confined, I hope you will inherit my ambition, secretly form an army that imitates the military system of the Ming country, or England, or France, train them strictly, and use them to replace the original Ottoman military system."
Mustafa was immediately bewildered, and his already uneasy heart almost jumped into his throat.
Did Selim III say these words out of sincerity, or did the traditional nobles contacting him get known by Selim III, and he intended to eliminate him beforehand?
Seeing Mustafa's expression change and his whole being appear absent-minded, Selim III simply pulled Mustafa down to sit on the carpet and said, "Upon the true God, my dear brother, I say these words from my heart."
"The Ming army is attacking us now, and our Ottoman army is retreating steadily. Today we lose a city, tomorrow another city, and where else can we lose the day after tomorrow? Are we going to lose Istanbul?"
"The reason is that our Ottoman army has declined and is no longer as valiant as our ancestors."
"To change this situation, we must start with the Ottoman army and make changes throughout the Ottoman Empire, from top to bottom, from inside to outside."
"Since the Ming army is more powerful now, why shouldn't we learn from the Ming country?"