Jefferson, holding up a finger, earnestly declared that he would follow the Great Ming like France, which immediately conjured an image of a black and white fool eagle in Zhu Jinsong's mind. What's more, this fool eagle was raising its wings and swearing an oath, a sight that almost made Zhu Jinsong laugh.
Fortunately, Zhu Jinsong had been an emperor for so many years that he could control his facial expressions.
"Haha," Zhu Jinsong endured for a long time but couldn't help himself, finally letting out a couple of laughs and saying, "Whether or not the Great Ming stations its naval fleet in the fool eagle's territory, your fool eagle will always be a friend of the Great Ming Empire."
"However, since you have proposed that the Great Ming establish a naval base in the fool eagle's territory, I naturally will not refuse—May the friendship between the Great Ming and the fool eagle advance further!"
Jefferson immediately became happy.
Before coming to the Great Ming, Jefferson believed that although the Great Ming was the foremost of the Five Benevolent Ones, the fool eagle did not necessarily have to fear the Great Ming. After all, the Great Ming and the fool eagle were separated by tens of thousands of miles of ocean. Even if they couldn't defeat the Great Ming's army, they could at least defend their homeland.
However, after arriving at the Great Ming, Jefferson discovered that the Great Ming was different from what he had imagined.
Indeed, there was a vast expanse of ocean between the Great Ming and the fool eagle, making it difficult to directly attack the fool eagle's homeland. But Jefferson never expected that Louis XVI and George III, those insignificant scoundrels, would willingly serve the Great Ming as lackeys!
Now, the situation had changed—it was indeed difficult for the Great Ming to attack the fool eagle located on the continent of Yin Di An, but England and France could easily attack the fool eagle. If England and France joined forces, the fool eagle, which had only recently been founded, might be thoroughly beaten!
Especially after seeing the Great Ming's military strength and the people's cohesion, Jefferson felt even more despair.
With such powerful centripetal force and cohesion... how the Qin King of the Ming would treat the fool eagle would entirely depend on the Ming Emperor!
It was precisely because of this that Jefferson thought of proactively submitting a token of allegiance like France, thereby ensuring the fool eagle's safety by completely tying the fool eagle to the Great Ming's chariot.
As for the future?
Before coming to the Great Ming, Jefferson had great confidence in the fool eagle's future, especially in its industrial strength.
But after coming to the Great Ming, Jefferson no longer bothered to think about the future.
Just as a Great Ming Grand Scholar had explained to him during a visit to the Great Ming's Northern Arms Industry: this new type of steam-powered ironclad ship was the result of the joint efforts of the Great Ming's Ministry of Works, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of War, the Five Chief Military Commissions, as well as more than twenty universities, nearly a thousand workshops, and tens of thousands of workers. Up to a thousand scholars of the Grand Scholar level were mobilized.
The fool eagle could also undertake projects of this magnitude, as could other European countries like England and France. However, this was merely one of the Great Ming's numerous military-industrial projects, and there were several others underway simultaneously!
Yet, this was still not the most despairing thing for Jefferson.
What was most despairing for Jefferson, as well as for George III and Paul I, was the Great Ming's astonishingly high literacy rate and the imperial court's near-unlimited investment in education!
If the fool eagle, England, and the Russian Empire were to achieve the same literacy rate as the Great Ming, with elementary and secondary schools comprehensively rolled out, not to mention the astronomical funding required, it was questionable whether the European nations could afford it. Even if they could afford the required funds, the number of teachers needed for the comprehensive rollout of primary and secondary education would also be astronomical!
Not to mention that the fool eagle, England, and other countries were following entirely different paths from the Great Ming.
The Great Ming could furiously invest in education as long as the emperor and the court made the decision, but the fool eagle and England and other countries could not, because the gentlemen of Congress would not approve such a crazy plan with no clear immediate returns.
As Jefferson understood the news: the Great Ming was madly building roads, railways, bridges, community schools, secondary schools, and universities, with the plan to build roads to every village, a community school in every village, a secondary school in every township, a high school in every county, and about ten universities in every province.
Would Congress approve such a crazy plan?
Don't be foolish. If there were tangible benefits, the gentlemen of Congress would undoubtedly approve these plans without hesitation. But which of these plans could yield immediate benefits?
All of these projects were essentially long-term plans that would only show benefits decades or even centuries later!
What was even more despairing was that even if the fool eagle, England, the Russian Empire, and other European countries were to vigorously promote education now, they would be at least ten years behind the Great Ming in terms of time.
This was almost a generation's gap!
Therefore, Jefferson had completely given up and simply chose to lie down and accept his fate.
Since he could not resist, he might as well lie down and enjoy himself. After all, they had been ruled by England's rose beef before. Now that they had surrendered to the Great Ming, they might be better off than before!
There was also France, which was also in a state of complete surrender. After all, there was the joke that the English rose beefs used to mock the French frogs: French people would never have body odor because they always liked to raise their hands so their armpits could bask in the sun.
Therefore, France, under the leadership of Louis XVI, had already fully turned towards the Great Ming and was now living a flourishing life, dressed in fine suits. George III, Paul I, and Jefferson, while mocking Louis XVI, also envied him.
Thinking about it, Jefferson proposed a new request: "In addition to these matters, I would also like to increase the number of students from the fool eagle who come to study in the Great Ming."
Jefferson's words made Zhu Jinsong even more confused.
Zhu Jinsong hadn't even figured out why Jefferson had suddenly come to pledge allegiance to the Great Ming, even going so far as to allow the Great Ming to build a naval base in the fool eagle's territory. Now, this fellow was suddenly proposing to increase the number of dispatched students, which clearly meant sending talent to the Great Ming!
However, upon further consideration, Zhu Jinsong could roughly guess Jefferson's intentions.
Currently, the situation on the little ball was that the Great Ming was the sole superpower. Whether in terms of military strength, economic strength, population, or territorial area, it was undoubtedly number one. Naturally, other countries also hoped to send more students to study in the Great Ming.
Although many students were unwilling to return after coming to the Great Ming, if sending a hundred students could bring back one, then sending a thousand could bring back ten, right?
With a larger base of dispatched students, naturally, more people would choose to return, and the strength of the countries from which those students came would also be enhanced.
In Zhu Jinsong's opinion, Jefferson clearly had this idea in mind, wanting to increase the number of returning students by increasing the base number, thereby enhancing the fool eagle's strength.
However, Zhu Jinsong did not care about a few students anyway.
Not everyone could have the centripetal force and cohesion of the Central Plains halls, nor could everyone choose to sacrifice themselves for the national interest like the generation of Mr. Qian and his peers.
Besides, even if such individuals appeared in Europe or the fool eagle's country, Zhu Jinsong still didn't care much.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Eastern Depot, the Heaven and Earth Society, and the dozens of naval bases on the little ball were enough to ensure that such individuals could not take back what they had learned.
It might be a bit dark, but in such matters, where could one be clean?
Just like when Mr. Qian and his peers returned to China back then, Mr. Qian was essentially exchanged for eleven pilots by the Rabbit—as is well known, the cost of training a pilot is nearly equivalent to its weight in gold!
Even so, there were still people in the Hexagonal Tower protesting: "Exchanging eleven prisoners of war for Mr. Qian is like exchanging eleven civilians for four armored divisions."
Since the fool eagle could be so shameless and vile, Zhu Jinsong didn't mind doing the same.
After careful consideration, Zhu Jinsong nodded and agreed, "How about this, next year we will give your fool eagle five hundred student slots. The rules will remain the same as before, and your fool eagle will bear the costs for these students."
After receiving Zhu Jinsong's promise, Jefferson became even happier.
Just as Zhu Jinsong had guessed, Jefferson was indeed planning to increase the number of returning students by increasing the base number of students—assuming a master had a few dogs at home, the most favored ones would inevitably be the strongest and most ferocious ones!
Therefore, even if he had to turn towards the Great Ming like Louis XVI, Jefferson wanted the fool eagle to be a more important existence than France!
To this end, Jefferson then proposed a series of plans: "We, the fool eagle, intend to invite merchants from the Great Ming to invest, build factories, and open mines in the fool eagle's territory, and we are willing to grant them the same treatment as our citizens."
"Of course, in addition to equal treatment, merchants from the Great Ming can also enjoy a certain extraterritoriality. If any case involves them, we, the fool eagle, will invite officials from the Ming to participate in the trial."
Zhu Jinsong became even more bewildered.
Although Zhu Jinsong vaguely guessed that Jefferson might be pledging allegiance, this allegiance was too strong—if inviting merchants from the Great Ming to invest and build factories in the fool eagle's territory was still within the scope of understanding, then this extraterritoriality was a complete sell-out of the fool eagle!
To put it this way, once this extraterritoriality was established, the fool eagle would be no different from a colony to the Great Ming, except for the absence of the title of colony.
Zhu Jinsong did not doubt that Jefferson had ulterior motives. After all, the fool eagle had only recently escaped colonial rule from England. It was not yet that black and white beast. If it wanted to freeze or seize the assets of Great Ming merchants in its territory, it probably wouldn't dare.
After thinking about it, Zhu Jinsong nodded and said, "I also welcome merchants from your fool eagle's territory to invest and build factories in the Great Ming. I will grant them the same treatment as the French."
Although Zhu Jinsong did not mention extraterritoriality at all, Jefferson was still very happy. This was because there was a very clear invisible class division among the common people of the Great Ming—the common people of the Great Ming were in the first class, while the French were in the second class. Basically, other European countries were in the third class, and laborers were in the fourth class.
Although the Great Ming imperial court had never acknowledged the existence of this class division, and even the common people did not acknowledge it, this class division was indeed real.
For example, the Great Ming government would show unlimited favoritism to the common people of the Great Ming. The common people of the Great Ming rarely intermarried with people from other countries. Even if they did, they would generally take concubines rather than marry wives or give daughters in marriage.
Unless they were really ugly, and couldn't find a spouse in their home country, they would go overseas to marry a foreign woman.
The ugly ducklings of the Great Ming were like desirable catches in Europe, and the primary targets of these catches were French women. After all, France was an acknowledged ally of the Great Ming Empire, and the French were considered human to some extent in the eyes of the common people of the Great Ming.
As for the Great Ming officials or noble relatives... there was really nothing to say about them. Their requirements were even higher. The so-called noble ladies of Europe didn't even qualify to be their maids without a fight, let alone to be taken as concubines.
Therefore, even if they could only receive the same treatment as the French frogs, it was enough to make Jefferson overjoyed.
After returning to his residence, Jefferson, unable to contain his joy, directly sent for Livingston and Monroe and told them the terms he had negotiated with the Great Ming Emperor.
"Listen, gentlemen, we will return to the fool eagle with His Highness the Prince of Qin of the Ming country."
Jefferson said excitedly, "When we return to the fool eagle, the terms I negotiated with the Ming Emperor must be executed immediately."
"Don't worry about the gentlemen in Congress—listen, the gentlemen in Congress are all short-sighted fools. They have never been to the Great Ming, and they have no idea how powerful the Great Ming is."
"Once these terms are implemented, our fool eagle's status in the world will at least be on par with those French frogs who stuff everything into their mouths, even if it cannot completely surpass them."
"In addition, I need you to find Thomson and tell him that our fool eagle is about to become the most loyal ally of the Great Ming, and as a member of the fool eagle, he should not serve those damned French frogs!"
Livingston and Monroe's reactions were similar to Zhu Jinsong's. They were basically becoming more and more confused the more they listened.
Before this, what was Jefferson's attitude? Although it hadn't reached the point of "I am the best, and I dare to confront the Great Ming head-on," it was actually not far from it.
But now, what was the meaning of this fellow acting as if he wanted to sell off the fool eagle immediately just to be a dog for the Great Ming?