Watching Howard's matter-of-fact demeanor, Osterhaven was somewhat bewildered. If you want to impersonate the Ming army, you have to tell the Ming army in advance?
Are you planning to tell the Ming army directly that your English East India Company and our Dutch East India Company are actually useless, and can't even handle a diaper, so you have to borrow the prestige of your Ming army to settle things?
After a period of silent struggle, Osterhaven finally spoke, "This... although your suggestion sounds very good, why would the Ming army agree to your request? This kind of matter should not be something that a vanguard unit stationed here can decide on, right?"
Howard said, "This kind of matter is certainly not something a vanguard unit can decide on. For any country, such matters would have to be known to His Majesty the King, at least get permission from the high command of the army, and other countries would not allow us to do this."
Having said that, Howard suddenly changed the subject and said, "But it's different for the Ming country, or rather, because this is Tianzhu, the Ming country should not care."
Osterhaven frowned and asked bewilderingly, "Why?"
Howard smiled and said, "Because, Tianzhu will be Ming territory in the future, and before it becomes Ming territory, all the barbarians here need to be cleaned up. Well, barbarians specifically refer to remote small countries like Tianzhu that have not paid tribute to the Ming country."
Osterhaven's frown deepened. "To be honest, neither the Netherlands nor England have paid tribute to the Ming country. Are we also barbarians?"
Howard shook his head and said, "No, we are not barbarians."
However, just as Osterhaven was secretly relieved, Howard said as if sighing, "According to the Ming people, we are considered Western barbarians, which roughly means barbarians from the West."
Osterhaven looked at Howard blankly, thinking to himself, what's the difference between this and the diaper-wearing barbarians of Tianzhu? Anyway, they are all barbarians, the only difference is that the barbarians of Tianzhu are closer to the Ming country, and we are in Europe far to the west?
Howard continued, "Of course, this refers to our past, or it refers to other countries in Europe now. It has nothing to do with us, England, the Netherlands, and those damned French frogs."
"Don't forget, we are all part of the little broken pot now, and we are allies with the Ming country – or rather, in the eyes of the Ming people, we can now be regarded as their kind, all human beings."
"Oh, and the Sha'e and those damned foolish eagles, they can also be called humans like us now."
Listening to Howard's statement, Osterhaven didn't know whether to be happy or sad.
He was happy that he could finally be considered human in the eyes of the Ming people, but sad that whether he was a human or not, it had to be decided by the Ming people?
However, Osterhaven also understood that the Ming country now held the right to speak on Earth. If their emperor said a country's people were human, then that country's people were human. If their emperor said a country's people were barbarians, then that country's people could only be considered barbarians.
For example, the Netherlands.
The Netherlands was once a powerful country. At its furthest extent, it could even come to the Ming country to contend for the Penghu Islands and Da Liuchiu. Although it was beaten by the Great Ming several times later, it was enough to show that the Netherlands was once mighty.
Unfortunately, such a glorious past was ultimately a thing of the past. Now, the Netherlands not only did not have the glory of the "Sea Coachman" of the past, but it could not even protect its own country. This time, it was able to re-establish the Netherlands by exchanging the territory of Old Port with the Ming Emperor.
Is it humiliating?
For any normal person, who wouldn't feel humiliated?
But this is reality. The Netherlands not only cannot resist but must put on a happy expression to avoid displeasing the Ming Emperor.
Just as Osterhaven was secretly feeling sad and helpless for the Netherlands, or for himself, Howard continued, "What are we doing now? We are recruiting laborers for the Ming country. We will turn all these diaper-wearers here into laborers."
"Therefore, the Ming Emperor will definitely agree to our actions, because this method can solve these diaper-wearers in the shortest possible time, which is most beneficial to the Ming country."
"Don't worry, Osterhaven, no one will know what we have done in the future, or rather, no one will care what we have done."
Osterhaven said, "However, the consequence of us doing this is equivalent to handing over leverage to the Ming people. Once they need it, they can say that we have impersonated their army."
Howard nodded, and just as Osterhaven thought he would agree with his statement, Howard retorted, "What does that matter?"
"If the Ming Emperor wants to attack Europe, do you think any country in Europe can resist the Ming army? Rely on you? Or rely on me? If the Ming Emperor has no intention of attacking Europe, then what does it matter if we voluntarily hand over leverage to the Ming Emperor?"
"It won't matter much, at least it won't have any negative impact on the current situation. On the contrary, we might even get some benefits – the Ming people have a saying, 'Jian Zai Di Xin,' which means if you do something that makes the Emperor remember you, you will receive unimaginable benefits."
"Of course, for people like us, it's not important whether the Ming Emperor specifically remembers our benefits. What's important is to let the Ming Emperor know that the English East India Company and your Dutch East India Company are both serving the Ming country, and that is enough."
Osterhaven was finally persuaded by Howard.
For Osterhaven, it was not important whether the Ming Emperor could remember him, but it was important to resolve the issue of the diaper-wearers in Tianzhu as soon as possible.
Only by quickly resolving the issues with these diaper-wearers could the Dutch East India Company respond to William I's call and return to the Netherlands to rebuild the Netherlands.
Only when the Netherlands was re-established could the situation of the Dutch East India Company be stabilized. At least it would not be like now, with no country behind it to speak for the East India Company.
Thinking of this, Osterhaven nodded and said, "All right, you win, you have successfully convinced me – so, what should we do next?"
Howard chuckled and said, "What should we do? Of course, we should go find the vanguard unit of the Ming army stationed in Tianzhu, explain the situation to them, and let them find a way to report this news to the high command of the Ming army."
Osterhaven said, "Can't we directly find the high command of the Ming army?"
When Osterhaven asked this, Howard looked at Osterhaven with an expression of concern for the intellectually impaired and asked, "Do you know anyone in the high command of the Ming army? Do you know how to contact the high command of the Ming army?"
Before Osterhaven could answer, Howard continued on his own, "Don't be silly. The supreme command of the Ming army has always been held by the Ming Emperor. If we try to contact the high command of the Ming army ourselves, I'm afraid no one will pay attention to us."
"Yes, I admit it's easy for us to see His Majesty George III or your William I, but you have to know that the Ming Emperor is not only the Ming Emperor, but also the leader of the Five Benevolent Persons of the little broken pot. He is not someone we can see just because we want to."
Osterhaven sighed helplessly again, accepting this humiliating but unavoidable reality.
And the vanguard unit of the Great Ming stationed in Tianzhu...
Yang Daniu, who had been promoted to colonel by merit, was stunned when he received the request from Osterhaven and Howard.
Yang Daniu knew that the English army was useless, but he didn't expect them to be so weak that they were driven into the sea by the three brothers of Tianzhu.
Yang Daniu even began to doubt whether the three brothers he encountered when he first came to Tianzhu were the same as the three brothers encountered by the armed forces of the English East India Company.
Or, did the three brothers collectively smear some oil? Suddenly became powerful?
Of course, no matter what changes the three brothers had, or how weak the armed forces of the English East India Company and the Dutch East India Company were, these were not things that Yang Daniu, a colonel, should care about.
For Yang Daniu, after receiving the intelligence, he would transmit it back to the Ming mainland. The rest was to wait for the orders of the Ming Emperor. If the Emperor ordered him to send troops, he would directly eliminate all the three brothers. If the Emperor did not allow it, he would let the three brothers live for a while longer.
Then, Yang Daniu had someone directly transmit the news back to the Ming mainland, and this news directly reached Zhu Jinsong's hands. From sending a telegram from Tianzhu to Myanmar, then from Myanmar to Nanjing, and then from Nanjing to Beijing, it only took more than half a day in total.
The speed of the telegram did not exceed Zhu Jinsong's expectations. The lack of smooth progress by the British and Dutch East India Companies also did not exceed Zhu Jinsong's expectations. What truly surprised Zhu Jinsong was how weak the British and Dutch East India Companies were.
Of course, what surprised Zhu Jinsong even more was that the two spokesmen for the British and Dutch East India Companies came up with such a ridiculous idea.
Zhu Jinsong waved the telegram in his hand and said to Zeng Cheng, Zhu Erdan, and a group of big shots, "Take a look, this is how the situation in Tianzhu has become because of the useless people from the British and Dutch East India Companies."
After Zhu Jinsong put down the telegram, Zhu Erdan was the first to pick it up, and his first reaction was similar to Yang Daniu's, basically a look of bewilderment.
Zhu Erdan felt it was fortunate that these two useless people were not his subordinates. If there were such useless people in the Forward Army Command, wouldn't he, the King of Qin of the Great Ming and the Commander of the Forward Army Command, have to find a piece of tofu to kill himself with?
Of course, how useless or disgraceful these two useless people were was ultimately their own business as barbarians. But could their requests be granted? What were the Emperor's thoughts?
After thinking about it, Zhu Erdan simply handed the telegram to Zhu Sanshun and said, "Your humble brother believes that it is nothing to agree to the requests of these two barbarians. Anyway, it is they who are doing the things. If anyone brings it up in the future, we can pretend not to know."
Zhu Sanshun, who had just finished reading the telegram, also nodded in agreement, "Your humble brother thinks the same way. Anyway, it's just a few flags. As long as these two barbarians can clean up Tianzhu, it's enough."
Zeng Cheng, however, frowned and asked, "The things are done by them, but the banner they are using is that of our Great Ming. In the history books..."
Zhu Erdan retorted, "What about in the history books? This King knows what Elder Zeng means, but our Great Ming has history books. The history books will clearly record that these messes were made by the British and Dutch East India Companies. Those barbarians don't have history books, do they?"
After Zhu Erdan said this, Zeng Cheng didn't know what to say.
As Zhu Erdan said, the Great Ming had history books, and the history books would clearly record this matter. Those barbarians didn't have any history books?
Of course, if these epics and legends could be considered history books, then Europe had quite a few history books – although these so-called history books were more like myths.
But from another perspective, if these barbarians today could use the banner of the Great Ming army to recruit laborers, who knew if they would have similar ideas in the future?
Or, would the banner of the Great Ming become worthless because of this?
After careful consideration, Zeng Cheng still shook his head and said, "I report to His Majesty, I object to those barbarians borrowing our Great Ming's banner to act."
After Zeng Cheng explained his reasons, Zhu Erdan couldn't help but retort, "Elder Zeng is being too cautious."
Then, Yang Daniu had someone directly transmit the news back to the Ming mainland, and this news directly reached Zhu Jinsong's hands. From sending a telegram from Tianzhu to Myanmar, then from Myanmar to Nanjing, and then from Nanjing to Beijing, it only took more than half a day in total.
The speed of the telegram did not exceed Zhu Jinsong's expectations. The lack of smooth progress by the British and Dutch East India Companies also did not exceed Zhu Jinsong's expectations. What truly surprised Zhu Jinsong was how weak the British and Dutch East India Companies were.
Of course, what surprised Zhu Jinsong even more was that the two spokesmen for the British and Dutch East India Companies came up with such a ridiculous idea.