"We instigated it?"
Hearing Zhu Erdan accidentally blurt out such a sentence, and then seeing the expressions of Zeng Cheng and other major officials, who wanted to laugh but dared not, yet showed great approval, Zhu Jinsong immediately wanted to slap the foolish Zhu Erdan to death.
It could only be said that the harmonious Great Ming saved Zhu Erdan's life.
Glaring fiercely at Zhu Erdan and Zeng Cheng and the other officials, Zhu Jinsong said indignantly, "What does the chaos in Europe have to do with our Great Ming?"
"No matter how you look at it, our Great Ming is still tens of thousands of miles away from Europe, and the ancestors of our Central Plains Hall also said that a fly doesn't bite an egg without a crack."
But after saying this, Zhu Jinsong instinctively felt something was wrong again.
What did "a fly doesn't bite an egg without a crack" mean?
Wasn't this comparing Great Ming to a fly? Then what was he, the Emperor of Great Ming, considered to be?
Thinking of this, Zhu Jinsong couldn't help but glare at Zhu Erdan again. Zhu Erdan was startled by Zhu Jinsong's gaze and couldn't help but shrink his neck, proactively admitting defeat: "Well, how many people does Imperial Brother think our Five Military Commissions should send over?"
Distracted by Zhu Erdan, Zhu Jinsong lost the desire to lecture Zhu Erdan further. After all, Zhu Erdan was now the Prince of Qin of Great Ming, and it was indeed a bit inappropriate to hit him around as before.
After thinking for a moment, Zhu Jinsong said, "Prepare for the military observation group with a scale of twenty to thirty people. As for the Eastern Depot and the Imperial Guards, prepare them with the scale of two hundred-household offices."
Zeng Cheng couldn't help but ask, "May I ask Your Majesty, Your Majesty just said that the wind and rain are coming. Forgive this humble servant's dullness. Although it cannot be said that our Great Ming is enjoying peace and prosperity, it can be considered relatively prosperous and peaceful. This humble servant truly does not know why Your Majesty speaks of impending rain?"
After Zeng Cheng finished speaking, the civil officials like Liu Huaiwen also nodded.
It was indeed as Zeng Cheng said. The current Great Ming had neither foreign enemies nor internal troubles. Whether it was military strength or the living standards of the people, it had been steadily rising.
Under these circumstances, it did not seem to be a case of "the wind is blowing strongly through the building, heralding an approaching storm," right?
As for Europe being in chaos, with several large and small countries fighting each other... what did this matter have to do with Great Ming?
Moreover, didn't His Majesty say earlier that Great Ming was tens of thousands of miles away from Europe? Even if Europe was in complete disarray, it shouldn't affect Great Ming in any way?
Zhu Jinsong did not directly answer Zeng Cheng's question. He glanced at Zeng Cheng and the other civil officials, then turned his gaze to Zhu Erdan, Liu Heming, and the other officials of the Five Military Commissions: "Do you all think so too?"
Zhu Erdan, who had almost been beaten just now, had learned his lesson and did not dare to jump out and directly answer Zhu Jinsong's question, fearing that he might accidentally say something wrong again and anger his elder brother and be beaten again. However, Zhu Erdan's hesitant expression betrayed him deeply.
Liu Heming, the Grand Governor of the Central Military Commission, forced himself to say, "Reporting to Your Majesty, we are not afraid of war. I believe that the two million soldiers of our Great Ming are also not afraid of war. However, we truly cannot understand what the chaos in Europe has to do with us in Great Ming."
Zhu Jinsong let out a chuckle, stood up from his chair, and slowly paced to the window, pushing it open.
The azure sky, the leisurely white clouds, the birds flying by from time to time, and the occasional cicada chirping together formed a leisurely and beautiful picture.
After gazing at the scenery with a dazed, almost greedy expression for a while, Zhu Jinsong turned around and slowly said, "You all must have played Pai Gow, right?"
After Zeng Cheng, Zhu Erdan, and the other officials nodded in agreement, Zhu Jinsong continued, "Set up the dominoes in a Pai Gow set, one by one, with a certain distance between every two dominoes. Once all the dominoes are set up, push over the first domino, and the last domino will definitely fall too."
"The relationship between the current chaos in Europe and our Great Ming is like these dominoes set up one by one. They appear to be at a certain distance, but in reality, Great Ming will definitely be affected by Europe."
Zhu Jinsong's words made Zeng Cheng, Zhu Erdan, and the other officials even more confused.
If there wasn't tens of thousands of miles between Great Ming and Europe, but rather, as close as the Menglianggu rebel group was to Zhu Zhongzhi and other rebels who occupied Shanxi before, perhaps it could still be described as "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold." After all, there was still the Great Qing.
The problem was that Great Ming and Europe were already thousands of miles apart, and Great Ming was the sole dominant power on the entire small broken sphere. Without the existence of something like the Great Qing, no matter how chaotic Europe became, it shouldn't affect Great Ming.
Zhu Jinsong chuckled again, slowly paced back to his chair, and sat down before asking inexplicably, "What is the most fundamental reason for the chaos in Europe?"
Being asked this by Zhu Jinsong, Zeng Cheng, Zhu Erdan, and the other officials were stunned and didn't know how to answer for a moment.
Although Zhu Erdan had been reprimanded, and although Zeng Cheng and the other officials had not directly expressed their opinions just now, all the officials present, without exception, believed that the chaos in Europe was instigated by Great Ming.
Fortunately, Zhu Jinsong did not expect Zeng Cheng and Zhu Erdan and the other officials to answer his question: "The most fundamental reason for the chaos in Europe lies in the issue of resource allocation."
"The resources I speak of include not only hard resources such as coal, iron, and copper, but also resources such as population, wealth, and land, and even intangible resources like power. A large amount of wealth and land rights are concentrated in the hands of a small number of countries or a small number of people."
"Some countries like France and England, through trade with our Great Ming, can still earn some profits, and their people's lives are relatively good in Europe. But what about other countries and their people?"
"Take the people under the rule of the Habsburg family, for example. Their livelihoods were already extremely difficult, and then France and England, through trade with our Great Ming and learning from Great Ming's domestic reforms, have made substantial profits, further squeezing the living space of the people under the Habsburg family's rule."
"It is said that one should not worry about poverty but about inequality. Originally, everyone lived a hard life, and no one could laugh at anyone else. But now that the lives of the people under the rule of England and France have improved somewhat, do you think the people under the rule of the Habsburg family can accept it?"
"The rulers of the Habsburg family are the same."
"Originally, they were all kings of Europe. Putting aside whether they had any past grievances or not, just the current Louis XVI and George III, through trade with Great Ming and the massive wealth gained from learning from Great Ming's domestic reforms, is enough to make the rulers of the Habsburg family envious."
Hearing this, Zhu Erdan and Liu Heming, along with the officials of the Five Military Commissions, couldn't help but want to nod in agreement, while Zeng Cheng instinctively felt that something was not right.
After careful consideration, Zeng Cheng couldn't help but cup his hands and ask, "Your Majesty, we originally knew nothing about the Habsburg family, and that family has always had no contact with us. If it weren't for that meeting to establish the small broken sphere, perhaps..."
Zeng Cheng's meaning was simple: if it weren't for that meeting to establish the small broken sphere, and if those scoundrels Louis XVI and George III had not decided to get rid of the Habsburg family to establish their authority, perhaps our Great Ming and the Habsburg family would still be like water and well, not interfering with each other. It might not be an exaggeration to say they would never see each other again.
In other words, the Habsburg family was fine, not provoking anyone, and was inexplicably beaten, and then you said it was because of resource allocation problems?
Was this really a forced whitewash?
Zhu Jinsong chuckled, waved his hand, and said, "The Bourbon family of France and the Habsburg family, which is neither holy nor Roman nor fit to be called an empire, have old grudges. Even without that meeting of the small broken sphere, they might have fought, and their old grudges are essentially problems caused by resource allocation."
"Of course, this is not the key issue. The key issue is that the total amount of existing resources is fixed. If our Great Ming does not find a way to obtain them, they will be held in the hands of those barbarians in Europe."
"If these European barbarians control a large amount of resources, they may surpass our Great Ming. If that day comes, esteemed officials can think of the Red Creek Case—these European barbarians have learned less than three parts of human behavior, but retained more than seven parts of beastly nature."
Although Zeng Cheng and the other officials still felt that Zhu Jinsong was forcing a whitewash, they could no longer find any words to refute Zhu Jinsong's statement.
The European barbarians had indeed learned less than three parts of human behavior but retained more than seven parts of beastly nature, otherwise, the Red Creek Massacre would not have happened.
More importantly, through years of continuous instigation and various operations, Great Ming had acquired countless resources through various means and channels, whether it was gold, silver, copper, iron, oil, coal, or even firewood. These resources were even enough for the people of Great Ming to use for decades.
Based on this premise, many mines and forests in the mainland of Great Ming had entered a semi-closed state. They were usually only maintained for normal operation, and more were used for experimenting with certain new technologies rather than for actual production.
As His Majesty had said, even if there was a full-scale war on the small broken sphere one day, or if the resources on the small broken sphere were completely depleted, the people of Great Ming could survive on the reserves, at least for a longer time than the people of other countries.
All these benefits were evident. To refute His Majesty's statement, one had to first negate these benefits, which was precisely something that Zeng Cheng and the other officials could not accept.
Just as Zeng Cheng was about to grudgingly accept Zhu Jinsong's forced whitewash, Zhu Jinsong continued, "The chaos in Europe stems from various problems caused by resource allocation, and continuous warfare is bleeding the European countries, making the problem of resource allocation even more unsolvable."
"In other words, the chaos in Europe has entered a vicious cycle, and the only way to break it is to start all over again."
"I do not believe that those European barbarians have such courage, nor do I believe they have the ability."
"However, when these European barbarians are exhausted and can no longer support themselves, they will likely seek external avenues to release their pressure."
Hearing this, Zeng Cheng and Zhu Erdan and the other officials could only nod.
Indeed, when the pressure becomes too great and cannot be resolved internally, the only way is to release it externally.
However, Zhu Erdan and the officials of the Five Military Commissions still found it difficult to accept: "This humble brother believes that even if those European barbarians want to release pressure externally, they may not dare to attack our Great Ming."
Zhu Jinsong glanced at Zhu Erdan and said mockingly, "When did I say that the European barbarians would attack Great Ming?"
Zhu Erdan was startled and retorted, "Didn't Imperial Brother say they would seek external avenues to release pressure?"
Zhu Jinsong nodded, then chuckled coldly, "There are many ways to release pressure externally. Do you think everyone is as foolish as you, knowing that they cannot defeat the army of Great Ming, but still insisting on seeking death?"
After mocking Zhu Erdan, Zhu Jinsong continued, "What I mean is that they will wage war against the surrounding small countries to release the pressure within their own countries, just as Louis XVI and George III chose to use force against the Habsburg family before."
"You must know that the Habsburg family is a well-known entity in Europe, not someone that anyone can easily manipulate. Do you really think that Louis XVI and George III attacked the Habsburg family purely for the dignity of the small broken sphere or simply because they did not want to fight the Ottomans?"
"To put it bluntly, France's finances are in trouble, Louis XVI's rule is already extremely unstable, and George III lost such a large territory as the foolish eagle due to French intervention, putting great pressure on his country."
"Therefore, the two of them clamored to get rid of the Habsburg family to establish their authority as soon as the small broken sphere was established. Compared to this, look at the choices made by the foolish eagle."
"The situation in Russia is similar. Although they do not have significant financial pressure, they have significant food pressure."
"Do you understand?"