Pierre felt somewhat bewildered.
He had already learned about the theories concocted by that Austrian art student from young Mr. Dai and understood that these theories could incite the anger of the Austrian populace.
But did Louis XVI forget his own identity?
He was the King of France, the head of the Bourbon family!
In plain terms, he was the very "poisonous snake and fierce beast" sung about in that song, damn it!
If he supported that art student and allowed those theories to become popular in Europe, what would the common people of France think?
Would they also want to heat the hearth until it glowed red and eliminate the poisonous snakes and fierce beasts led by him?
After a period of agonizing thought, Pierre couldn't help but advise, "Is it really necessary? While that exchange student's theories might cause chaos in Austria and even severely weaken the Habsburg family, aren't we in France also a monarchy? What if..."
However, to Pierre's surprise, not only did Louis XVI not heed his advice, but he also smiled, waved his hand, and retorted, "Let me ask you, this set of theories was learned by that exchange student in the Great Ming, wasn't it? The Great Ming must also have these theories, correct?"
Pierre hesitated before replying, "It seems so. I heard from young Mr. Dai that the Austrian art student learned the theory of distribution according to need, and young Mr. Dai himself learned the theory of free competition. If that's the case, then the Great Ming likely also possesses these theories."
Louis XVI nodded, a soft "hmm" escaping his lips, and then asked, "Then let me ask you again, will the Great Ming be shaken by these theories?"
Pierre answered without hesitation, "Impossible! Absolutely impossible! No matter how stirring these theories are, the Great Ming will never be shaken by them."
Then, after a moment's thought, Pierre felt something was amiss, "The Great Ming won't be shaken by these theories because the Great Ming is currently the most prosperous nation on this little earth. Its citizens also enjoy the best welfare, such as an incorruptible and efficient government, an invincible army, and even the police who are willing to lay down their lives to protect civilians."
"But what about us in France? Our government in France can by no means be described as incorruptible and efficient, our army can by no means be described as invincible, and the welfare of our citizens is far inferior to that of the Great Ming."
"Therefore, while the Great Ming can remain unaffected by these theories, who can guarantee that France will not be affected by them?"
Louis XVI's smile widened, "After fully adopting the Great Ming's systems, our government in France has already improved greatly. You won't find a more efficient and incorruptible government in all of Europe, nor will you find an army more capable of fighting than ours."
"As for the welfare and benefits for our citizens, aren't we also gradually improving them? Moreover, the welfare and benefits for the common people of France are already the best in all of Europe." xxs
"Listen, Pierre, we don't need to compare ourselves to the Great Ming. We only need to be stronger than other European countries, and then these theories will have no impact on us."
Speaking of this, Louis XVI suddenly became full of confidence, "Even if these theories do affect us, we can still seek help from the Great Ming."
Pierre was still somewhat bewildered, "Then what about the theories young Mr. Dai brought back?"
Hearing Pierre's words, a hint of anger, born of disappointment, appeared on Louis XVI's face, "Why are you so foolish? The theories of that Austrian art student are not perfect, and young Mr. Dai's theories are also not perfect!"
"Haven't you realized it yet? Many parts of these two sets of theories contradict each other, but, aside from those contradictory parts, they are the Great Ming systems that we have already introduced!"
"What does this indicate? This indicates that the systems currently used by the Great Ming are far more perfect than these two sets of theories!"
"When you have more perfect systems and theories to emulate, why would you choose an imperfect one?"
"How stupid are you?"
Scolded like this by Louis XVI, Pierre immediately came to his senses.
That's right. Scholars in the Great Ming had researched these two sets of theories and systems, but the Great Ming did not adopt any of them, which was enough to show that the systems the Great Ming was currently using were far more perfect and superior to these two.
France had already fully adopted the Great Ming's systems, and the results of their implementation were quite good.
Since that was the case, why should they use these two incomplete theories?
Just as Pierre was cursing himself for being foolish, Louis XVI continued, "Even if these two systems were more suitable for France, we cannot implement them immediately."
"On the contrary, we should let other countries test these two systems and see which one is more suitable for France, rather than making a decision immediately."
After thinking for a moment, Louis XVI instructed Pierre, "When you return, tell young Mr. Dai to set off immediately to find Napoleon and let him learn from Napoleon how to fight."
Pierre was stunned again and asked, "Even if you don't plan to use young Mr. Dai's theories, there's no need to send him to the army, is there? Wouldn't this be a waste of an exchange student?"
Louis XVI glanced at Pierre and snorted, "What do you know? It is precisely because I value young Mr. Dai that I want him to temper himself in the army. When he has learned enough from Napoleon, I will send him to serve as an official in the local government and gradually enter our French cabinet."
As he spoke, a hint of pride appeared on Louis XVI's face, "Since this young Mr. Dai was able to bring back a set of theories from the Great Ming, it shows that he must have something that makes him superior to others. If such exchange students are not cultivated properly, do you think I am as foolish as you? Go now, let young Mr. Dai hurry to learn from Napoleon, and I will also set off for the Ming Dynasty."
...
As Louis XVI prepared to visit the Great Ming, Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, was furiously berating Liu Hemming and a host of other big shots from the Five Military Headquarters: "Have you no shame, huh?! Just for that little bit of military budget, you truly have no shame!
"The Army, the Army is even bringing out its matchlock guns!"
"Come, come, you few bastards, tell me, how many years has the Great Ming's matchlock gun been obsolete? Did you dig these out from the Northern Industrial or Southern Weaponry warehouses? Or did you capture them from some barbarian rebels?"
"Damn it all!"
"You're crying poverty with matchlock guns? Why don't you just form a martial arts team and wield large sabers!"
"And the Navy, you even brought out those little sampans – if you had at least brought out a whaling boat, I wouldn't be this angry!"
As he was ranting, Zhu Jinsong focused his anger on Liu Hemming: "And you! What about the hot air balloons that the Royal Academy just unveiled? What do you mean by bringing out Kongming lanterns? Huh?"
"Fine, so our Great Ming's empire is being defended by a few matchlock guns, small sampans, and Kongming lanterns?"
"Damn it, are you few bastards deliberately trying to enrage me? Or are you taking old Liu the Miser for a fool? Huh?"
Liu Hemming and the other big shots were all scolded to the point where they couldn't lift their heads.
The matter was quite unfair.
To get more military budget, Liu Hemming and the other big shots from the Five Military Headquarters decided to invite the Minister of Revenue, Liu Huaiwen, to a military review. The main purpose was to show Liu Huaiwen how poor the Great Ming's army was – bringing out obsolete equipment like matchlock guns, small sampans, and Kongming lanterns, shouldn't he approve more budget?
The problem was that Liu Hemming and the others didn't expect that Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, would happen to show up, and he even brought Zeng Cheng, Song Yucheng, and a host of other big shots from the civil official system.
The result was that Emperor Zhu Jinsong, along with the entire civil and military court of the Great Ming, witnessed how the Great Ming army defended the territory of the Great Ming using matchlock guns, small sampans, and Kongming lanterns.
Of course, as the end of the year approached, it was time to submit budgets and cry poverty, so what Liu Hemming and the others did was not entirely wrong. Liu Huaiwen would definitely approve a budget of tens of millions of taels of silver.
However, the mockery that was due would not be spared!
Zhu Jinsong remembered how Liu Huaiwen mocked Liu Hemming and the other military big shots: "You must treasure these broken pieces carefully. Perhaps you can use them again next year."
"Oh, and you can also take out those broadswords and maces and let them get rained on, so they can develop some rust. When they're used on the battlefield to kill enemies in the future, weapons with rust will be more ferocious than those without!"
Zhu Jinsong also remembered how Zeng Cheng comforted Liu Huaiwen: "Minister Liu, please allocate more budget to the Five Military Headquarters. Look at our Great Ming's generals, marshals, and marquises, each dressed in tattered clothes. Those who know will say they are thrifty, but those who don't will think our Great Ming army is extremely poor!"
Look, look, these bastards from the civil official system are all scolding without using profanity, stabbing without drawing blood, and in their words, they have thoroughly ridiculed the big shots from the Five Military Headquarters.
What made Zhu Jinsong even angrier was that Liu Hemming and the other big shots from the Five Military Headquarters did not feel ashamed, but rather proud: "Elder Zeng is right, our Great Ming army is indeed a bit poor."
"Although many units have already replaced their equipment with newer and better ones, many units are still using matchlock guns, small sampans, Kongming lanterns, and the like. If this gets out, wouldn't it affect the reputation of our Great Ming?"
Zhu Jinsong was almost infuriated to death by these shameless individuals –
The Five Military Headquarters brought out obsolete military equipment, and even Kongming lanterns that had never been used; the Ministry of Railways brought out its first-generation steam locomotive, which was pulled by a few nags in front; the Royal Academy went even further, bringing out its first-generation wooden machine tools, which were reportedly borrowed from a museum!
Each of these actions was truly unashamed!
Yes, although Liu Hemming and the other big shots were scolded to the point where they couldn't lift their heads, Liu Hemming and the other big shots truly did not feel ashamed.
What was there to be ashamed of?
Zeng Cheng, the Grand Chancellor of the Great Ming, and Song Yucheng, the Minister of Revenue, and other big shots had joined the group midway, but Liu Huaiwen and Liu Hemming, these people, had followed Zhu Jinsong in rebelling since Jade Emperor Mountain. Who hadn't gone through difficult times?
When they first raised their troops, the rebels on Jade Emperor Mountain did not have the strength to confront the Qing army head-on, and their firearms were limited to handmade grenades – those grenades hastily assembled by rural blacksmiths and carpenters, if they hit people directly, it was fine, but if they didn't hit their faces, their power, apart from making a sound, was at most enough to smear someone's face.
Even then, not all rebels could be equipped with them, and during training, they could only use wooden replicas with iron reinforcements as training projectiles.
Back then, the rebels on Jade Emperor Mountain had no warhorses and could only rely on their legs to race against the cavalry of the Jurchens.
Back then, the rebels on Jade Emperor Mountain had no firearms and could only rely on large sabers to hack at people. Capturing a matchlock gun was a treasure!
Having endured the hardships from those times, now that they had finally managed to live a few good days, Liu Hemming and the other big shots naturally wanted to get more budget so that the soldiers of the Great Ming could use newer and better equipment.
As for reputation... what was that thing worth?
If Liu Huaiwen was willing to approve an extra ten million taels of silver in budget, Liu Hemming would even call him "father"!
Besides, Liu Hemming and the other big shots also knew that Zhu Jinsong's scolding was not because their method of crying poverty was too despicable, nor was it because Zhu Jinsong had forgotten the hardships they had endured before, but because Liu Hemming and the others had chosen a bad time – it happened to be seen by the entire court!
Therefore, while enduring the scolding, Liu Hemming and the other big shots lowered their heads and winked at each other.
Geng Rui, who was in charge of the air force, signaled Liu Erniu, who was in charge of the army, with his eyes: "You, step forward and admit your mistake first. At least let His Majesty stop scolding."
Liu Erniu glared back at Geng Rui: "Why me? This time it's clearly your air force that went too far!"
The Navy big shot looked down at his boots, diligently counting the patterns on them, because the small sampans brought out by the Navy were indeed still in service, although they were now assigned to local maritime patrols – no matter who they belonged to, as long as the small sampans were still in service, then our Navy was truly poor!
Seeing that these bastards were more and more able to shrink and endure, Liu Hemming finally had no choice but to step forward, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the matter today was planned by Liu Erniu, Geng Rui, and myself, all for the purpose of obtaining more budget."
Liu Erniu and Geng Rui immediately glared fiercely at Liu Hemming – you wait until we leave the palace, and you, don't leave!
Zhu Jinsong also glared at Liu Hemming and snorted, "You want budget, you want budget, can't you few people use your brains? Is this how you ask for budget?"
Hearing Zhu Jinsong say this, Liu Hemming and the others immediately became spirited, "Then what is Your Majesty's intention?"