New Ming Empire mixed in America

(The previous article has been revised due to incorrect information. Zhihu is hurting me (┯_┯))

At this time, Manila had just experienced a major earthquake in 1863, and the city was in a state of chaos.

But this did not delay the trade of European countries in the free port of Manila.

At this time, Queen Isabella II of Spain was already 33 years old and was busy completing her goal of killing thousands of people, and was indifferent to the distant Philippines.

This directly led to the bankruptcy of the Spanish royal family's company here, and the Philippines had to announce its opening to the outside world to relieve the Spanish royal family's foreign debt.

Therefore, during this period, Spain's maritime power in the Far East gradually shrank, and its focus shifted entirely to Cuba and other locations.

Just as the Pacific Fleet was heading towards Manila, a clipper appeared in front of the fleet.

Soon, the clipper flying the flag of "Lanfang Grand Control" arrived next to Li Mingqi's ship under the escort of armored gunboats.

When he learned that the clipper had appeared, Li Mingqi was a little confused.

It was only after the envoy on the ship met him that he learned that the Chinese actually had a country overseas.

"Dear...um...His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty..."

As soon as the envoy opened his mouth, Liu Erhe frowned unconsciously and said: "This is the Xinming Empire, not the former Ming Dynasty..."

His words made the envoy who called himself Lan Fang stunned.

At first, when they learned that the Ming Dynasty fleet appeared near Luzon, they thought it was a country founded by descendants of the former Ming royal family.

I also heard that this fleet under the banner of the Ming Dynasty was very powerful and was unstoppable in its rampage on the sea off Luzon.

Therefore, the Lanfang envoy who was staying in Ryukyu immediately went to sea to see the fleet with his own eyes.

When they saw this huge fleet at sea, envoy Lanfang almost fainted with joy.

At this time, the Lanfang Republic had been harassed by the Netherlands.

At first, they were able to use the pretense of pseudo-Qing Dynasty to scare the Dutch temporarily.

But now due to the Opium War, the Dutch have become more courageous. Now the friction between the Lanfang Republic and the Dutch is becoming more and more intense.

Now a huge fleet of Chinese descendants has appeared in the South China Sea. Envoy Lanfang believes that this is a good opportunity to completely eliminate the Dutch threat.

But now when he heard Liu Erhe say that he was not Qianming, Messenger Lanfang's heart skipped a beat unconsciously.

"Erhe!" Li Mingqi scolded Liu Erhe first, and then said to Lan Fang's envoy:

"Although I am not a descendant of the royal family of the former Ming Dynasty, we have always regarded ourselves as Huaxia. The former Ming Dynasty was also the former Ming Dynasty of China, and we are also descendants of Huaxia!"

"Although our Xinming Empire was founded overseas, the history of the Xinming Empire still follows the Chinese history, but it does not recognize the puppet Qing court..."

Speaking of this, Li Mingqi's eyes were fixed on Messenger Lan Fang.

Because Li Mingqi had just found a book about Lanfang Republic, and the one he was holding in his hand was.

In this book about the history of the Lanfang Republic, Li Mingqi learned that in order to prevent the invasion of the Dutch, the Lanfang Republic sent people to meet Qianlong as soon as it was founded, hoping to become a vassal state of the pseudo-Qing Dynasty and pay tribute every year.

However, the Tatar Qianlong, who was in the "prosperity of Kangxi and Qianlong" (the prosperous age of potatoes), believed that the pseudo-Qing Dynasty had a vast land and rich resources, and did not care about the poor and backward Nanyang region. He regarded it as pirates and bandits, calling it "the abandoned people of the Celestial Empire" and did not agree.

Although the Lanfang Republic's request failed, it deceived the Dutch. At that time, the Lanfang Republic covered an area of ​​140,000 square kilometers, four times the size of Ryukyu Province, and had a population of about 4 million. Therefore, the Netherlands could only encroach little by little.

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To be honest, Li Mingqi was a little envious when he saw this place.

If his birthplace was in the Lanfang Republic, he would probably have started to counterattack the Qing Dynasty by now.

But he was jealous, and Li Mingqi also knew that the four million people in Lanfang Republic were not all Chinese, but most of them were local indigenous people.

But even the current population strength far exceeds that of the Xinming Empire. You must know that at this time, the Xinming Empire does not have 150,000 people at full strength.

Moreover, the Lanfang Republic can be said to be the first modern republic in the world, far earlier than the independent United States in 1776.

The Republic of Lanfang is divided into three levels: province, prefecture and county. Citizens at all levels elect the heads of local administrative agencies through voting.

In terms of the selection of national leaders, Lanfang combined the ancient Chinese abdication system and created a form that combined abdication and democratic elections.

Before the previous leader dies or steps down, he recommends the next leader, but whether he can serve as chief minister requires the approval of the majority of citizens.

However, the military aspect is a bit weak. Although ordnance factories have been opened, except for a small number of standing troops stationed in strategic military locations, there are no troops stationed elsewhere.

In normal times, each of them would maintain their own business and select young people of appropriate age to practice shooting. If something happened, these young people would be recruited to form an army (similar to today's reserve force).

And the most important point is that the soldiers wore the uniforms of the Green Camp soldiers of the Qing Dynasty.

In addition, the local Chinese immigrated from the Puppet Qing Dynasty, and the education was also provided by the "Great Confucianism" of the Puppet Qing Dynasty at that time.

This is why Li Mingqi is somewhat wary of the Lanfang Republic. He doesn't know whether the other party claims to be a descendant of the Pseudo-Qing Dynasty or a descendant of the Chinese people.

After hearing Li Mingqi say that he was of Chinese descent, Messenger Lan Fang's face was immediately filled with tears.

They are suffering, and the overseas Chinese are suffering.

The Puppet Qing Dynasty regarded overseas Chinese as enemies, so overseas Chinese suffered from both sides.

"We are also descendants of the Chinese. Please consider that we are all Chinese compatriots, please help us Lanfang..."

Messenger Lanfang cried whenever he wanted, leaving Li Mingqi to hold back his next words.

He originally wanted to refuse because he was currently occupied with immigration matters and had no time to help Lanfang Republic deal with the Dutch.

He can still manage things at sea, but he has no ability to do so on land.

The National Defense Forces that came with the fleet this time only had one regiment of more than 3,000 people, and including the Imperial Guard, there were only more than 6,000 people.

Such a small number of people would not even make a splash on the Kalimantan Island in Southeast Asia, the third largest island in the world.

Moreover, the Lanfang Republic was still more than twenty years away from being destroyed, and it would not be overthrown by the Dutch until 1888.

But now seeing the tears on the other person's face and the constant sobbing, Li Mingqi felt sour in his heart.

"I can help with the Dutch navy, but I have no ability on land..."

After thinking for a while, Li Mingqi finally said cruelly: "I am here to immigrate from the Puppet Qing Dynasty. I won't lie to you. The population of our New Ming Empire is too small, and the army still has to be stationed in the country."

"It's okay to provide you with weapons, but there is no way to send troops to fight against the Dutch. It's not that I don't care about the life and death of my compatriots, but that I am powerless."

There is no moisture in these words of Li Mingqi, they were spoken from the bottom of his heart.