In the Spanish Imperial Palace, the young Charles V was summoning several young nobles who had returned from studying in the Ming Empire, and Alfred was among them.
"Since I inherited the throne, I have been thinking about how to turn Spain into an empire as powerful as the Ming Empire, fulfill my grandfather's last wish, unify Europe, and establish a powerful empire."
Charles V looked at the young nobles in front of him.
The nobles in front of me are different from the Spanish nobles. They lack some of the decadence of the European nobles. In fact, they have more capable, gentle and elegant nobles from the Eastern Ming Empire.
"Your Majesty, if our Spanish Empire wants to be as strong as the Ming Empire, it must imitate the Ming Empire, learn from the Ming Empire, adopt the Ming Empire's advanced systems, and abandon the old shackles of the past before it can become truly strong."
Pelos stood up and said clearly that he must follow the Ming Empire's advice.
"Yes, Your Majesty, we must imitate the Ming Empire and establish a strong centralized system. Only under this premise can we concentrate Spain's national power to do things that are truly beneficial to the development and strength of the entire empire. .”
Torres also followed suit and said.
Both Pelos and Torres returned from studying abroad in the Ming Empire. It can be said that they are familiar with the Ming Dynasty and know a lot about all aspects of the Ming Dynasty.
"When the Ming Empire was under the rule of Hongzhi for more than ten years, it was actually large but not strong. Outside, there were prairie barbarians who were seizing control of the country every year. The people inside were poor, and the imperial treasury was empty."
"Later, after a series of reforms, the centralization of power was continuously strengthened, the power and status of the Emperor of Heaven was consolidated, and many reforms were carried out with the Emperor of Heaven as the core, and then the powerful Ming Empire was gradually formed."
"My country, Spain, is much better than the Ming Empire before. We have a huge colony, good financial revenue, and relatively fewer internal problems."
"As long as we can persist in reform, regardless of centralization, and carry out reforms from top to bottom, we have the hope of becoming the second Ming Empire, rising in Europe, unifying Europe, and establishing an unprecedentedly powerful Spanish Empire."
Alfred also nodded respectfully.
They had been to the Ming Empire and had seen its prosperity and power. Compared with the Ming Empire, Europe was still dark.
Just like at night, the cities in the Ming Empire were brightly lit, while in European cities, it was dark at night.
Europe and Ming Dynasty are two completely different worlds, and the gap between them is very huge.
However, the European aristocrats were still immersed in pleasure. Their favorite things were to have parties, hold drinking parties, and indulge in sensuality. They did not realize that Europe had lagged behind the world and was far behind the Ming Empire.
In the eyes of the people of the Ming Dynasty, Europeans were barbarians, dirty and uncivilized. When they first arrived in the Ming Dynasty, they felt aggrieved and argued vigorously.
However, after staying in the Ming Dynasty for a long time and experiencing how powerful and advanced the Ming Dynasty was in all aspects, he had to admit that Europe was indeed far behind the Ming Dynasty.
"But how to centralize power?"
Speaking of this issue, it is naturally in line with Charles V's thoughts.
Who doesn't want to have all the power when the emperor, who doesn't want to keep his word?
But the situation in Spain is still very special. Similar to other countries in Europe, the power of the king is actually not very great. With its decentralized state structure, the princes and nobles of the states hold a lot of power. Many
They are no different from princes.
If you want to secure your position, you need the support of these princes and nobles.
As for the position of the Emperor of the Spanish Empire, it was actually the union of the King of Aragon and the Kingdom of Castile at the beginning. It was only after the marriage of the two Spanish kings that the Kingdom of Spain was formed.
From here we can understand the European state system and aristocratic system, and we can also understand why many countries have two countries despite the fact that the monarch is the same person.
When Charles V first came to the throne, he encountered opposition from many people. He relied on the troops he hired to suppress these opponents, and only then did he secure his position.
But the situation here in the Holy Roman Empire is different. Although he is the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, he does not have much real power in his hands. Most of the power of the Holy Roman Empire is in the hands of the princes and nobles of various places, and even
Yu Du was chosen by them.
In order to make themselves the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburg family of Austria even had to spend a lot of money to bribe the elector, so that he could become the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Therefore, he was naturally in favor of centralization of power, because he did not want to be a puppet emperor, but wanted to be like the emperor of the Ming Empire, holding the world in his hands and making a single statement.
"Your Majesty, we must first imitate the Ming Empire, abolish the state system, implement the provincial system, appoint officials to serve as officials in various places, and at the same time take back the taxation rights of various places, and the king directly appoints tax officials to collect taxes. Secondly, the most important thing is
The purpose is to abolish the military power of the nobles and bring all armies under the unified control and command of the king."
Perlos thought for a while and said.
"But if this is the case, can the princes and nobles everywhere agree?"
After hearing this, Charles V frowned and said.
"So Your Majesty must have an army strong enough to clean up all parties. Only with this as the basis can all the disobedient nobles be suppressed."
Torres said solemnly.
"Um!"
Charles V nodded. This was actually the same plan as his own. He himself planned to train a powerful new army that only obeyed his orders, so as to become his most powerful force.
"Your Majesty, now is a great opportunity."
"The famine is spreading. Although there is cheap food from the Ming Dynasty, aristocratic merchants in many places do not care about the lives of ordinary people. They hoard cheap food and deliberately drive up food prices, causing riots in many places."
"Your Majesty can just take this as an opportunity to imitate the Ming army and build a new type of army. On the one hand, he can suppress rebellions in various places and train the new army. On the other hand, he can use this as an excuse to suppress nobles and businessmen in various places and win more support.
"
Alfred proposed to Charles V.
"Yes, it is indeed a great time now. There are many people who cannot survive. It is very easy to recruit soldiers. As long as there is food, we can recruit enough soldiers and horses."
"It is not difficult to train the Ming Dynasty's new army, and as long as there are muskets, it is easy to form combat effectiveness. I have met some retired Ming soldiers in the Ming Empire, and many of them are making a living in West Africa and Hong Kong. As long as I Write a letter and they will definitely be willing to come and serve His Majesty. Of course, their salary will definitely be relatively expensive."
"It only takes a few months for the Ming Dynasty soldiers to train the new army, and it will be enough to form combat effectiveness. As for arms and weapons, they can be purchased here in Hong Kong."
Torres also nodded solemnly.
"Then I'll leave this matter to you three."
Charles V nodded and said after thinking for a long time.
"yes!"
The three people quickly and solemnly saluted and replied.
"Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty emphasizes that the emperor's power is mandated by heaven. I think we should also follow the Ming Empire's example and gradually get rid of the influence of the Holy See on secular power."
"Your Majesty, your power should be granted by God!"
Pelos thought about it and made suggestions for changes in the ideological field.
The power of European monarchs has always been very small, especially because they are often influenced by the Holy See. The Holy See must come forward for the emperor's coronation, otherwise he will not be recognized and recognized by everyone.
This obviously has a great impact on the concentration of power.
"How should we handle this matter?"
Charles V pondered for a while and nodded slightly. He had had enough of the dictates from the Holy See.
"We can follow the example of the Ming Empire and publish Spanish newspapers. Through newspaper propaganda, we can grasp public opinion, publicize some remarks that are beneficial to His Majesty, and suppress the voices of those who oppose him."
Torres thought for a moment and said.
"This is a good idea. Newspapers are very good things. They can greatly promote national policies, calm people's hearts, spread information, etc."
When Alfred heard this, he nodded quickly.
"When His Majesty consolidates the power in his hands, the whole of Spain will be knitted together, and our strength will be unprecedentedly powerful. By then, whether it is France or Portugal, or the unification of the entire Europe, it will not be a big deal."
"In the future, we must also confirm a unified language and writing. Only a unified language and writing can truly and long-term unity be achieved."
"The books and the carriages go in the same track. Everything that Qin Shihuang ordered back then created the great unification of the East. The reason why Europe is scattered and has never been able to truly unify is that a very important reason is that there is no unified language and writing."
"Each place has its own language, writing, currency, etc. Even if it is unified for a while, it will eventually fall apart."
"Yes, it's not just language and writing. In the future, we will also learn from the Ming Dynasty, implement unified currency, measurement units, etc., and unify many basic things."
"When the national power becomes strong, railways and roads will be built in various places to connect all parts of Europe, strengthen mutual connections, and make the entire Europe truly become a whole, just like the Ming Empire. Even though the territory is vast, with the help of railways If it exists, travel between various places will become extremely fast and convenient.”
"In the future, we will also learn from the Ming Empire to develop our own industry..."
