In the 16th year of Tianshun's reign, Xiang Nan led his army on an expedition.
In the 20th year of Tianshun, Xiang Nan led his army to capture Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which was within easy reach of Europe.
But Xiang Nan still had some concerns about whether to attack Europe.
With his current military strength, if he invades Europe, Europe will definitely be doomed.
Because in the fifteenth century, Europe had just entered the Renaissance and emerged from the dark Middle Ages. The science and technology is not advanced, the culture is not prosperous, and the economy is not developed.
What is even more unfortunate is that England and France have just ended the Hundred Years' War. Both sides fought with scorched earth, heavy casualties, and greatly reduced their strength.
While other regions, such as Eastern Europe and Northern Europe, cannot be said to be a piece of scattered sand, they have also been divided into countless city-states and principalities. Therefore, Europe at this time could not even defeat the Ottoman Empire.
Otherwise, they would not risk their lives to explore new routes. Therefore, Xiang Nan has sufficient strength to attack Europe.
It’s just that if Europe is defeated at this time, how to manage it in the future will become a problem.
In fact, even if Xiang Nan could use the flying eagle to send messages and keep in touch with the capital, it would take more than two months to go back and forth. If it were done by horseback, it would take half a year at the fastest to deliver a message, which was far beyond the limits of an empire's management.
Once something happens in Europe, he will not be able to take care of it in the capital. Even if the news is received as soon as possible, and the decree is conveyed as soon as possible, it will still take at least a year to go back and forth, and the day lily will be cold.
However, after Xiang Nan thought about it, he decided to fight.
If we don’t fight now, Europe’s rise will be inevitable in a hundred years.
Through the Great Navigation Movement, they found large colonies in America, Africa, Australia, and Asia, plundered endless wealth, and greatly improved their economy and technology. From being far inferior to China before, it has gradually caught up and surpassed the past.
Therefore, in the 19th century, European powers attacked China one after another, causing hundreds of years of pain to the Chinese people. It was not only a disaster for a country, but also a disaster for a nation.
Secondly, Xiang Nan has a way to solve communication problems.
In the world of "Ghost Blowing the Lamp", he learned a lot of technologies, including radio communications. Radio communication can achieve intercontinental communication, and it can be reached instantly without delaying too much time.
Moreover, he can also build railways, steam engines, internal combustion engines, steamships... Transportation is no longer a problem. By then, troops and supplies can be transported and released by railway. Even if they are thousands of miles away, one month will be enough to settle any disputes.
Besides, the opportunity cannot be missed, and it will never come back again.
If we don’t fight now, once we lead the army back to the Central Plains, we will have no chance to fight again in the future.
So Xiang Nan finally decided to fight.
…
Just when Xiang Nan defeated the Ottoman Empire, another Ming army had already recovered Qinghai-Tibet.
Xiang Nan subsequently announced the establishment of an official office in Qinghai, dispatched ministers stationed in Tibet to manage it, and gradually implemented the policy of returning natives to Tibet, abolishing hereditary chieftains and titles, promoting Chinese and Confucian classics, and gradually weakening the dominance of religion, so as to order Qinghai and Tibet are gradually naturalized...
In the autumn of the 20th year of Tianshun, Xiang Nan's army was renovated and its logistics supplies were fully prepared, and then it boldly invaded Europe.
At that time, there were three main kingdoms in Europe. One is France, the other is England, and there is the Habsburg dynasty, which is not well known to modern people, but at that time it was one of the most powerful royal families in Europe and had the widest domain of rule.
Its ruling territories include the Holy Roman Empire, the Spanish Empire, the Grand Duchy of Austria, the Grand Duchy of Hungary, the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Principality of Castile, etc.
France and England have just finished the Hundred Years War. This war lasted from 1337 to 1453, which is equivalent to the third year from the Yuan Dynasty to the fourth year of Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty.
For more than a hundred years, both sides have been continuously mobilizing for war and conducting a series of battles, causing heavy losses to both sides' populations and economies.
It has just been twenty years since this battle. Although the national strength of the two countries has recovered somewhat, it has still not returned to the level it had a century ago. After all, the losses of the Hundred Years War were too great.
Although the Habsburg dynasty was powerful, the biggest drawback of the dynasty was that it was not united within the country.
The Habsburg dynasty was founded by the Duke of Alsace in the sixth century AD. It was just a principality at that time. Later, with the improvement of strength, the territory slowly expanded.
But it implements a federal system. Although the territory is very wide, the various kingdoms, principalities, and city-states within the dynasty are basically independent. Moreover, there have been constant disputes within the dynasty.
For example, in 1439, after King Albert II was buried on the battlefield, the Duke of Austria and the throne of the Holy Roman Empire were inherited by his cousin Frederick III, while Albrecht II's posthumous son Ladislaus inherited King of Hungary and Bohemia.
However, the youngest son Ladislaus was assassinated not long after he succeeded to the throne, causing the family to lose control of the kingdom of Hungary and Bohemia.
As a result, the Habsburg dynasty was nominally a vast and powerful dynasty, but in fact it was a mess internally.
In addition, the Habsburg Dynasty was close to the Ottoman Empire, and wars often broke out between the two, which also consumed a large amount of Habsburg's national power to a certain extent.
Therefore, when Xiang Nan led the army to attack Habsburg, although Habsburg resisted vigorously, it was still difficult to resist the invasion of the army.
Firstly, the decentralized rule made it difficult for them to organize a strong defense; secondly, Xiang Nan's army was generally equipped with advanced weapons such as spears and cannons.
And along the way, he continued to recruit and surrender rebels, and recruited a large number of elite cavalry from Mongolia, Central Asia, Asia Minor and other places, so his military strength was far superior to the Habsburg army.
So the Habsburg dynasty was quickly defeated, and Xiang Nan led the army to attack Vienna, the capital of the Habsburg dynasty.
…
After conquering Vienna and overthrowing the Habsburg dynasty, Xiang Nan divided his troops into three groups, attacking the Kingdom of Poland all the way to the north, the Kingdom of France all the way to the west, and the Spanish Empire all the way to the south.
Xiang Nan personally led his army to the west.
At this time, France ended the Hundred Years War less than 20 years ago, and it can be said that its national strength is far from being restored. The economy and population are still at a low ebb.
Especially people’s fighting spirit is extremely low. After all, the Hundred Years' War was so torturous that no one wanted to continue fighting.
Hence, when Xiang Nan invaded France, he didn't even encounter any decent resistance and was quickly bulldozed.
It is no wonder that the French dynasty was only in name. At that time, there were independent principalities or city-states such as Burgundy, Picardy, Brittany, Provence, and Roussillon, which were not under the leadership of the French royal family.
What's more, at this time, let alone the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, France had just emerged from the Middle Ages and had just experienced the Hundred Years' War. There is really no way to compare with the innovative Ming Dynasty.