Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1274 Offensive and Defensive Psychology ([-])

Obviously, the bourgeois revolution in Britain was not thorough, so that the real ruling class in London is still the big landowners and nobles who are Anglicans.

So, instead of overriding the West India Chamber of Commerce's plea, they deployed all their forces to the Channel.

It is impossible for the French to eat up the entire United Kingdom, let alone the entire West Indian trade, but the restoration of the Scottish nobility of the James Party will mean a major reshuffle of the landed aristocracy.

The current situation is like a gamble.

Dashun took ten yuan, while Britain had to put all his wife and children on it.

Strategically, the decision-makers in Dashun despise Britain, not because the Celestial Dynasty is arrogant and does not open its eyes to see the world.

It's because Dashun lost the bet in the decisive battle in the open sea, and at worst, retreated to the east of the Cape of Good Hope to build an imperial free trade zone. Could it be that if the decisive battle in the Straits fails, Vietnam, North Korea and Burma can invade the capital?
In the decisive battle outside the sea, Britain lost the bet, that is, it has to pay for the house, land, wife and children. France can really go to London to set fire to and copy the Bank of England. Capital bought French government bonds.

Therefore, Dashun judged from a strategic point of view that Britain dared not gamble on a decisive battle in the open sea.

Obviously, now it seems that the "unfair bet" that Dashun entered the game basically won the bet.

After Spain and Dashun signed a secret agreement, Dashun's merchant ships and cruise ships could already be repaired in Havana, with Havana as the center to cut off the British trade route, and began to frequently contact smuggling groups in North America.

A large number of British merchant ships were captured by Dashun's reloaded merchant ships and cruise ships, and their goods were taken away.

This is really thanks to the "War of Spanish Succession" and the subsequent "Treaty of Utrecht".

Because of this treaty and some of the benefits that the United Kingdom has gained, the British, who started as pirates, began to eliminate pirates in the Caribbean Sea, and achieved very significant results-this is the background of the pirates lined up to hang in the story of "Pirates of the Caribbean": In 1715, the "Utrecht-Madrid Treaty" was finalized, rewriting the trade pattern in the Caribbean Sea, and setting off a vigorous campaign to suppress pirates.

On the one hand, this resulted in a significant decline in the level of armament of British merchant ships compared to the turbulent times of pirates before the Great Siege in 1718.

On the other hand, the pirate siege and subsequent capture that reached its peak in 1718 caused a large number of pirates to escape to Madagascar and West Africa, providing Dashun with a rich talent pool to find some "familiar with the Caribbean terrain".

"Where there may be merchant ships", "Where is there a hidden harbor", "Where is there hidden fresh water"... These things must not be solved by a few maps and the method of lunar distance angle and longitude.

However, although Dashun’s side is definitely regarded as piracy, because of some official purposes, Dashun’s side still uses the model of “forcing ships to stop and force them to go to ports such as Port-au-Prince and Havana” instead of killing all pirates in the old system. The means of burning and looting.

In addition to robbing their goods and ships, they generally did not kill people. Instead, special personnel preached to them "the bright future of free trade, free trade is very beneficial to Atlantic merchants, and mercantilism benefits the people of the East India Company. Slavery is bad behavior and it is not right to treat humans as animals" and so on.

As for Dashun himself believing it or not, that's another story.

But what they say must be self-contained. After all, at this time, people who understand that forced trade is free trade and who can write scriptures according to this set are basically in Dashun.

Generally speaking, these cruise ships and heavy merchant ships of Dashun are an indispensable part of Dashun's strategy to Britain.

Even the winner and loser of the strategy.Because Dashun bet that the British army would not dare to take the decisive battle in Shanghai; moreover, Dashun did not want to really defeat the British navy and let France dominate.Therefore, it depends on reloading merchant ships and cruise ships, or in other words, trade to win, and it is enough to force Britain to go bankrupt.

Tactically, these heavy merchant ships were also used by the besieging army in Gibraltar.

On the one hand, buy their goods at a low price to ensure the supply of troops.

At the same time, a large number of wine barrels and grains were transported to the Dashun camp in the direction of the isthmus in front of the British defenders in Gibraltar.

It's like gnawing on a fat elbow in front of a person who is about to starve to death, it is tactically luring the Gibraltar defenders to take risks.

On the other hand, a large number of merchant ships preparing to return to Dashun also put great psychological pressure on the Gibraltar defenders.

Cooperating with the direction of the upper isthmus, the Monkey King launcher is being deployed, and the floating fort is being built in the direction of the bay, as well as the merchant ships and cruise ships that come in and out every day.

This made the British army have to make a judgment: the Chinese's full-scale attack is about to launch, we must counterattack before their reactionary attack, disrupt their offensive deployment, and grab enough supplies in the direction of the isthmus to support us. Reinforcements arrive to fight for the final victory.

On November 11, the staff of Dashun dealt the final psychological blow to the British defenders in Gibraltar.

Six hot air balloons lifted off from the base in Dashun, and then dropped a few grenades near the fortress of Gibraltar—within 500 meters.Balloons fly to the sea or Spanish towns with the wind.

This first "air strike" in human history can be described as massive.

Around 6 spectators watched the air raid around the bay from de la Concepcion to Algeciras.

But when it comes to material results, they are zero or even negative.A huge silk balloon fell on a Spanish town and was smashed by the roof of the church, losing at least 200 taels of silver.The grenade thrown didn't even hurt a single hair of the British defenders.

But if you talk about the psychological pressure, it's too great, it's like the last straw that broke the camel's back.

After this first "air strike" in human history, the British commander in Gibraltar called all the officers together.

In the fortress, the only remaining firewood from the old ship lit a bonfire, and the British officers gathered around the bonfire to warm their bodies, cursing the ghost weather in Gibraltar.

Although they are British, they are not qualified to curse the weather in Gibraltar, but the temperature these days is really low, mixed with the sea breeze, even if it is close to ten degrees, it is still biting.

Commander John Mordaunt was cold in body and heart, and he only wanted to scold his mother for the current situation, but he still maintained a gentleman's decency and tried his best to show a calmer attitude.

John Mordaunt could be regarded as one of the few anti-Chinese demons in Britain at this time.

There is no love or hatred for no reason in the world. His hatred for Dashun naturally has a reason.

It should be said that it was Dashun's appearance that completely changed his fate.

At least in his own eyes, so it is.

He was also born with a golden spoon in his mouth, although he was not considered the top nobleman in London.His father was a lieutenant general, a little worse than those dukes and marquises who had been passed down for several generations from the beginning, but after all, he was born and grew up in the circle of powerful people.

The mother is the daughter of the Spencer family, and the ancestors are really rich.The Spencer family is in charge of Queen Elizabeth's lottery distribution, and it is conceivable that they can be in charge of the lottery.

It's just the tide of the times, the mighty tide, those who follow it will prosper, and those who go against it will perish. After Elizabeth, state religion, Catholicism, republic, monarchy, restoration, protection of the country, and anti-restoration... Wave after wave, stand a little If you are on the wrong team, you will easily fall into the clouds.

But it's not enough to fall into the mud now, father is a lieutenant general, mother is a famous family, so naturally the journey is smooth.

The life trajectories of the children of feudal aristocrats are basically similar, no matter whether they are British, French or Dashun.

At the beginning, he worked as an attendant in the marshal's tent, and when he was in Dashun, he was called to serve in the marshal's tent, not much difference.Mix for a few years, be gilded, accumulate some qualifications, and be promoted to general.

It should be said that John Mordaunt's life was relatively smooth until he came into contact with Dashun, which can be regarded as the standard fate of the upper-class noble children.

Until, he got involved with Dashun.

A few years earlier, during the tariff war between Clive and Bengal, William Pitt had taken charge of British naval and military strategy.

A strategy of "harassing the French coast, forcing France to fail to assemble its navy, and forcing France to reserve a large number of troops on the coast to ease the direction of Hanover and Prussia" was proposed.

This is the policy of "smash other people's glass with a golden scorpion" that was widely sprayed by the Tories at this time.

John Mordaunt was entrusted with the task of attacking the port of Rochefort as commander of the army.

Rochefort, La Rochelle, the fate of this French port is a bit like that of Liaocheng and Yangzhou in Dashun—cities that prospered and declined due to changes in geography, means of transportation, and trade routes, such as in the canal The annual trade volume of the era was conservatively estimated at 700 million taels, but later it was mixed into Liaocheng, the poorest area in Shandong.

The same is true for Rochefort, a little-known town with a population of only 3 to [-], which was a very important port for France's trade with America at this time.

Colbert chose this place and built a fortress, naval base and trading port.Originally in history, because of the loss of Canada, the chaos in North America, and the defeat in the Seven Years War, this important trading port finally died and disappeared, symbolizing the complete failure of France in America. tombstone...

At this time, Rochefort was a very important port, to what extent it was important—it was a distribution center and an entrepot port for the slave trade, Sino-French ginseng and mink fur, etc.

Because there are rivers, bays, and islands at the entrance of the bay, it is obvious that this is also an important naval base, and Colbert has a good vision.

John Mordaunt's original task was to implement Peter's strategy of harassing France.

According to the intelligence given by the spies, Rochefort is easy to attack and the defense is lax.

But in fact, after the fleet arrived, it was discovered that the situation was not as simple as the spies said.

Moreover, because Britain and France had already declared war at that time, and Dashun was the initiator of the Armed Neutral Alliance—at least at that time, it was indeed neutral—so, Dashun’s merchant ships docked in the port of Rochefort, and they wanted to ship them from Canada. The ginseng and mink skins transferred to Hong Kong.

After all, if it is a French ship, it is easy to be caught when it goes out; while the merchant ship of Dashun is neutral, and it is also armed and neutral, so no one dares to catch it, and anyway, it will be empty when it goes back, so it helps France to transport some goods.

As a neutral country, Dashun directly told the British side: Do you know what armed neutrality is?
The British did some research here, and thought that if they hit with a hammer, if they accidentally hit the merchant ship of Dashun, this side is fighting with France, and if they provoke a monster over there, wouldn't it be okay to ask for trouble?

John Mordaunt and Admiral Hawke, who was the commander of the British Channel Fleet at this time, discussed it and decided not to fight and withdraw.

Then, John Mordaunt's fate took a sudden turn for the worse because of these merchant ships of Dashun.

At least, he thought so himself.

But actually not at all.

(End of this chapter)