1635 Han style rises again

1673, the year of Kuichou, the third year of the Great Qi and Han Xing, the 19th year of Guangde in the Ming Dynasty, and the 13th year of Kangxi in the Puppet Qing Dynasty.

In the past year, the tumultuous wars in the ancient eastern land temporarily stopped, and the Ming Dynasty recovered Shaanxi and Shanxi one after another, and completely expelled the Qing captives from the Han land.

Wu Sangui, who was entrenched in Ganlong and Hehuang, submitted a form to Ming Dynasty in May last year, requesting that the vassal state Yongzheng northwest.The Guangde court categorically refused and asked him to accept the land and surrender.Subsequently, more than [-] soldiers of the Ming army entered Qinzhou (now Tianshui City, Gansu Province) to threaten Lanzhou.

Wu Sangui abandoned Gangu, Wushan, Zhangxian and other places, and gathered troops in Longzhong (now Dingxi City, Gansu) and Lanzhou to confront the Ming army.At the same time, he went to the country (the Great Xia Kingdom was established four years ago), removed the prince, and sent his son Wu Yingqi to Xi'an, and asked Daming to surrender again, willing to protect the northwest for the imperial court.

Considering the long supply route and the barren output in the northwest, coupled with Wu Sangui's obedient attitude, the Ming court allowed Wu Sangui to temporarily station in Lanzhou and Xining to protect the northwest.In addition, Wu Sangui was ordered to donate [-] war horses to the imperial court every year to build cavalry.

After the Ming army stabilized the situation in the northwest, they led a large army of more than [-] people out of Jizhou, Yongping, and directly drove to Shanhaiguan.

Under the coordination of the State of Qi, the Ming Army of Yongwang Yunzhou Town gave up Shanhaiguan City and landed on the Liaodong Peninsula across the sea. Yunzhou and Zhenzhou enriched the places.

The Qing captives staying in Liaodong, after losing Ningyuan, Jinzhou and other places and losing thousands of soldiers, the Qing captives stationed in Liaoyang, Shenyang, Hetuala and other places dared not fight any more, and fled from the city one after another, taking a lot of property and Ding At the mouth, he went north and went to Bohai State.

The forces of the Eight Banners of Manchu, Mongolia and Han, dominated by the puppet Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, gathered the remnants of the Qing soldiers who had fled from Shanxi and Shaanxi to Monan, and their power rose sharply. They stationed troops in Guisui (now Hohhot City), Jining ( Today's Ulanqab City) and other places, but did not go south to attack the Ming Dynasty, but began to step up the integration of internal and Mongolian forces, secretly accumulating strength, and peeping into the pass.

The Guangde court held discussions to move the capital back to Beijing, but all of them were vetoed by King Sun Kewang of Qin.

In September last year, the Ming Dynasty began to rebuild five important northern towns, including Xuanfu, Datong, Piantouguan, Yansui, Ningxia, and Guyuan, in order to prevent the Qing Dynasty (Mongolia) from making a comeback.

In distant Europe, another war broke out, and more than [-] French troops invaded the Netherlands, starting a new round of Louis XIV's war for European hegemony.

With an unusually fierce offensive, the French army crossed the Rhine and quickly entered the hinterland of the Netherlands in less than two months.All the way into the land of no one, except for sporadic strong fortresses, almost no counterattacks were encountered, and they drove directly to Amsterdam and The Hague.

At sea, Britain also initiated the third Anglo-Dutch war, dispatching a large number of naval warships to intercept and attack Dutch merchant ships and fishing boats passing by in the English Channel.At the same time, the French navy began to assemble in Dunkirk, preparing to join the British navy to launch a landing campaign against the Netherlands, trying to crush the Dutch resistance in one fell swoop by means of land and sea attacks.

"According to the latest news from Europe, more than 5 French troops stationed in Charleroi (central Belgium today), led by Marshal Turenne, marched along the Meuse River through the Bishopric of Liege to the hinterland of the Netherlands. The Prince of Condé the Great led another army from De Saidan in northern France and also advanced along the Meuse River. The Duke of Luxembourg led a coalition of German allies to attack from the Westphalia region."

"Louis XIV himself was in the Marshal Turenne's army, and on May 5 he arrived at the so-called "impregnable" Maastricht Fortress in the southeast of the Netherlands. The fortress is a star-shaped fortress, equipped with a large number of artillery, stationed The force was around 5. The Dutch had high hopes for the fortress, thinking that it could effectively hold back the French army. After a week of storming, the French army failed to capture it, but lost a lot of troops. Pass the fortress and attack on Utrecht."

"On June 6, the French army approached Utrecht. The city surrendered without any resistance. Utrecht was the place where the Dutch signed the "Utrecht Treaty" when they established the Inter-Provincial Republic. , can be counted as the "Land of Dragons" in the Netherlands. Today, such an important city has fallen, and the blow to the Dutch is still quite large."

"Under such a severe situation, the speaker of the three-level conference in the Netherlands, De Witte, was prepared to compromise with France and sent envoys to seek peace with Louis XIV. Louis XIV proposed very harsh terms, including the cancellation of the Netherlands' independent status. , surrendered to France, the whole territory was occupied by the French military, compensated huge military expenses, ceded the territory south of the Rhine River and incorporated it into France, and exempted French goods from customs duties in all cities and ports. Oh, by the way, the Dutch people were also required to convert from Protestantism to Catholicism. "

At the military-political liaison meeting, Chief of General Staff Cui Shaochuan put down the intelligence materials in his hand, first nodded to the emperor, and then looked left and right at the cabinet officials and military and political generals present, waiting for them to ask questions.

"At the beginning of last year, we received intelligence feedback from the representative office in Europe that the French were actively preparing to launch an invasion of the Netherlands. But now that the war is together, the Dutch are acting as if they have not made any preparations, making France The Japanese military invasion has never been blocked by any force at all...Why is this Dutchman acting so stretched?" Luan Jinxing, Minister of Industry and Commerce, found it a little inconceivable.

Has not this Dutchman always claimed to be the final arbiter of European affairs?Why is it that France is about to give the final "judgment"!

"While the French were sharpening their knives, the Dutch were busy engaging in internal strife." Cui Shaochuan shook his head and said, "According to reports from the spies stationed in the Netherlands by the Black Guards, two years ago, the heir to the original Dutch ruling—Prince of Orange He has grown up, and there are voices in his country to allow him to be in charge of most provinces. But this proposal is undoubtedly the biggest threat to the republicans and the speaker of the House of Representatives, De Witt, who will take various measures to prevent the Prince of Orange from ruling."

"In the same year, when some provincial councils proposed to increase the standing army to deal with possible threats from France, De Witte rejected the plan to increase troops. He believed that increasing taxes and increasing troops was obviously detrimental to the republican forces he represented, because according to Dutch tradition, The standing army is under the ruling command. De Witt is worried that expanding the size of the army will strengthen the power of the Prince of Orange. Therefore, we have seen that France expanded the size of the army from 1670 to 7 in 9, and in 1671 The army has expanded to 12, and plans to continue to expand to 26 once the war begins. The Dutch, however, began to lay off the army on a large scale in order to fight for power."

"Will the Dutch surrender?"

"Whether they will surrender or not depends on which faction in the Netherlands can take power." Cui Shaochuan said: "The republican faction headed by the Great Speaker de Witt intends to continue bargaining within the terms of the peace talks given by Louis XIV. Obtain a decent surrender condition. The monarchist faction headed by the Prince of Orange firmly opposes making concessions to the French and vows to resist to the end."

"The struggle between the two factions was very fierce. In late June, De Witt suffered an attempted assassination. Although he survived by chance, he was seriously injured and could no longer perform his duties. The Netherlands further fell into a situation where there was no leader. July 7th , the province of the Netherlands decided to use the Prince of Orange as the governor of the province, called William III. Five days later, William was officially sworn in as the commander-in-chief of the navy and army and the governor of the provinces of the Netherlands and Zeeland. By the way, there are only two left in the Netherlands No province fell to the French."

"It now appears that the monarchy in the Netherlands has become an established fact. The prediction given by our staff is that the domestic political situation in the Netherlands may continue to fluctuate, but it is inevitable for the republicans to lose power. In war, the Dutch The last extreme plan may be made to prevent the French army from advancing."

"Extreme plan?"

"Yes, the Dutch may dig through the sea-blocking dam and flood the Seventh Army to prevent the French army from capturing the remaining provinces of Zeeland and the Netherlands."

"In this way, even if the Netherlands has not been completely captured by France, wouldn't the most elite provinces of Zeeland and the Netherlands be completely submerged and on the verge of national subjugation. Then the millions of silver dollars we loaned to them will be returned. Can it be paid back?" Luo Hengping, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, asked worriedly.

"There is no need to worry. The Dutch have a lot of money. I believe that when they open the gates to release water, they will definitely store important materials such as gold and silver, and they will not be washed away by the sea. After all, they still have to spend a lot of money. It is absolutely impossible to recruit mercenaries from the German states to help the war without some hard currency.”

"In the past half a month, Vincent Jansen, the ambassador of the Netherlands to Qi State, has visited our Honglu Temple several times, and asked our Qi State to provide assistance to the Netherlands. He hopes that we can lend them another 300 million to 500 million silver dollars." Lusi Qing Huang Zijia said: "He also suggested that we should hire Qi's civilian armed merchant ships to jointly attack France's overseas territories and trading stations in the Indian Ocean region."

"France has only two overseas territories in the Indian Ocean region, one is Bourbon Island, and the other is located on the southwest coast of Madagascar. As for trader stations, there are three in India, one is located in the Kingdom of Kokanda Sultan, and the other two are in the In the Mughal Empire." Cui Shaochuan said: "With the strength of the Dutch East India Company, it should not be difficult to win the above-mentioned targets alone. But they actually want to hire my civilian armed forces to jointly attack French overseas territories and traders. The intention is nothing more than to drag my country of Qi into this muddy water."

"That's right, France is a powerful country on the continent of Europe. It is not in the interests of our country to wage war against it rashly. Besides, even if it seizes several French overseas territories and trading stations in the Indian Ocean region, it will not be a big crisis for the Netherlands. Improvement, but it will offend France for no reason.”

"Yes, although the French navy is not as good as the British and Dutch, its strength has grown rapidly in recent years." Cui Shaochuan picked up a document from the table, looked down, and continued: "As of the first year of Hanxing (1671), the French navy had more than 190 warships of various types, and there were 24 warships equipped with 120-62 guns, of which 12 were equipped with more than 76 guns. In Europe, the size of the French navy has reached It is second only to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and surpasses Spain. Moreover, under the leadership of the French Minister of the Navy Colbert, the number of warships is still increasing at a rate of more than 10 ships per year. It is estimated that after ten years, the number of warships alone may exceed It will climb to the number one position in Europe.”

Hearing this, Qi Tian couldn't help being stunned. In the memory of his previous life, he always felt that the French navy was very weak, always suppressed by the British navy or the Dutch navy, and never established his own maritime supremacy.

In the most powerful Napoleon era in France, apart from sweeping across Europe on land and establishing a short-lived European hegemony, it seemed that there was nothing to do at sea. The Trafalgar naval battle, which was a little impressive, also ended in a disastrous defeat.In the end, Napoleon had to come up with a continental blockade policy in an attempt to cut off Britain's continental trade and trap the British Isles to death.

What's the matter, the French navy is still strong during this period. While seeking hegemony on land, do they also want to gain hegemony at sea?
In fact, this period was just when the French navy began to rise. French Navy Minister Colbert was deeply influenced by Richelieu, and combined naval construction with domestic handicraft industry development and overseas trade, seeking to establish a political and economic combination. world navy.By the time of Colbert's death in 1683, the French navy had reached its peak, with more than [-] naval soldiers and more than [-] professional warships, ranking first in the world in naval strength.

"Regarding the Franco-Dutch war, our country of Qi will not do anything other than lending and material support to the Netherlands for the time being." Qi Tian said slowly: "With the current strength of our country, coupled with the long distance, It cannot affect any changes in the situation in Europe. 20 years ago, our Qi State had already established a long-term strategy, that is, to deeply cultivate Southeast Asia, develop India, radiate Persia, Arabia and Africa, and finally control the maritime hegemony of the Indian Ocean.”

"For any obstacle that affects or hinders the achievement of this strategic goal, we must do our best to weaken and remove it. That is to say, in the entire Indian Ocean region, whether it is the Mughal Empire, the Safavid Empire, or even the Ottoman Empire, They can become the hegemons of their respective regions, but they must not seek maritime power in the Indian Ocean, let alone hinder the promotion of free trade in Qi and the expansion of commodity markets."

"As for how the situation in Europe will evolve, and how the strengths of various countries will ebb and flow, in addition to maintaining due attention, we must stay out of the matter and let it develop. The strategy of a major country requires determination, and more importantly, it needs to be able to resist temptation and resist it. Pressure. Because of Qi’s unique and isolated geographical advantage and strong strength, we can develop with peace of mind without worrying about any foreign invasion.”

"Developing a powerful navy, controlling and consolidating key maritime points, and forming a series of supply chains will still be our country's long-term military development goals. What we need to do is to try our best to maintain the balance of power in the Indian Ocean and prevent any A challenger strong enough to threaten our sea power in Qi."

"Of course, at some point in the future, when we have achieved and stabilized our hegemony in the Indian Ocean, we might as well try to fight for world hegemony."