Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1203 Marriage and Diplomacy

"The news from Europe has come back. You are the chief of staff of the National Armed Forces, and you have the right to look at this document." In the office of the Executive Committee's administrative building, *** Qiang Quansheng pulled out a document from the filing cabinet , handed it to Mo Ming, and said.

Qiang Quansheng's secretary brought steaming hot tea to the two, then quietly exited and closed the door behind them.

Mo Ming sat on the wooden teacher's chair and spent more than ten minutes carefully looking at the documents.The content is about European countries, but more space is about major events that have happened in Britain in the past one or two years.For example, the fierce and cruel struggle between the officer corps headed by Major General Lambert (mostly officers of civilian origin) and the members of the bourgeoisie in Congress and members of the royal party. However, De has been unable to effectively take on the important task of controlling the situation, and he is weak. He has been close to the wealthy members of Congress, and at the same time refused to sign the judgment order to kill several officers and generals. The result of trying to please both sides is Inside and outside are not people.

However, since the East Coast Executive Committee has decided not to interfere with the situation in the UK - in fact, it can't interfere with anything, but the navy strongly demands to support at least "one or two ships of weapons and military supplies" to the major general officer***, so the republican In name, but it was rejected at the level of the Joint Staff Headquarters—then there is actually nothing much to say about this matter. Keep in close communication with the United Provinces on this matter and just wait and see what happens.

People on the east coast of England are powerless and unwilling to intervene, but they are very concerned about anything about Spain, such as this summary of intelligence spied on by various trading stations (many of the contents are still bought from the "abandoned documents" of the three-level parliament in The Hague A large part of the article is about the situation of the West-French war. After all, Spain is now a super big cow on the east coast, and the nutrients provided continuously have greatly nourished the body of the east coast. It can be said that the East Coast Republic of China is now Cannot afford to lose the Kingdom of Spain.

After the Battle of the Dunes, both Spain and France have fallen into the plight of exhausted resources, poor soldiers and poor people.The common people in France, in particular, believed that the cost of the war was too great, and they suffered greatly no matter whether the war was won or lost, so they strongly demanded that the war be ended quickly.Cardinal Mazaran naturally could not ignore the unanimous voice of the whole country, so he threw out the peace talks plan that had been locked in a drawer for several years.

To be fair, the plan for the peace talks is realistic and acceptable to the two countries, but one of the biggest obstacles is that Mazaran wants to add a guarantee to the country's future tranquility and peace. This guarantee is The marriage of Louis XIV, that is, he wanted to marry the Spanish princess Maria Teresa for Louis XIV. This violated the taboo of many people and caused too many people's panic and anxiety, so the resistance is bound to be considerable. Not small.

If the king of France marries the princess of Spain, places such as the Southern Netherlands, Franche-Comté, and Alsace-Lorraine will definitely be brought into France as the dowry of the princess. How can European countries agree?What is even more frightening is that the elder brothers of the two princesses of Philip IV have died of illness. Once Philip IV dies, not only Spain, but also Turin, Florence, Sardinia, Naples, Sicily and even Peru, New Zealand The Spanish viceroyalty will be merged into France, how can this be tolerated!

Although it is known that the merger of Spain and France in history did not happen in the end, Carlos II ruled Spain for decades after his birth in 1661.But the question is, who can guarantee that this time and space still obeys this fact?You know, due to frequent inbreeding, Carlos II's health has been poor since birth, and he may die at any time, and he is still impotent and unable to produce offspring, so if someone can't think about killing him in advance, the succession war It is possible to start the fight early at any time, which is extremely detrimental to the people on the east coast who want to maintain the status quo.

"What are we going to do? Stop this marriage? But it seems unlikely. France can ignore us, so we have to work hard on Spain? Ask them not to marry any of the two princesses. One—well, at least Princess Maria—married King Louis XIV of France, right?" Mo Ming pondered while holding a teacup, "Then, should we send a doctor to check King Philip's health? The stability of the Spanish Habsburg succession is a prerequisite for our country's continued interest in Peru and New Spain, especially at this sensitive time."

"And that's why I asked you here. What's your military idea? This is very important, we can't lose Spain!" Standing in front of Mo Ming, Qiang Quansheng asked seriously.

"Can Spain continue to fight? I mean we have assisted them with so much food, weapons and money, how is their local army formed?" Mo Ming asked.

"According to the limited intelligence of the National Intelligence Agency, I'm afraid it is not optimistic. Since the Castilians enjoy the privilege of not going out to fight all year round, it is estimated that this group of generals who enjoy their comfort all day long will not be able to fight. The Basque and Aragonese , Catalonia, and Granada, I'm afraid they don't have much affection for Castile, or some of them are negative. It's good not to rebel. This can be seen from the recent border wars with Portugal It turns out that the local infantry regiment composed of Castilians can’t beat the Portuguese army, which is really surprising.” Qiang Quansheng shook his head, “Spain’s problem is very complicated, I don’t think it’s possible for their native land to resist France The attack of the army, surrender is a matter of time."

"Is there a way to get a copy of the negotiation documents between Don Luis and Mazaran?" Mo Ming asked first, and then smiled self-consciously: "I know it's impossible, but didn't even the Dutch recruit?"

"I don't know if the Dutch know the details of the negotiations between the two countries, but I tend to think they don't. In fact, the negotiations between the two countries have started intermittently since 1656, but the secrecy has been done so well that no one knows about them. What was discussed specifically, I only know that the French asked to cede the land and marry the princess, but other terms are not clear. I think the only person who may know something inside is Leopold I of Austria, but this is not something we can contact "Qiang Quansheng said.

"Okay, Chairman Qiang, then I won't talk nonsense." Mo Ming put down her teacup and said, "Maintaining a weak and stable Spanish Kingdom is in our country's interests, and we cannot accept that Spain and its overseas territories are incorporated into the The Bourbon dynasty. Therefore, under the circumstances that it is not possible to determine whether Philip IV has a male heir, our government firmly opposes this marriage, and for this reason, it will not hesitate to resort to force!"

"It's actually not that serious, don't worry, Lao Mo." After knowing the attitude of the military department, Qiang Quansheng put down a big stone in his heart, which made him more confident to persuade other committee members: "Actually, we can still let Spain It is stated in the negotiation agreement that Princess Maria Teresa and her children give up all rights in the Kingdom of Spain, otherwise this marriage will be abandoned. Of course, our first choice is still to disrupt this marriage, Let Princess Maria marry his cousin, Leopold I of Austria, anyway, this is also the fate of the Spanish princess, isn't it? Spain's land cession and compensation are acceptable, because not only will it not affect our interests, but on the contrary It will make Spain more dependent on our country, but the Bourbon royal family must not be allowed to extend its hand to Spain. This is a red line that cannot be touched. Once the French cross this red line, then for the national interests of the east coast, we have no choice. We can only declare war on it..."

"Actually, I heard that Louis XIV himself did not want to marry the Spanish princess, but he preferred the niece of Prime Minister Mazarin, Ms. Marie de Mancini. The love letters between them have long been spread throughout the upper class of Paris. Is it possible to do work from here?" Mo Ming suddenly said with a smile, being able to play tricks on a French king who left his name in history brought him a lot of happiness, but he immediately laughed at himself: "Of course I know that this idea is a bit whimsical. Louis XIV is a sensible person. He understands that his marriage is not a matter of one person, but a matter of the whole country, so he will definitely seek to marry the Spanish princess Maria, poor Man. Miss Chini will probably have to go back to Italy to live in seclusion, she is such an unfortunate woman..."

"Even if Louis XIV can't figure out the situation, French Queen Mother Anne and Prime Minister Mazarin will never let this happen." Qiang Quansheng also smiled, "And I also admire this Mazarin a little bit. He may be watching Now that I am already an extremely powerful minister in France, if I marry my niece to Louis XIV, it may bring disaster to the family behind me. I really understand the way to protect oneself, admiration! Now he **** *** worked hard for Louis XIV to marry the Spanish eldest princess. Not only the Queen Mother Anne saw it, but the whole of France also saw it. Everyone knew that he was loyal to the country, although the amount of wealth he held had surpassed the king of France A lot."

"Okay, Lao Mo, I understand your attitude, thank you for supporting the work of the Executive Committee, it is not easy for me to be this family." Qiang Quansheng walked to his desk, sat down and said: "By the way , How is the Dingjunshan area recently? Many people in the Government Affairs Council complained that local work was disrupted by you, and that militias were recruited, corvees were collected, and food and supplies were also supplied. In short, there were many complaints. Suppressed, some people don't look at the problem from the perspective of the overall situation, and only stare at their own one-acre three-point land, hehe, there is no need to pay attention to it."

"Thank you Chairman Qiang for your support." Mo Ming said indifferently, "Let's try to build the railway to Shahubao in mid-1660, and the construction of military stations in various places will be almost completed. At that time, the initiative will be in my hands. How can I handle the Portuguese? It’s not even a matter of words.”

(End of this chapter)