Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2104 Europa Universalis ([-])

In August, the North Sea was relatively calm, and the East Coast Fleet stationed in several ports in the United Provinces increased the frequency of departures to intercept and search for suspicious ships on the sea.In fact, they no longer need to do this. In the past period of time, the republican government has gradually stabilized the domestic situation, purged a considerable number of officials with suspicious positions, and under the advice of the East Coast consultants, it has continuously strengthened its support for mainland China. The control and rectification of the two militaries, everything is developing in a positive direction.

However, at the request of The Hague, they still did not evacuate and return to the country, because the current anti-French war is in full swing, and there are still a considerable number of people in the Netherlands who love the Orange family.Even within the republican government, there are many people who are worried about whether they can successfully resist the French attack. The disastrous defeat of the French and Dutch war more than ten years ago directly led to the downfall of the republican government. Confidence in whether a capable government can achieve something in national defense is not very high.It is precisely for this reason that after friendly consultations between the two parties, the East Coast Task Force decided to stay in the Netherlands for a period of time to help them stabilize the situation and resist possible threats from the outside world.

However, they also made it clear that their main task was to monitor the British side to prevent the Prince of Orange from suddenly returning to the United Provinces to seize power.As for other aspects, such as going to sea to fight the French, I'm sorry, the price paid by the Dutch is not enough for this kind of waste of precious warships and human lives, and the people on the east coast have no reason to fight the French for the time being. People went to war-the loss of the French market, and the death of naval officers and soldiers who spent a lot of money in the battle. What do you Dutch have to pay for?

Of course, the Dutch did not insist on asking the East Coast Navy to help them fight.In fact, they are still very confident. The glorious record of naval warfare over the years has given them enough psychological advantages. Even though France has been making great efforts to develop its navy in these years, it is still not seen by the Dutch.The only opponent they recognize is probably the Kingdom of England, which also has a deep maritime tradition. That is the object they need to be vigilant about, not the fleet of Louis XIV, which has always had a poor record.

The war caused by the French three-way invasion has been fought until now, and it can be said that all countries have been deeply involved.Needless to say, countries bearing the brunt of Austria, Spain, and Savoy have almost used various means to confront the French, not only military, but also diplomatic and economic means. Anyway, they are doing everything they can to weaken the French. The strength of the French competes for their own chances of winning.

The countries that were not the first to bear the brunt also participated in this war more or less because of factors such as fear and worry. Among them, England and the United Provinces were undoubtedly the two countries that showed the most active performance.The former feared that the former King James II would be sent back by the French for restoration, so the fate of some members of the Congress would not be too good. The experience of the Roundheads back then is not far behind, and no one in the Congress would want to The guillotine, William III and his wife did not want to be thrown from the throne of the king, so England joined the alliance against France.

The reason for the United Provinces' entry into the war was a perceived threat to the nation's survival.The annexation of the seventeen provinces of the lowlands has been the goal that Louis XIV has been pursuing for many years. After the ten provinces of the Southern Netherlands are finished, it will naturally be their turn to form the alliance of seven provinces. This is something that even a fool can see.Therefore, every time France attacks the Southern Netherlands, the United Provinces will take the initiative to form an anti-French alliance without mobilizing anyone, and spend a lot of money to hire troops and purchase supplies, and resolutely fight the French to the end.

This time is no exception.As soon as Louis XIV's army entered the southern Netherlands and exchanged fire with the local Spanish defenders, the United Provinces moved into action.They generously repaid the three-month salary owed to the local Spanish soldiers, and then brought a large amount of food and gunpowder over, encouraging them not to give up and keep fighting, and Madrid will definitely send reinforcements over.

In addition, in the face of the French army that threatened them from the flank (the army that invaded Germany from the Southern Netherlands), the Dutch themselves also deployed a heavy defense, and had a few small confrontations with it, holding back some French troops. The strength of the army made it unable to calmly fight the Austrians.

All in all, the United Provinces and England had too many reasons to go to war against the French, and they did.In history, William III was the general leader of the anti-French war. In this time and space of the people on the east coast, he only had the halo of the king of England, but did not have the title of governing the United Provinces. Therefore, the position of the leader of the anti-French alliance was replaced by Leopold of Austria. to serve, but this did not prevent William III from sending the English Navy to join the war.

The speaker of the three-level council of the United Provinces, Van Boyningen, also dispatched the illustrious Dutch fleet, together with the English, to deal with the up-and-coming French navy.Their purpose is obvious, to strangle the French navy, which is not strong enough in their eyes, and then block its coastline and weaken its national power, so as to curb the French offensive.

After the Dutch Navy went to sea, dozens of East Coast naval warships still stationed in Amsterdam, Vlissingen, Holen, Enkhuizen and other Dutch ports naturally had to bear part of the responsibility of the United Provinces. home defense work.After all, if the enemy's warships attacked from the sea, wouldn't the east coast navy moored in the port just sit aside and watch the show, watching indifferently as the port of its quasi-ally was destroyed?Even thinking about it is impossible!Therefore, the Dutch are actually quite chicken thieves. They spent money to pay for the East Coast Task Force, but it was not just to prevent William III from leading the fleet to come back to seize power!

Colonel Moreel, as the commander of the task force, knew all about the tricks of the Dutch.However, he is not very repulsive. Having communicated with Cai Zhenguo, the new plenipotentiary envoy to Europe, he understands that there should be no accidents in the United Provinces, otherwise the anti-French alliance's funding sources may dry up.After all, the expenses of the North German princes (led by Prussia), the Swedish army, and some Swiss mercenaries who came from afar to fight against the French were all borne by the Dutch, and they even provided a sum of money to the Spanish navy. The generous sponsorship allowed them to quickly repair the ship, pay the arrears, buy ammunition, and prepare for a decisive battle with the French Eastern Fleet.

Therefore, there must be no surprises in the Netherlands!If necessary, the navy on the east coast can all withdraw to Amsterdam and other places, and the army can also withdraw from the Maastricht area to ensure the safety of the Netherlands and the provinces of Zeeland.As for the other five provinces, if you really can't stand it, just give up temporarily, it's not a big problem.

Generally speaking, of course, things aren't that bad at all.Although the French transferred the well-known Duke of Luxembourg to the Southern Netherlands to take over as the commander-in-chief of the French army, Prince Waldeck from Austria seemed a little unable to stand up, but the tens of thousands of reinforcements from the United Provinces could go up at any time, and the situation would not be so serious. No matter how dangerous it is, the Dutch still have considerable confidence in defending against the enemy outside the country.

"The French navy has grown rapidly over the years. I don't know if I have a chance to see it." Colonel Moreel, standing on the top deck of the battleship "Executive Committee" in the port of Enkhuizen, sighed. : "Sometimes I think France is a lovely country. Because without them, I don't think the Dutch can speak so well, and the English and Italians are also very respectful to us. There is no such thing. This country, firmly Attracting the hatred of everyone, allowing us to work on it and reap benefits, I really have to thank them."

"Commander, but we can't let the French annex and expand without restriction, we still need to check and balance it." A staff officer said with a smile: "I heard that the French are planning to send James II back to England. I think this is a very dangerous move. Once James II is successfully restored, if Britain and France form an alliance, it will have an extremely negative impact on our country’s interests in Europe, so we must prevent this possibility.”

"This is something that the English navy needs to worry about. We don't need to worry about them yet. Few people in England sympathize with their former Catholic king. James II will have some influence in Ireland if he dies, Scotland. Don't even think about it, there are no fewer forces opposing him than in England. Although it is the place where the Stuart family started, it is basically useless. Therefore, if Louis XIV wants to send James back to cause trouble, then the most suitable place to land There is one and only Ireland, but this is actually a dead place." Moreel said: "First of all, England has always oppressed and enslaved the Irish in history, and it has done a lot of crimes, especially the governors sent by the king. It's not a good bird, the Irish hate it deeply, and the king's reputation there is not good. Secondly, Ireland's population is too small, its economic strength is too poor, and there is no decent army. Compared with England, its overall strength is not worth mentioning. James II went to Ireland, and I am afraid that the end will not be very good, and it will probably end in failure soon, unless Louis XIV supports his restoration regardless of the cost, but how likely is this?"

Mo Lie's words are actually very true.The cards that Louis XIV can play now are those few cards, especially for England, the most effective card is to send James II back to cause trouble, which can greatly restrain England's energy and make them unable to give the French looking for trouble.

Louis XIV also knew that with William III in England, it was absolutely impossible for England to form an alliance with France, and it was impossible for England to withdraw from the war, so he could only retreat to the next best thing, support the restoration of James II, and make troubles in Britain , making it impossible for the English to come to the continent to block him.But all of the above actually have a premise, that is to defeat England's navy, and then send James II and his followers ashore.Of course, considering James' predicament in the early stage, a certain number of French soldiers is also necessary, which involves a huge landing. It is necessary to defeat the British navy, and it is difficult to succeed by smuggling.

Morley Eel had asked whether to interfere in this matter.Cai Zhenguo, who has worked in the UK for many years, vetoed it after thinking about it, because even if the people on the east coast took huge risks and costs to do it, whether they supported France or England, they would not appreciate it. On the contrary, they might still have a lot of doubts and vigilance.What's more, the east coast navy now needs to defend the mainland of the United Provinces, and at the same time, in the future, a part of the fleet will be drawn to the western Mediterranean to help some Italians.

Cai Zhenguo believes that in this massive anti-French alliance war, it is best for people from the east coast to be spectators.Of course, compared with more than ten years ago, the "spectators" at this meeting can do a lot more.For example, Cai Zhenguo is currently busy rebuilding the business network in various parts of the European continent. Almost every week, he will send several envoys to various places to talk to agents, meet with the rulers of various places, and sign a series of cooperation agreements.These efforts are undoubtedly providing assistance to the vigorous development of industry and commerce in the East China Republic, finding more and more stable markets for goods on the east coast, and laying a solid foundation for the improvement of industrial technology and labor productivity.To put it bluntly, these measures of consolidating the foundation and cultivating talents will be reflected in the strength of the East Coast in the future, and at the same time widen the technological gap with the Europeans again - Europeans' steam engine technology is increasingly widely used and its level is getting higher and higher. They may have once thought that they had closed the gap with the East Coast, but after this war, perhaps the situation will be quite different again, and their understanding will be even more unforgettable.

Cai Zhenguo's idea was partially approved by Mo Lieel, so he suppressed his warlike thoughts a little bit, and turned to serve his intention.Use European market profits to maintain R&D funds on the east coast, use European market feedback to improve current production technology, and use larger production scales (which require a larger market) to improve management levels. The country's progress still depends on industry Technological progress, everything else is imaginary.

Even though Morie Eel is a soldier, he understands this deeply and practices it all the time.According to his words: "Those rough guys in the army don't understand the mysteries of business and technology at all. They are full of muscles in their minds. They have fallen behind this era. Our navy must take on this important task."

"Tomorrow, go find Lieutenant Colonel Ding Zhen, and then set off with him to the port of Riga on the Baltic Sea. With you, there is also the secretary of Special Envoy Tsai. He is going to intensively visit Sweden, Courland, Poland and other countries, The leaders of these countries discuss the matter of trade agreements. As for you, go to the port of Wendau, inspect the shipbuilding industry and the current state of the navy of the Principality of Courland, and prepare a report after you come back. You should refer to it when formulating policies, understand? We haven’t seen this rich sea for a long time, and the situation will definitely be different in the future.” Morie turned to the staff officer and ordered.

"Yes, I understand!" The staff officer stood at attention and saluted, and replied.

(End of this chapter)