Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2230 Boulevard

"Nice to meet you here, Ambassador Han." Frederick III, Grand Duke of Brandenburg-Prussia and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, held Han Xi's right hand and said with a smile.

Frederick III has only been on the throne for five years.As the second son of the old King Friedrich William, he was no longer young at this time, but his spirit looked very good, with a high-spirited momentum, just like the country he controlled.

Han Xi's impression of Frederick III is still very good.After all, he was given a large infrastructure gift package as soon as he came up, which made him, Mr. Han, come into the eyes of some leaders because of his outstanding work.Therefore, even though the grand duke born in Königsberg was somewhat short and underdeveloped, and his character was very vain, pushy, extravagant, and extravagant, this still couldn't stop Han Xi from being full of praise for him.

A while ago, Han Xi inquired and analyzed many ways, and finally figured out the reason why Frederick III made such a big effort as soon as he came to power: he wanted to upgrade his title from Duke to King, especially when the Hanover family was promoted to Elector last year, and This sentiment reached its climax after the prospect of succession to the English throne.

Assistant to Friedrich III, the Westphalian Eberhard von Donkelmann.He has been the teacher of Crown Prince Frederick since 1663, and served as a privy adviser in 1674. He was just appointed as the chief minister of the principality and the chairman of the privy advisory committee this year.To be fair, Don Kermann is still very capable and ambitious, trying to make Brandenburg Prussia a power in Germany and even the entire continent of Europe.This person opposed the Grand Duke's extravagance and strongly admired the simple life style. For this reason, he criticized the private gardens and castles entrusted by the Grand Duke to the people on the east coast and other projects that were "not beneficial to the country", but he did not do anything to expand the two major cities of Berlin and Potsdam. Too big an opinion, it can be seen that he is a pragmatic faction.

Han Xi had dealt with this chief minister and spoke very highly of him, because when other countries make requests to the East Bank, they usually ask for the agency rights of weapons, ammunition, food, medicine or commodities, but this gentleman asks the East Bank for help Building the University of Halle (emphasis on engineering technology) and the Berlin Academy of Arts and Sciences (emphasis on art and social sciences) that he is organizing to change the "uncivilized state" of Prussia.Tang Keerman's request simply surprised Han Xi.However, he has no right to make a decision on this matter. After reporting to the plenipotentiary special envoy Cai Zhenguo, Cai was also very speechless, so he returned it to the gentlemen of the local Ministry of Foreign Affairs and let them study and decide by themselves.

Tang Keerman was a little dissatisfied with Han Xi's perfunctory, and once threatened to cancel several infrastructure contracts awarded to the people on the east bank.Han Xi seriously warned the Chief Minister that these contracts were personally confirmed and awarded by His Excellency the Grand Duke. If the Prussians want to take them back, it may lead to serious consequences.Don Kerman is not an unreasonable person. After carefully weighing the pros and cons, he wisely gave up this dangerous idea.

Through this incident, Han Xi could also see that this Tang Keerman was too powerful and domineering, and sometimes he didn't even give face to the Grand Duke.At this time, he seemed to see the shadows of the powerful officials of all dynasties in Chinese history, so he was not very optimistic about this person's future.Tang Keerman often satirized and reprimanded his colleagues in the court, vigorously attacked the arrogance of the Junker nobles at the local level, and took away a lot of political and economic power from them, which caused great dissatisfaction among them.Such a person, I am afraid that the two generations of grand dukes of the Hohenzollern family were thrown out to help them do the dirty work.

Today, Frederick III invited Han Xi to the newly completed boulevard. The superficial reason was to admire the level of engineering technology on the east bank. In fact, the ulterior motive was not to drink, and he wanted to persuade the people on the east bank to support him as the king of Prussia.Han Xi is actually quite speechless about this matter. What's the point of finding someone from the New World to support you as a king in a Shenluo country?You should go to Vienna!

At this time, the two of them were walking on the avenue full of linden trees, while looking at the pretty good scenery on both sides of the road, while chatting about the current situation in Europe.As the elector of Shenluo, Frederick III undoubtedly stood firmly on the side of Germany-in fact, this position of the Prussians is very suspicious, because they are famous in Europe. It's just that the French's bid was not in place - he told Han Xi that he sent four regiments of infantry (about 5000 people) to fight for the King of Austria, and he was very proud of the bravery of the Prussian boys in his words .

Han Xi nodded and smiled without saying a word.He politely ignored the embarrassment that the Prussian army was beaten into dogs by the French army in Cologne, and echoed a few words of praise for the bravery of the Prussian army and the Junker nobles.While talking, when Frederick III brought up the topic of the status of the Principality of Prussia, he suddenly laughed in his heart, your fox tail finally showed.

Frederick III complained that the Hanover family suddenly became the elector of Germany. At the same time, he also satirized his old opponent for many years, the Saxon elector August of the Wetin family, who converted to Catholicism, thinking that he was in order to become Poland. The king has fallen into madness, and it is shameless to convert to heresy.

Han Xi smiled and nodded, but he still heard a strong sourness from Frederick III's words.That's right, the old opponent for many years is going to have the title of king, but I am still just a duke, how uncomfortable.And even his own duke, many princes in the Holy Roman Empire looked down upon them, thinking that they were in the northeastern border of the empire, uncivilized and uncivilized, which led to the Duke of Brandenburg-Prussia becoming an elector, but The status is still not much higher.

In the end, Frederick III finally spoke his mind. He asked the people on the east bank to help clear up the relationship between the Netherlands—there is no doubt that the influence of the United Provinces in the German region is huge—let them help influence some The princes in Shinra, let them support him to be crowned king.

Of course, Frederick III knew that these alone were not enough.If you deal with the bottom people, you must also deal with the upper class!Therefore, he has decided that no matter what Vienna does in the future, he will firmly stand on the side of the Habsburg family and fight for their interests, hoping that the German emperor can agree to him as Frederick III as the king of Prussia.

Speaking of this, it is basically clear that Frederick III put forward his purpose or request, and now it depends on how the people on the east coast set a price.After all, no one would be naive enough to think that there was no price to pay for persuading the Dutch to exert influence over the German state.The Dutch also need to consume political resources or human resources. Of course, the people on the east coast can let the Dutch do this through the exchange of interests, but why?Why do you do this for you Prussians?

But Han Xi also felt that this time was a rare opportunity.Now the news from Madrid is confusing. The physical condition of King Carlos II of Spain has long been no secret. Even if he can escape the clutches of the disease this time, the future is actually not optimistic. He might die within a few years.

Carlos' death alone is actually nothing, but the trouble is that the neighbors in Spain are secretly planning to carve up this country with a huge territory. In the end, millions of people may come to bury Carlos.People on the east coast certainly don't want turmoil in Spain, but many things are not based on people's will, so multiple preparations must be made.In the future, once the uneven distribution of spoils among various countries-this is almost inevitable-leads to a big fight, how can the people on the east coast protect their own interests?

Cai Zhenguo, the special envoy of the East Coast Republic of China to Europe, talked about this issue a while ago, and believed that only by retaining the armed intervention force can we retain influence.The so-called armed intervention force here can be one's own, or of course borrowed from others. The Brandenburg-Prussia in front of him seems to be a good target.This country has betrayed one and the other for decades, with no integrity at all, and has been serving as thugs to various forces. If the people on the east coast can get a promise from their king, that is, if they are willing to send troops to intervene in the situation in Spain for the benefit of the east coast, help him It seems that it is not a big deal to successfully ascend the throne and be crowned king.

The more Han Xi thought about it, the more he felt that this strategy was feasible.The Prussian army, the northern Italian army, and maybe Portugal can also send out a few thousand people, plus a mixed regiment of troops on the east bank. This is very objective. Maybe you can try to interfere with the situation in Spain. Safeguarding the interests of the Eastern Republic is of paramount importance.

However, even though he thought of this, he cautiously did not mention it to Frederick III in person.He neither refused the request nor agreed to it, but said that he needed to go back and ask for instructions.Frederick III understood and happily said that he would wait for the good news from the people on the east coast. Here is an additional thing. In history, in order to become king, this king sent 8000 officers and soldiers to serve as cannon fodder for the Austrians. In the end, all casualties were exhausted. His blood-stained crown shows the king's obsession with the title of king.

After visiting the boulevard—the road later known as the famous landscape of Berlin—Friedrich III invited Han Xi to his private estate as a guest.Han Xi readily agreed, and boarded the Grand Duke's carriage to go together.This is not only a play and rest, but also a diplomatic gesture, a diplomatic gesture that shows the close relationship between East and Puerto Rico.Han Xi thought, after returning home, he should sort out his thoughts and write a formal report to Cai Zhenguo.In the absence of effective infiltration into Austria (in the future, there may be conflicts due to Northern Italy), vigorously cultivating a powerful country such as Brandenburg-Prussia seems to be the focus, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' lifelong Consultant Li Qing also mentioned this matter.

"It's time to give some benefits!" Han Xi thought, "Maybe it will be used when interfering in the situation in Spain."

(End of this chapter)