"My Majesty, as your Minister of State for War, I must remind you that our enemies are more powerful than we are... their population and financial revenue are several times ours, and they have the same number of standing armies as ours. Several times. If we want to engage in all-round competition with them in the three main battlefields of America, India and Central Asia. With all due respect, we will lose the war!"
Palace of Versailles, Bull's Eye Room.
De Wit, Ivan Naryshkin, De Velasco and Maria Francesca have all left, leaving only Prince Condé, Hugo Leonard, Kirk Bell, and the newly summoned Marshal Durenne, the Duke of Luxembourg, the Marquis of Marina and Philip I, the Duke of Orleans - it must be said that the Sun King Louis XIV really has a gathering of stars under his command! As far as the ability of these few soldiers in fighting, none of Zhu Cihong's men can match it.
But when it comes to national strength, France is not enough. At present, the population under Louis XIV's rule is less than 20 million even if it is too large. The Ming Dynasty now has a population of nearly 200 million! If we also include the population of Japan, Korea, Annam, Jungar, Siam, Khoshote, Dai Kingdom, United States of Xinzhou, Kingdom of Luzon, Kingdom of Jiaqing, etc., the population is only 250 million. Everything is within reach...
A population gap of at least 10 times meant a huge gap in national and financial resources in the 17th century when there were more people and higher productivity.
Of course, Ming Dynasty and France were not close neighbors, and the transportation capabilities on sea and land were limited in the 17th century. Therefore, even if the Ming Dynasty had 1 million army troops, it was impossible for them to flood into the Kingdom of France like an overwhelming force, nor could they be deployed unrestrictedly on battlefields thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty's homeland.
So Louis XIV's side was not without a chance of winning... At this moment, Prince Condé laid out a world map and recommended to the Sun King a strategy that seemed to be able to defeat the Ming Empire.
He said: "My Majesty, if we want to win the future, we must choose between India, America, and Central Asia... I think we can only win on one of these battlefields! "
"We can only win one battlefield?" Louis XIV frowned deeply, "Prince, if you were given a choice, which battlefield would you put French power into?"
"Of course it's America!" Prince Condé said, "Because we can't completely conquer India! The Timur Empire in India is not a vulnerable opponent.
Even if we could capture Goa, with the support of Goan Catholics, and raise an Indian legion of tens of thousands, it would not be a guarantee of defeating the Timurid Empire...even if we could win in some places, it would be impossible to conquer All over India.
Therefore, the best result we can get in India is to plunder a large amount of wealth at most... It is not worth losing America for a large amount of wealth.
Because the wealth we can get from India is limited, but the wealth on the American continent is almost unlimited!
As for Central Asia...that is the backyard of the Rakshasa Empire after all. Even if we won a great victory there, it was the Rakshasa Kingdom that reaped the benefits in the end.
Therefore, I suggest that France devote all its main forces to the American battlefield, unite the Kingdom of New Spain and the Netherlands, launch attacks from land and sea at the same time, and strive to destroy the Chinese United States of New World in one fell swoop!
Then we could turn the west coast of North America, rich in gold and furs, into a French colony. With North America...our Kingdom of France can have a brilliant future! "
Louis XIV frowned, obviously not very satisfied with the strategy proposed by Prince Condé. He glanced at Secretary of State for the Navy Kirk Bell, "My Secretary of the Navy, can we colonize North America on a large scale like the Chinese?"
"Your Majesty," Kirkbell shook his head, "at least it seems unrealistic for now... After all, the French people are bathed in the glory of the Sun King, who would be willing to cross the ocean to live in the New World?"
Louis XIV nodded in agreement, this is indeed a problem! Under his wise leadership, the French people's life is too comfortable, and no one wants to go abroad!
"So... Lord of the Navy, you don't agree with His Highness the Prince's strategy?" Louis XIV asked.
"No," Kirkbell shook his head, "I agree with His Highness the Prince's strategy... Although it is difficult for us to immigrate to North America in large numbers, according to reliable information, in California, Boston, and Washington in the United States of New Zealand , and the United States, a large amount of gold has been discovered that can be mined! Obviously, there is a huge gold mining belt on the west coast of the North American continent currently occupied by the United States of New Zealand! And that area is also rich in furs. If we can combine North America with If we take the west coast of the mainland as our own, we should be able to obtain considerable and sustained returns!”
Louis XIV had also heard about the discovery of gold on the west coast of the North American continent, and now that he was reminded of it by Kirk Bell, he was indeed a little moved.
"So... what about India?" Louis XIV asked again, "Are we going to give it up to Zhu Cihong and Aurangzeb?"
"Of course not," Prince Kongdai said, "My Majesty...if we don't invest a little power in India and Central Asia to support our allies there to challenge the Ming Empire and its allies, then the Ming Empire It will also use its main power in the Americas. In this way, we will face an endless war of attrition in the Americas. So we must take action in India and Central Asia to mislead the Chinese and let them disperse their power. So that we can ignore the American battlefield. And we took the opportunity to transfer a certain number of army and navy to the Kingdom of New Spain. From there, we marched along the east coast of the Pacific and captured California, Boston, Washington and the United States as quickly as possible. ’s main port!”
"So..." Louis XIV asked thoughtfully, "how many troops do we need to invest in North America?"
"Of course the more the better!" Prince Condé replied.
Louis XIV also swept Marshal Durenne, the Duke of Luxembourg, the Marquis of Marina and Philip I, Duke of Orleans, among others.
Not only does he want to listen to the suggestions of these four, but he is also looking for a coach for the American battlefield.
Marshal Dureny said: "Your Majesty, according to intelligence, the United States of New Zealand can mobilize and arm an army of up to 100,000 people... I think we and the Kingdom of New Spain need at least 150,000 armies to win. At the same time, we It is also necessary to obtain sea control on the west coast of North America.”
"The key is sea control!" The unattractive Duke of Luxembourg, François-Henri de Montmorency-Boutville, is the "adopted brother" of Prince Condé (he is the adopted son of Prince Condé's mother) and also Of course he was involved in the plan proposed by Prince Condé, a confidant of Prince Condé, so he immediately pointed out the key points of the North American war.
He said: "If we can gain control of the sea, then we only need 100,000 to 120,000 people to ensure victory. If we cannot win at sea, then no matter how large the army is, we will inevitably fail.
Therefore, I suggest that at the beginning of the North American War, sufficient naval power should be invested in the Pacific Theater. "
Louis XIV frowned. The power of the French navy was limited, and the New Spanish navy was not very powerful. And asking the Dutch to send a fleet to the east coast of the Pacific... I'm afraid it would be a bit difficult, because these profiteers are most concerned about the commercial interests of the Indian Ocean and the East Indies.
The Marquis of Marina replied: "Your Majesty, we should also arm the Indians on the Great Plains and let them march to the Rocky Mountains to attract the attention of the Chinese...and then attack China with a surprise attack. Human fleets and ports. In this case, the investment in troops and fleets can be smaller.”
Louis XIV nodded, and only the suggestion put forward by the Marquis of Marignard suited him best.
Louis XIV's younger brother, Philip I, Duke of Orleans, who was famous for his many male lovers, had no interest in going to America. He wanted to visit the rich and historical India or Persia.
So he said to Louis XIV: "Your Majesty, I think you need a Governor-General of India who can attract the attention of the Chinese... As your brother, the Duke of Orleans of the Kingdom of France, I think I am the most suitable to go to India to serve as governor." The governor there!”
