Netherlands, The Hague, Consulate Palace.
Because Dutch merchant ships were located in various ports in Europe, and the officials of this emerging bourgeois country based on industry and commerce were more efficient than officials in other feudal or semi-feudal countries in Europe. Therefore, William III, the Dutch consul, was the first leader of a major European power except the Rakshasa Tsar and the Ottoman Sultan to receive the "Prince Yu Report".
After William III read this eye-opening report, he immediately referred the two major financial backers behind him, the business leader from Amsterdam, and the two speakers of the Dutch Provincial Assembly, Gaspar. Figg and Anthony Hines invited him to his palace. The three people got into the consul's office, studied the "Prince Yu Report" together, and discussed countermeasures.
It was quiet in the consul's office. The two Dutch Provincial Speakers held a copy of the "Prince Yu's Report" in their hands and read it word for word. In fact, these two businessmen and politicians, who represent the interests of Amsterdam's big businessmen, have already read more than one report on the situation in China and East Asia submitted by the Dutch East India Company, and they are relatively familiar with the changes that have taken place in China over the years.
As republicans who are wary of the monarchy (although they support William, they are opposed to William becoming the king of the Netherlands), they are of course very much in favor of the republic of false kings implemented by the Ming Dynasty, and they often advocate for the republic of the Ming Dynasty on various occasions - After all, republics are a rare thing in Europe at this time. Even within the United Provincial Republic of the Netherlands (with the province of Holland as the leader, it is also called the Dutch Republic), many people think that there should still be a king. The emergence of a republican Ming Dynasty seems to have led the banner of progress in the Eastern world. Of course, the Dutch republicans will use it to brag.
And since 1672, the Netherlands, the republican flag in Europe, has been invaded by my country's great devil, King Louis XIV, and was once beaten to the knees by Louis XIV's French army. Under such circumstances, advocating for a republican Ming Dynasty that defeated the Qing Dynasty can naturally also inspire the confidence of the Netherlands - if the Ming Dynasty can do it, so can we in the Netherlands!
Therefore, in the past few years, the newspapers controlled by the Dutch republicans have been saying good things about the Republic of Ming Dynasty. It was not until the Republic of China and Ming Dynasty started to encroach on the Strait of Malacca and New Spain that the Dutch businessmen discovered that the Republic of China and Ming Dynasty turned out to be a Roman-style republic!
Then the businessmen of the Netherlands Province finally noticed that the Republic of Ming Dynasty was a "superpower" with a population of at least 60 million. Her population was twenty times that of the United Provinces of the Netherlands! Ten times that of mainland Spain! It is three times the size of the great European devil, the Kingdom of France, which beat the United Provinces of the Netherlands to a bloody pulp! Such a country has established a Roman-style republic, so it would be strange not to expand aggressively and grab territory!
The Strait of Malacca and the East Indies area controlled by the Dutch East India Company also belonged to the sphere of influence of the former Ming Dynasty. It is only natural that the current republican Ming Dynasty wants to recover there.
However, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, which was founded on commerce, or more accurately on "monopoly free trade", cannot give up the East Indies and the Strait of Malacca! Because it not only guards the East-West trade route, but also has the Maluku Islands rich in spices!
Once the Ming Dynasty seizes control of the Strait of Malacca and drives the Dutch East India Company out of Java and the Maluku Islands, the richest province of the Netherlands (providing 57% of the treasury income of the United Provinces) will fall into poor
But can the United Provinces of the Netherlands be able to protect the Strait of Malacca, Java and the Maluku Islands on the other side of the world?
"According to the exact information we received from Constantinople, the consul said that the coalition forces of the Qing Dynasty, Zhou Dynasty and Junggar annihilated about 50,000 Persian, Bukhara and Khiva coalition forces in Khujand, Central Asia. It was annihilation, not annihilation. beat!"
"Consul, according to this "Prince Yu's Report" and the attached Rakshasa envoy Yazikov's assessment of the so-called Great Mongol Western Expedition, the Qing Dynasty and the Great Zhou Dynasty were suppressed by the Ming Dynasty on the East Asian battlefield. The expeditionary force has at least 50,000 musketeers! In the siege of Ypres that just ended not long ago, the French only dispatched 60,000 troops. If the expeditionary forces of the Zhou and Qing Dynasties are used as a reference, the military strength of the Ming Dynasty may be Be stronger than France!”
One France has already beaten the Netherlands to death, now another one is added.
William III looked at the two merchants from Amsterdam with a livid face and asked: "Gaspar and Anthony, please answer me truthfully. Are the merchants in Amsterdam ready to give up the monopoly trade in the Strait of Malacca and the East Indies? Lost it?" With the monopoly trade with the East, can the economy of the Dutch provinces still contribute so much revenue to the United Provinces? Without so much revenue, can the republic still exist?"
Although the Federal Republic of the Netherlands is a republic, the force it relies on to establish the country is not a citizen army, but a mercenary army!
After all, the current Federal Republic of the Netherlands only has a population of 3 million, and a considerable number of its strong men have to work on ships. The number of people who can serve in the army is quite limited. If they had to rely on citizen soldiers to fight the war, the Dutch might not even be able to mobilize an army of 50,000 men. Facing the very lethal French army, if the Dutch could only devote tens of thousands of men to consume, they would have already perished long ago. .
The representatives of the two big businessmen could only shake their heads when faced with William III's question.
William III considered it and said: "Since we cannot give up our privileges in the Strait of Malacca and the East Indies, we can only establish a broad alliance aimed at curbing the Ming Dynasty's expansion impulse. We must cooperate with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire , Britain, Portugal, the Qing Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty, and even Japan formed an alliance!"
"Consul," Gaspar Figg, one of the two Speakers of the Netherlands Province, said with concern, "If we ally with Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and the United Kingdom, will France ally with the Ming Dynasty?"
"Obviously it will!" William III nodded and sighed, "Louis XIV cannot calmly accept that all his neighboring countries have joined an alliance without him. Moreover, his expansion ambition also determines that he cannot join. This alliance!”
"Consul," asked Anthony Hines, another Dutch provincial speaker, "why can't we unite with France to oppose the Ming Dynasty? As far as I know, Louis XIV is hostile to the Ming Dynasty!"
William III shook his head: "Because Louis XIV was not a naive emperor. He understood the rules of the European power game! In Europe, for a long time, the policy pursued by countries on the edge of the stage was to prevent the country in the center of the stage from rising to become a hegemon. Before the Thirty Years' War, the enemy at center stage was the Habsburgs. Now, the public enemy of Europe is France! If Louis XIV wanted to join this alliance aimed at containing the Ming Dynasty, he must first agree to be What good would it do him to curb this?”
Anthony Hines asked worriedly: "But can we defeat Ming and France at the same time?"
William III smiled coldly: "Why at the same time?"
"Consul, do you want to defeat them one by one?" Gaspar Figg asked.
The Dutch consul smiled and said: "At least the ocean is still in our hands! Moreover, Ming Dynasty and France are far apart. It is impossible for them to quickly exchange opinions, unify their positions, and formulate a joint battle plan.
In addition, Louis XIV is facing the unfavorable situation that England is about to join the anti-French alliance, so he is eager to make peace with us! And Ming does not necessarily want to go to war with us immediately. Maybe we can contain Ming while continuing to do business with Ming, and at the same time push Japan onto the battlefield to fight Ming! "
"Let Japan fight against the Ming Dynasty?"
"But there are no conflicts between Japan and Ming Dynasty that are difficult to resolve!"
The Dutch consul tilted his head: "No? Now, the door to the New World has been opened to the Eastern world. It should be more than just the Ming Dynasty that wants to go there, right?"
"Is it open?"
"Consul, as far as I know, only the Ming Dynasty has the secret of the route, and other East Asian countries do not know about it."
The Dutch consul sneered: "They will know. Because I will tell them!"
Although the Spanish have always carefully guarded the secrets of the Pacific currents and wind belts, the Dutch have the tool to seize all secrets-the almighty and evil money!
Historically, they had successfully stolen the sea charts leading to the East from the Portuguese. How could the Spaniards' secrets in the Pacific be hidden from the Netherlands? It's just that trans-Pacific trade is not something the Dutch can do well. They have no colonies on the east coast of the Pacific, and they can't find anyone to trade with.
In addition, the Netherlands has a total of 3 million people and has no need for large-scale colonization.
But Japan has a large population. They will definitely be greedy for that vast continent!
France, Seine River, Fontainebleau Palace.
About a week after the Dutch consul received the "Prince Yu's Report", Grand Duke Golitsin, the special envoy of the Tsar of the Rakshasa Kingdom, personally sent a more detailed "Prince Yu's Report" to the man who was living in this luxurious palace. In the hands of the King of France, who wore a wig, high heels, sprinkled a whole bottle of perfume on his body and didn't like bathing.
Louis XIV was in a bad mood during this period. He fought a French-Dutch war into a European war. The war, which was originally planned to be celebrated with champagne in 1672, ended in 1678 without victory. Moreover, the enemies of France are becoming more and more numerous. Even the Dutch's rivals at sea, the English, became enemies of France because William III slept with their Princess Mary - there is no more ridiculous thing in the world!
In a war that determined European hegemony and even the beginning of the European Unification War, the decisive battle actually took place in bed instead of on the battlefield!
What's even worse is that Princess Mary is still the second in line to the British throne. In front of her are two unpopular old men. When they die, William III will become England's "consort"!
At that time, the Netherlands, Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, and Spain will unite against France.
Moreover, Louis XIV now has nothing to do with this prospect, because the long-term war has bottomed out the French treasury, and he is no longer able to sustain the ever-expanding war. If he could not stop before Britain officially joined the war, he would lose all the territorial gains made in this war.
Just when Louis XIV made up his mind to take advantage of the victory in the siege of Ypres and before England joined, he would make peace with the Netherlands, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire, and end the war as a victor. A Rakshasa foreign minister brought him a report that is likely to change Europe, no, change the world!
"Your Majesty the King, the current world situation has been completely changed by the expansion of the Ming Dynasty to the New World and Malacca, and the Western Expeditions of the Qing Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty! If you, as a well-deserved guardian of Christian civilization, cannot step forward and lead a campaign In the struggle against the Mongolian Western Expedition. Then, Western civilization may face an unprecedented disaster!"
The person who was making an impassioned speech in front of Louis XIV, saying that he wanted to defend Western civilization, was the Rakshasa Foreign Minister, "Bear Bear" Golitsin.
What a "furry bear" said about defending the West. Louis XIV almost gave this guy a laugh.
But what Golitsin said next made it impossible for them to laugh.
"Your Majesty the King, if you cannot stand up and lead us against the expansion of Mongolia, then William III will lead an alliance aimed at opposing the expansion of the Ming Dynasty to the New World and the Strait of Malacca, and will be supported by the Qing Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty! In addition, I also To remind you that the Mughals who currently rule India are actually Mongols, they are descendants of the Timurid Empire and they will most likely side with the so-called Great Mongols, as well as the Dutch, English, Spanish People, allies of the Portuguese!
And if you can stand up against the expansion of Mongolia, you can become an ally with the Ming Dynasty, the richest country in the East, and you may even get subsidies from the Ming Dynasty to strengthen the French army and navy."
Louis XIV frowned: "Grand Duke Golitsin, do you mean that I, the King of France and the only Sun King of Europe, collect money from an Eastern republic and then help them attack the mainland of the Netherlands and Spain?"
Golitsin shrugged and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, if you don't accept money from the Chinese, you will attack the Netherlands and Spain. Even if the ongoing armistice negotiations are successful, it will only win for you and the Netherlands, England, and Spain." Time to prepare for war. Since war is bound to break out, what’s wrong with getting military support from the Ming Dynasty in the process of preparing for war?”
This "furry bear" seems to make sense!
Louis XIV is short of money now. If he had enough money, there would be no need to negotiate peace this time. What if the British joined? Can't we just defeat it together?
"In addition," Golitsin added, "our country's Princess Sofia also has a plan to support Prince Yu to return to the country to seize power and become the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. If you are willing to participate in this plan, you and France will receive generous rewards when it is completed. !”
"Well" Louis XIV frowned, "How much will it cost?"
"It doesn't take much," Golitsin said with a smile. "In fact, Prince Yu himself has enough property. Although he lost power, before his failure, he had deposited more than 700,000 pounds in a bank run by the North Korean regent, Duke Yang Qilong. .As long as Prince Yu’s envoy arrives in North Korea with his handwritten letter, he can obtain this huge sum of money! With this huge sum of money, he can recruit a mercenary army in Rakshasa. Her Royal Highness hopes that France can send officers to help Train and command this army!"
This plan sounds good!
The Sun King of France is a little excited.
If Prince Yu of the Qing Dynasty can seize the throne of the Qing Dynasty with the help of French officers, then he will definitely be a pro-French and pro-French Qing Dynasty in the future, and he should also be able to contain the Republic of Ming Dynasty. Even if it fails, France can use this army to support pro-French forces in the Rakshasa Kingdom!
In addition, supporting Prince Yu to seize the throne of the Qing Dynasty also required the participation of the Ming Dynasty. France took this opportunity to establish friendly relations with Ming Dynasty and discuss alliance matters.
Although the Ming Dynasty was a republic, France was still willing to form an alliance with them as long as there were large enough interests.
However, the King of France did not immediately nod in agreement, but said to Golitsin: "Grand Duke, I hope to meet Princess Sofia and Prince Yu in France before making a decision."
"Okay, Your Royal Highness the Princess and Your Highness the Prince have been looking forward to meeting with Your Majesty for a long time!"
(End of chapter)
