The sound of firecrackers marks the end of the year, and the spring breeze brings warmth to Tusu. Thousands of households always replace old talismans with new peaches.
The custom of setting off firecrackers during festivals has been around since ancient times and continues to this day. Tusu refers to the wine brewed with Tusu grass or several other herbs that was drunk during the Spring Festival in ancient times. According to custom, every year on the first day of the first lunar month, the whole family drinks Tusu wine, then wraps the dregs in red cloth and hangs it on the door frame to ward off evil spirits and avoid plague.
Gao Pragmatic never drank Tusu wine in his previous life, but he drank it every year in this life. Of course, in the past, when I was young, I just had a small sip and tasted it every time during the New Year. This year, although I am still young, my status is somewhat different, and Zhang allowed me to have one cup.
However, Gao Pragmatic himself has no interest in drinking. Even when he was a secretary in his previous life, he often had to help his boss stop drinking and developed a good drinking capacity. However, having a certain amount does not mean that he likes to drink.
After all, he is a cautious person, and he has never liked drinking, an activity that can easily cause confusion and lead to mistakes.
What surprised him was that the Gao family may have a "mass" of family inheritance. The people of the Gao family, from the fifth uncle Gaocai to his younger brothers Gao Wuguan and Gao Wuqin, are all quite good at drinking. Gao Wuqin, two little brats, after finishing their own small glass, they actually looked at Gao Pingshi's wine glass longingly, which made Gao Shidu roll his eyes inwardly.
But he rolled his eyes too early, because his youngest brother, Gao Wujian, who was still only two years old and could barely walk on the ground, also ordered a few drops of Tusu wine for him with chopsticks under the teasing of the fifth uncle Gaocai. drink. After Xiao Wujian drank a few drops, he actually pestered Gao Cai to drink more, making the whole room laugh.
The fifth year of Longqing has officially arrived.
In the original history, there was only one truly major event in the Ming Dynasty in the fifth year of Longqing's reign: the official completion of the Anda tribute. In addition, only Li Chunfang, Yin Shidan and others who became official, Gao Gong became the chief minister and completely controlled the cabinet can barely compare with them.
But as a time traveler, Gao Pragmatic's vision is never limited to this corner of the Ming Dynasty.
He knew that in the fifth year of Longqing's reign, something with real world-wide impact actually happened in the Mediterranean, that is, the Battle of Lepanto.
The Battle of Lepanto itself does not require much introduction (Wufeng Note: mainly... interested friends can search it on their own), but the impact of this battle is very far-reaching, and is even related to Gao Pragmatic's future "Going to the Blue Ocean" plan. I really have to say it.
In the introduction of the Battle of Lepanto in later generations, the most talked about is that the Ottoman Empire lost more than 200 warships and more than 20,000 naval soldiers in this battle, resulting in a great loss of its maritime power. It is even said that the Ottoman Empire temporarily lost its maritime hegemony and the myth of invincibility was shattered. After the combined navy led by Spain and Venice won the Battle of Lepanto, they became more active in fighting against the Ottoman Empire, and the situation in the entire Mediterranean was reversed.
But Gao Pragmatic knew that things were not that simple, because in fact, after just one winter, the Ottoman Empire rebuilt its maritime power and the number of warships continued to increase. The Ottoman Empire, from the Sultan to the common people, believed that they only "lost their beards" in the Battle of Lepanto and did not suffer any fatal blow. The foundation of the empire was not shaken at all.
The Ottoman Empire certainly did not win this battle, but it was certainly not lost.
By this time King Philip II of Spain had defaulted on a large amount of his debts, and his attention was divided between the west and the north - the conquest of Catholic Portugal and the proposed invasion of Protestant England. His peace treaty with Turkey established a fixed frontier on the Mediterranean between France and Christendom.
After taking Cyprus, the Ottoman Turks had almost complete control of the eastern Mediterranean, although Crete was still under Venetian control. However, the failure of the Battle of Malta and the disaster of Lepanto dashed Ottoman hopes of advancing on Rome. After Tunisia was recovered by Turkey, Spain clearly realized that North Africa had firmly become part of the Ottoman Empire, and Charles V's dream of conquering Constantinople was long gone.
The two naval powers representing the two major religions have reached a stalemate.
The Ottomans just did not win, but it was not a loss, but if the Christian world failed to win the Battle of Lepanto, it would inevitably lose the entire Mediterranean.
A year after the battle, the old Don Garcia de Toledo was still pale from the great risks of the Battle of Lepanto; Don Juan was really desperate in that battle; Don Garcia knew , if the battle failed, it would bring disaster to the Christian Mediterranean coast. Although the outcome of the battle was brilliant, the victory was really a fluke.
If the battle fails and there is no fleet available for defensive operations, all the main islands in the Mediterranean - Malta, Crete, and the Balearic Islands will quickly fall into the hands of the enemy. These islands are Venice's last line of defense; then the Turks We can use these islands as a springboard to attack the hinterland of Italy and reach Rome, which is Suleiman's ultimate goal.
If Shuruqi Mahomet had succeeded in destroying the Venetian wing; if the heavily armed Galaisian warships had failed to disrupt Ali Pasha's center; if Uluchi Ali had been able to penetrate Doria an hour earlier The front line...the entire territory of southern Europe will be very different from today.
The containment of the Ottomans at the Battle of Malta and the victory at Lepanto halted the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in the center of the Mediterranean.
The Spanish colonial empire, which no longer had any hope of taking Constantinople, turned its attention to the east.
In the near future, the two pioneering colonial empires of Spain and Portugal will share the same monarch and jointly launch a new round of expansion to the east. This is the challenge that Gao Pragmatism must face in the future "towards the blue ocean".
Of course, this is only the impact of the Battle of Lepanto in a political sense. In a purely military sense, it also has an equally crucial impact: The Battle of Lepanto was the last large-scale battle of oars in the history of world wars. use.
After the Battle of Lepanto, people no longer debated the merits of sailing battleships and platoon battleships, and began to use sailing battleships as the main force of the fleet. It was already believed that wind-powered ships had better combat capabilities. In addition, people were convinced of the importance of firearms in naval warfare. This enabled the European fleet to develop tactics with artillery as the main force, which affected the development of naval warfare.
The only good news is that since Spain won the Battle of Lepanto after all, it still did not pay enough attention to ship-based artillery - especially long-range heavy artillery. This largely led to the tragedy of the subsequent defeat of the Invincible Fleet to England.
However, this is good news for Ming Dynasty. At least Gao Pragmatic believes that at least he will not have to face the most powerful Spain.
Her Majesty, the Virgin Queen of England, don’t let me down... make Spain and Portugal even worse!
