After Cromwell's major victories in the expedition to Ireland and Scotland, Ireland and Scotland were actually integrated into the United Kingdom, and Britain's economic and political strength was greatly strengthened.
Subsequently, Cromwell set his sights abroad. First of all, it is to strengthen the British navy.
He improved the pay and meals of sailors; he established a so-called "bonus" system to reward soldiers who captured or sunk enemy ships; he also specially selected soldiers from the army to serve as professional navy soldiers, and appointed experienced professional officers to command the navy.
Thanks to Cromwell's efforts, the number of British naval battleships soared from 39 in 1649 to 80 in 1651, most of which were giant two-deck battleships with 60 to 80 guns.
With this foundation, the British navy began to snatch foreign interests.
Originally, the target of the British navy was Spain, who allowed Spain to dump exquisite goods from the Far East and obtain huge profits from Britain and other countries. However, the inertia of history still exists, and the conflict was the first to break out with the Netherlands.
If the original history is to be followed, the spices and other spices brought back by the Dutch from Batavia made the British salivate. However, in this dimension, the Dutch returned from Batavia in despair.
However, the Dutch snatched the Brazilian colony from Portugal, and the tobacco business was booming, which was also coveted by the British.
On this day, British Admiral Robert Blake led more than 20 ships to patrol the Strait of Dover, and unexpectedly encountered 42 warships led by Dutch Admiral Marton Tropp who were escorting merchant ships.
After Blake asked the Dutch navy to lower its flag to salute the British flag and was refused, he decisively fired the cannon, thus kicking off the British navy's foreign war. From this we can see the arrogance of the British Navy.
However, in this dimension, the Dutch in Batavia have returned, and their strength is much stronger than in the original history. The British navy and the Dutch navy were competing for maritime supremacy. For a while, it was difficult to distinguish between them.
Other countries are happy to watch this.
Of course, France does not have this leisure, because the civil strife in France is also vigorous. The same was true for the civil strife in the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania.
On the other hand, King Felipe IV of Spain, who had been dormant, couldn't help it when he heard the chaos.
However, the output of new guns is low, and the rifling wear after training will also consume part of the guns. And with the idea of making a splash, he finally suppressed the impulse and continued to hold it in.
On the Portuguese side, João IV was worried about Daming's reaction and felt uneasy. He was kidnapped by Spain again, and his national strength was weak. Even if several colonies were robbed by the Dutch, he would not be able to free up his hands to fight back against the Dutch before dealing with Spain, so he could only act in a hurry.
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Compared to Europe, the Mughal Empire in India was most affected by Zhang Mingwei's crossing. For no other reason than Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong came!
After the Timurid Empire fell apart, one of its princes, Babur, led an army to invade India, occupied Delhi, and established the Mughal Empire.
After several generations of hard work, the territory of the Mughal Empire became larger and larger. Before Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong came, the emperor of the Mughal Empire, Shah Jahan, was competing with the Persian Empire for Afghanistan.
Do you want to say that the Mughal Empire was powerful? It can be considered powerful, because according to the original historical development, the reign of Shah Jahan was the most prosperous era of the Mughal Empire.
Shah Jahan continued to send troops to the Deccan Plateau, annexed Ahmed Nagar, forced Gokunda to surrender and pay tribute, forced Bijapur to recognize Mughal suzerainty, and expanded the territory of the empire to the vicinity of the Cauvery River.
However, this kind of power is actually relative, which is related to the foundation of the Mughal Empire.
Because the Indian subcontinent has always been divided and has many ethnic groups, this diverse ethnic environment has resulted in cultural diversity within India. The diverse ethnic groups and diverse cultures make the independent states in India quite strong. These states often do not obey the central dispatch and management, but live in their own way.
Therefore, from the beginning of its founding, the Mughal Empire relied on a strong army, and its governance also relied on a strong army. In other words, the administrative system of the Mughal Empire was actually militarized.
History has proven countless times that military control of the country cannot last long.
This is reflected in the Mughal Empire, where there are constant royal conflicts in which sons kill fathers.
Moreover, the Mughal Empire continued to launch wars, which also placed a heavy burden on its people. The economy of the entire empire is actually very fragile. In addition, Shah Jahan was also a very famous extravagant emperor who liked to build large-scale construction projects and consumed a lot of money from the Mughal Empire.
Under such circumstances, it is conceivable that as long as there is a slight change, the Mughal Empire will probably fall apart: without money, there is nothing, and the powerful army will become empty!
In the original history, once Aurangzeb died, as expected, the Mughal Empire was like a building built on sand, falling apart at once and being defeated and colonized by a few British.
In this plane, Shah Jahan personally led the army. When the northwest was fighting for Kandahar with the Persian Empire, two old thieves, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, led the army into the Mughal Empire.
The way the bandits caused chaos brought great harm to Ming Dynasty. Just like locusts, wherever they arrive, they cause harm to that place.
This harm was also experienced by the Mughal Empire.
Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong still used their old methods, tying up all the people they could meet, grabbing all the materials they could, and driving the people to attack the city, so that only the obedient ones would eat. Wear out the old and weak, leaving the young and strong behind, and you will become old thieves.
Originally, both Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had planned that if they encountered the elite troops of the Mughal Empire, they would continue to do the same thing, not to engage in confrontation, but to flee and fight.
Unexpectedly, after the two of them broke into the Mughal Empire, they became invincible. As a result, they were not polite and took advantage of the arrival of the elite troops of the Mughal Empire to fight as mobile as possible.
When Shah Jahan heard the news and hurried back with his army from the northwest, the entire eastern part of the Mughal Empire had fallen.
At this time, the combined strength of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong was already known as an army of one million.
The Mughal Empire's army was still fighting Persia before, and then was hurriedly transferred to the east. It was already a tired army. As a result, they also encountered the rogue tactics of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong: they drove tens of thousands of Indian civilians to drain the morale and physical strength of the Mughal army first, while the main force gathered their strength for a sneak attack.
Let me say here that the army of the Mughal Empire was generally composed of four arms, namely light infantry, war elephants, artillery and cavalry. Under the tactics of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, light infantry, war elephants, and artillery were completely useless. Only cavalry posed a threat to the bandits.
The cavalry of the Mughal Empire was divided into city cavalry, feudal cavalry and guard knights. The former two were troops provided by the local area, while the latter were elite warriors supported by the treasury.
In other words, only the Imperial Cavalry was the elite of the Mughal Empire's army. Without this army, the royal family of the Mughal Empire would not be a royal family. Therefore, this cavalry army will not be used easily and cannot bear too much loss.
Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are both old thieves and have never seen any opponents. Therefore, after the final battle, hundreds of thousands of bandits were killed and injured, but they were all cannon fodder, and the main force was not lost. They defeated the army led by Shah Jahan in one fell swoop, and Shah Jahan himself fled back to Delhi in embarrassment.
Originally, if the bandits took advantage of the victory and pursued them, the Mughal Empire might really be destroyed.
However, after defeating the main force of the Mughal Empire, a huge stone weighed on Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong fell to the ground, and the two people had their own thoughts.
Finally, Zhang Xianzhong led his troops to fight south, while Li Zicheng led his troops to continue fighting to the west, and the two groups parted ways.
By the time of the 24th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng, under the advice of Song Xiance, began to adopt a gentle policy towards the Indian people, which was the policy they had originally implemented in the Central Plains, buying people's hearts, establishing their own territory, and no longer flowing. Combat.
As for the final battle with the Mughal Empire, why should Li Zicheng fight it alone?
At least at this stage, according to Song Xiance's suggestion, we must first recharge our batteries. Unless we can be absolutely certain to easily kill Shah Jahan, either Zhang Xianzhong will come to fight together, or we must start farming first.
After all, it is a big empire, and if it is huddled in the capital, it cannot be defeated easily, right?
On Zhang Xianzhong's side, he went to the Narmada River Basin and also wanted to manage his own territory. For this reason, he also changed his former thief character and used his original tricks in Huguang. He went out to calm the people, divided officials wantonly, and tied the people and forces he thought he could use to his chariot.
If there were no influence from external forces, the Indian subcontinent would likely evolve into the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, that is, the three forces of Shah Jahan, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.
However, in today's era, it is obviously impossible to be without external forces.
Shah Jahan sent an envoy to Persia to sue for peace to his opponent who had just lost his temper.
Abbas II of the Persian Empire and Prime Minister Burj Khalifa were somewhat surprised by the arrival of the Mughal Empire envoy.
No, seeing the Mughal envoy who was very humble as soon as he entered the hall, both of them were very surprised and interesting.
Abbas II was the seventh Shah of the Persian Safavid Empire and a young and promising monarch who achieved the resurgence of the empire. To him, Shah Jahan was an old rival, and in his mind, he would be his lifelong rival.
