Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1223 Start of War ([-])
Until Dashun's super-high-standard envoy arrived in Versailles, France was still peaceful and peaceful, and my advantage was in my situation.

In the army, the French are very confident.

As they describe it: Hanover is the egg of the king, and the British fleet is like two hands that can rob jewels, wealth, spices, and trade.But it was of no use, because the eggs of Britain were pinched in the hands of the French army.No matter what those two British hands have snatched from overseas France, just squeeze the egg hard, and the British will release it with a strange squeal, and give it back.

Regarding the navy, the French are not very confident. The idea of ​​​​building an administrative navy has enabled France to cobble together a total of 63 battleships, of which 45 are still usable, and the rest are basically in a semi-lying state.This is decades of stock. Unlike Dashun, which has been increasing wildly over the past 20 years, the French are indeed capable in warship design. The problem is that there are not many increments.

However, Rao is not a very confident navy, but he still did a hard job for the British.

The French fleet defeated the British fleet in the Mediterranean, captured Menorca, and occupied Mahon, the British naval base in the Mediterranean.

By the way, it led to the British Admiral John Bean who went to the rescue and was sentenced to be shot after returning home.

The United Kingdom is founded on the navy, and there is no shortage of naval talents. Many people are waiting in line to be promoted to admiral.

The shooting itself is not a big deal, and a British admiral who lost a naval battle to France, the French should expect him to continue to be the commander-in-chief of the fleet.

But the execution of John Bing gave the French great confidence, and they were even about to cheer victory in advance.

Because it proves one thing:

The United Kingdom is in chaos, and its preparations for war are seriously insufficient.

John Bing was obviously the one to take the blame, and he directly took the blame on the admiral, proving that the financiers in the UK who supported the war urgently needed an explanation, otherwise they might not continue to support the war.

As long as the internal doubts were not so loud, the admiral who went to rescue would not be shot directly.

Compared with the tactical capture of the British naval base in Maun, this strategic response made France ecstatic.

It seems that everything is moving towards the war track established by the French, and the initiative of the war is already in the hands of France: Gibraltar can be attacked, the Mediterranean Fleet and Atlantic Fleet can land in Scotland together, or the army can directly take Hannover.

Even before the Dashun envoys arrived in Versailles, France had not yet sold its officials and nobles. The enthusiasm of French capitalists to buy national debt was high, and they subscribed for 1 million livres of national debt in one year.

You know, this is France, the France of an absolute monarchy.The so-called "anyone who is going to lend money to the king must be prepared to lose all his money and the king refuses to pay back." France.

One livre is about 5 grams of silver. It can be simply understood that 7 livres are one customs tael, which is about 2000 million taels of silver in national debt.

then……

It's as if Dashun's envoys have some sort of magical power, or it's as if the comet that appeared this year will really bring disaster.

With the arrival of the Dashun envoys in France, bad news unfavorable to France began to follow.

The first thing that arrived in France with the Dashun Mission was the bad news from India.

After the British captured Bengal, they went south immediately.France believed that the British were entangled in Bengal, and the rear must be empty, so they sent troops to capture the British castle.But the British won too smoothly in Bangladesh. After receiving the support of the Bangladeshi cavalry, they quickly went south and wiped out the last mobile field force of France in India, which had been stationed under the fortified city for a long time.

So far, France's situation in India has completely lost control, and the strategic initiative created by Duplex has been completely lost.What's even more frightening is that France completely lost its field combat capabilities. Five cities were captured by the British one by one, leaving only the last Pondicherry, which is still struggling.

The French navy fought the British navy on several occasions, and in India it was evenly matched.

But the problem was that the fort was broken, and Dashun refused the French navy to go to Ceylon or Malacca for replenishment and repairs, so they had to return to Mauritius.

Basically, it can be said that France has completely failed in India.

in continental Europe.

Bad news keeps coming.

Frederick II used the standard strategy of "you can come as many ways as you want, and I will only fight all the way". In the gap between the anti-Prussian allied forces, he won two consecutive genius-level tactical victories, which directly reversed the almost complete defeat before. The strategic situation stabilized the situation in Prussia.

Also by virtue of his tactical ability, he won the value of the united front for himself.A subsidy of 190 million taels quickly arrived in Berlin from London.

For Prussia, the victory of this battle where you can come a few ways and I can only fight all the way has made Prussia survive. As a result, Frederick II, who was defeated by Austria, regained his confidence from more than half a year of confusion, decadence, and even prepared to commit suicide in despair.

For the Anglo-Prussian alliance, this battle directly reversed the attitude in the UK and contributed to the strategic unity within the UK.

The fall of Maun and the loss of the Mediterranean brought down the British cabinet.

However, the differences in the war strategy within the United Kingdom are still the fundamental question: Are you, George II, the king of England?Or the Elector of Hanover?you are British?Or German?
Paul Hanover not England?
The downfall of the cabinet of the Duke of Newcastle made the "little patriots" represented by William Pitt officially step into the political arena.

Originally, when he was in the audience, Pete's main task was to rant about the government and the king, saying that the king's heart is in Hanover, and he is not a qualified British king...their title of "little patriot" is also like this here.

Pitt saw it very clearly, and he said it himself: the prestige and power in the House of Commons come from national influence, and national influence generally arises from anti-government activities.

So he had been busy fighting against the government to expand his influence across the country, waiting for the old cabinet to fall.

Accompanied by Frederick's two genius tactical victories, William Pitt, relying on his national influence, was promoted to Minister of State, Minister of War, and Secretary of the Navy. He quickly changed his previous attitude of absolutely opposing too much investment in Europe, and An explanation is given: If France captures Hannover, the French will unify the power of Europe and isolate Britain.The Prussians proved their combat effectiveness, and it was in Britain's interest to give the Prussians enough funding to hold France back on the Continent.

So far, the UK has a clear and definite strategic goal.

That is, in continental Europe, use Prussia as a thug to drag France down.This thug has proved himself that it is really easy to use and can indeed hold France back.

Overseas, the British navy took advantage of its naval superiority to harass France and try to land, which caused panic in France and forced France to keep a large fleet at home.

Because every landing harassment will cause an uproar in France. Under pressure, it is impossible for France to make a correct decision. It can only leave a large part of the small navy on the coast to prevent the United Kingdom from attacking again.

In fact, France is not afraid of the British landing, and if it is really going to land, it will be fine, and it will simply send food.But the problem is that public opinion is uproarious, which makes France have to keep a large number of navy in the country to prevent further landing incidents.

In the Atlantic Ocean, Britain will completely strangle France's overseas trade, block the relationship between France and the colonies, and let Britain break through the colonies and seize the French colonies.

Of course, there is a loophole in this policy, that is, some traditional allies of France, such as Spain and Dashun, did not participate in the war.

Britain did not dare to rob the ships of these two countries at this time.Although not perfect, it is still enough to contain France as a whole and give birth to opposition groups within France.

The colonies are mainly a few: North America, the Caribbean, West Africa, and India.

India is basically settled.

West Africa is not much of a problem.

The Caribbean is temporarily evenly matched.

North America is worse.

France's strategic failure in North America stems from the fact that France is too rich inside.

The population is about the same as that of Dashun Shandong at this time, and it seems that it is not as large as Shandong, and the area of ​​cultivated land is five times that of Dashun Shandong at this time.As long as Shandong in Dashun has such a per capita cultivated land, it is impossible to have a large-scale entry into the Guandong.

Rich people don't want to go.

The poor... The poor cannot afford to go to Dashun, and even the poor in France don't want to go.

The self-cultivator has a mental illness, so he ran over there to cultivate the land.

To go there, you have to give up all your interpersonal relationships, and you have to buy a boat ticket by yourself to reclaim land.

With this money, can't you buy land locally?
Those small islands in the Caribbean can grow sugar cane, what can North America grow?
Besides, I have enough money to start a plantation, so why don't I invest in Caribbean sugar, indigo, and North American fur ginseng?Instead of investing in high-return projects, for the long-term interests of the French nation, invest in low-return farming immigrants?

Louis XIV pondered for a long time before, and realized that the promotion of immigration under such circumstances can only be promoted by means of government means by relying on absolute royal power.

It's not like he didn't think of a way, and he even came up with the policy of "daughter of the king": any woman married to a colony, the dowry will be paid by the king, and a subsidy of 50 livres will be given, and she will be recognized as the daughter of the honorary king.

But it was useless, and no one went.

As for the "Edict of Fontainebleau", Protestants are not allowed to go to the colonies... It can only be said that Dashun should understand this situation very well. Dashun will never allow Green believers and Christians to go to the Southern Ocean, let alone The Christians in Macau all migrated to the Southern Ocean to cultivate, unless Dashun was crazy.

Including the wives of the army stationed in Ceylon, if they are Bourgeois, they must step on the sacred elephant. At least this form is completed before they are allowed to follow their husbands to cultivate the Southern Ocean in the future.

Of course, the more essential reason is that the level of agricultural productivity in Europe was generally too low before.

Before the Agricultural Revolution in England, an acre of wheat yielded 11 bushels.Converted down, the yield per mu is 90 jin.

To put it bluntly, it is really the level of productivity before the Han Dynasty.The Chinese plow and ridge methods were not popularized until the end of Ming Dynasty.

So the population keeps going up.

However, with the advent of the era of technology exchanges between the East and the West, agricultural productivity has increased rapidly, people are generally affluent, and there are many resources per capita. There is really a level where every family has a chicken in the pot during the Chinese New Year. It is impossible for immigrants to emigrate.

Including when the Four Olds were smashed later, the eldest son inheritance law of the feudal patriarchal system was abolished. The reason why French farmers were unwilling to have children was also the reason for the slightly higher living standards that caused them not to want to decline in class.

This point is easy to understand. After equivalent conversion, if Shandong in Dashun maintains 7500 million mu of arable land, but only has a population of 400 million, if there is no such thing as an enclosure movement, what kind of Kanto?

As for the bloody battle between Shandong and Jiangsu in the Weishan Lake area for many years in history?

Unless France engages in religious persecution, or persecution of a small number of people, forcing them to move to the colony.

But the same problem as Dashun, let a group of minority groups build a new France, and then can they believe that this new France is of one mind with themselves?

This is different from Liu Yu in Songsu.

Liu Yu in Songsu did not persecute a few people who were labeled with religion or language, and forced them to go overseas to Southeast Asia.

But I care if you believe in Buddhism, Confucianism, white lotus, green, or Taoism. As long as you are a farmer or poor farmer, I will force you to quit your tenancy, run away, and work.

Liu Yu in Songsu is not engaged in labeling, but engaged in class struggle.

It's just that he temporarily sided with the big landlords and big capitalists and launched a struggle against tenant farmers and poor peasants.

This thing is not called fighting from bottom to top, but also from top to bottom.

The difference is that if the salt workers' uprising wins, Liu Yu will be hung on the windmill in northern Jiangsu where the salt is extracted; and the salt workers' uprising is suppressed by Liu Yu, so the salt workers can only go to Kanto to work as agricultural employees.

France will certainly not be able to develop similar means, and cannot learn from Liu Yu's policy of "forced immigration with a universally applicable class system" in Songsu.

As far as French policies are concerned, they are actually appropriate on the whole.After all, the French in North America are much more loyal to France than the British in the south are to Britain.

It's just that there are fewer people.

And this is related to the hole that Liu Yu buried for France before, which boosted the economic value of North America. The income brought by the ginseng and mink trade made France unable to give up easily. Even in comparison, it was found that India was losing money. Far inferior to North America, let alone those sugar cane islands in the Caribbean.

Therefore, after the outbreak of the war, France's military strength in North America was basically okay, and it was not a big problem for land warfare to withstand the British attack.

But Louisburg still fell, because this kind of place, without a navy, is a dead place.

Except for Lewisburg, other places are okay.

France can bear it for the time being, and the forest pistol that Dashun provided to the Indians before also allowed the Indians to hold off the British attack.

However, the fall of Louisburg and the two genius battles of Frederick II made France anxious.

This is the strategic guidance submitted by Liu Yu to the emperor, and then issued by the emperor to the envoys; Louis XV, judging from the situation of the last war, this guy is an opportunist.

It is difficult to change the opportunistic line.

So, obviously, France is in a hurry now, what can it do?
Nothing more than two ways.

Concentrate the army, make a desperate bet, go straight to Hannover, and use their egg-and-egg theory to force Britain to negotiate peace.

Concentrate the navy, make a desperate bet, rush to Scotland desperately, use the James Party as an internal response, and force Britain to negotiate peace.

These two moves are standard opportunistic routes.What did you do before?If the work is not done well in advance, and when things happen, they will engage in opportunism. What are the chances of winning?

Therefore, Dashun's strategic guidance to the mission also depends on the situation.

Opportunism does not necessarily mean failure.

Once France captures Hannover, or the French navy explodes and lands directly in Scotland...it's not impossible...then there's no need to talk about it, don't sign the Sino-French Treaty of Paris, go home immediately, run as fast as you can Quick, you don't even need to go back to the capital, go directly to Ceylon, deliver the news, and start the war directly.

If that's the case, Dashun must declare war on Britain and seize India before France negotiates with Britain, and let France take advantage of the fire to raise the price of Britain.

(End of this chapter)