Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1295 Death and Vengeance ([-])
Dutch problems are not just Dutch problems.

If Dashun wants to make Europe a dumping market, the Netherlands is the best "concession".

Because the Netherlands is the mouth of the Rhine, the most important waterway in Western Europe.And through the canals extending in all directions, the Rhine and Danube are connected.

Through the water transport network of the Rhine and the Danube, goods can be delivered throughout Central Europe.

And it connects to the Baltic Sea on the top, France, the richest country in Western Europe, and Britain across the sea to the west.

This kind of concession and comprador advantages of "main water canals entering the sea" are incomparable.In history, after the five-port trade opening, the trade in Guangdong soon began to decline, and it was transferred to Songjiang Prefecture. This is a natural geographical advantage. Relying on the advantage of the huge water transport depth, the Pearl River is too short after all.

Moreover, it should be said that in Western Europe at this time, the Netherlands is the place with the strongest commercial capital.

The royal family is already incompetent, the inter-provincial parliament is basically half-dead, and the taxpayers and city regents, as well as the financiers of Amsterdam, are the real rulers of the Netherlands.

This huge advantage is not even available in the UK, because the land aristocracy in the UK is still the real ruling class at this time, and its strength is so strong that industrial and commercial capital can only attach itself to the cutting-edge faction of the land aristocracy to form a pan-Whig alliance.

Just like in history, starting from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, every war and every warlord melee will cause more capital to escape to Songjiang Mansion, which has concessions and foreign marines.

And future wars in Europe are inevitable. As long as Dashun can guarantee the neutral status of the Netherlands and deter other countries from attacking the Netherlands, after this war, capital including London will also quickly go to the Netherlands.

However, after this war is over, it is foreseeable that France will regain its hegemony in Europe, Prussia will be dismantled, and Austria will lead Germany. The contradiction between France and Austria will once again become the main contradiction in the European continent.

At that time, the troublesome "natural frontier" of France, the Catholic Belgium region, and the status of the Austrian Netherlands... are almost the powder kegs of Western and Central Europe and the fuse of the war.

This means that Dashun must use more strength to ensure the neutral status of the Netherlands, and to ensure that the major European countries recognize the neutral status of the Netherlands.

Even, it may be necessary to use strong military force to force the demilitarization and semi-independent status of the Belgian region-this is also the confidence and security needs of capital. London or North America protected by the ocean.

In addition, it is necessary to ensure the "internationalization of the waterway" of the Rhine River and a Rhine customs union to some extent at the spoils conference after the war.

This, from the perspective of class interests, is not a big problem for the time being.

The Junker landlords, or the aristocratic landlord forces of Shinra, do not oppose the low tariff policy for industrial products.

From the point of view of their economic activities, what they oppose is the duty-free import of raw materials, especially the raw materials that can be produced by their manors, and of course Dashun does not export raw materials.

This problem naturally needs the help of France.To come up with something that allows France to help, it has to firmly suppress the UK on the Hannover issue and ensure that the UK gives up the Hanover electoral position. These things have to be obtained by continuing to exert pressure on the UK and war.

Moreover, with regard to post-war European issues, Dashun must also come up with a convincing, at least dominant, spoils-sharing plan, especially the acceptable issues of how to carve up Prussia and how to temporarily suppress conflicts between Austria and France.For example, is Austria willing to take back Silesia in exchange for the permanent neutralization and demilitarization of Belgium?If they do not accept it, will Dashun be willing to deter Austria and force it to accept it at the cost of being involved in a war again?

It seems that Dashun and Austria can't compete with each other, but in fact this is not completely useless.

The breaking point is in Poland.

Poland's wonderful monarchy system, as well as the European geopolitical situation following Dashun's participation in the war, made the destruction of Prussia inevitable.Silesia was to be returned to Austria.

The current king of Poland is not too young anymore. As long as this guy is gone and the king system is adopted, isn’t Russia’s attack on Prussia this time just to advance westward?Russia will be damned if it doesn't hurry up and think again about the Polish succession.

If this opportunity can be seized, Dashun may not participate in the war at all, and propose a plan of "carve up Poland for Belgium", that is, use the demilitarization of the Austrian Netherlands, that is, Belgium—the demilitarization of Belgium actually means With semi-independence, it will also be closer to France-in exchange for mediating the Polish issue, with a little deterrence, Austria can accept the partition of Poland and retake Silesia to maintain a fragile peace between Austria and France.

Because, once Prussia died, the Austrian diplomats should understand that the foundation of the French-Russian alliance has been laid, and another major diplomatic reversal around Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans is coming: the original sacrilegious alliance is about to collapse, and the French The alliance was broken between Turkey and France and Russia; the alliance between Austria and Russia was broken and Austria and Turkey formed an alliance.

Against this background, as long as Dashun shows enough willingness, it is absolutely possible to achieve the Dutch plan.

Once this post-war pattern is completed, the Netherlands will become the financial center of Europe, the transit point for trade between the East and the West, and the gateway for Eastern cotton cloth to enter the territory of Shenluo.

And, Dashun's industry that is about to start rapid development will receive low-interest loans from Europe.Europe, the place with the most gold and silver at this time, will use a large amount of precious metals as a booster for Dashun's infrastructure and industrial take-off.

A Netherlands that is neutral, has no domestic industry, free flow of precious metals, relies on Eastern trade products to absorb European gold and silver, gathers financial capital, and has much lower interest rates than Dashun is the best Netherlands.

And this will also greatly divide the capital groups in Europe. The industrial capital with the country as the unit and the financial capital with the world as the goal will not be able to integrate.

With the new gold and silver mines in North America temporarily not moving, and against the backdrop of a higher rate of return on capital at the start of industrialization in Dashun, Europe will soon fall into a weird shortage of investment capital.

At least, some people in Dashun's decision-making circle want to achieve this grand goal, and hope that the war will last for another two or three years, the longer the better, and take advantage of the chaos to let Dashun's products seize West Africa and North America, which are not strictly regulated because of the war. and protected area markets in various countries in Europe.

But it is also obvious that not everyone in Dashun supports this goal, because it may destroy the fragile balance of power in Dashun, and the emperor himself is old and worried about whether the prince can maintain the system in the future, and there are new schools and The rapid rise and power of the industrial and commercial class.

…………

At the same time, the news of the Battle of Gibraltar had been transmitted back to London by several British officers on board who had been handed over first.

William Pitt locked himself in the room, unable to bear the great pain caused by his mania and gout, and was smashing the expensive Chinese porcelain in the room to relieve his inner anxiety.

His anxiety did not stem from the loss of Gibraltar.

For the sake of the war, losing Gibraltar is no longer a big deal.After the Dashun fleet appeared off the coast of Gibraltar and killed Boskorn, the fall of Gibraltar was only a matter of time.

This obviously foreseeable tactical defeat will not make Pete's heart collapse to the point of anxiety.

Pete's anxiety stems from his love for the motherland.

Others called him "Little Patriot", "Patriotic Doll", and "Patriot Party". He never felt that this was a very shameful thing.

Although in fact these nobles who called him this name were actually mocking him.But he is still happy.

To be precise, his anxiety at this time stems from his love for the motherland, as well as his own arrogance and self-confidence.

To put it simply, in Pete's view: the king is an idiot, the Duke of Newcastle is an idiot, the group of nobles in the House of Lords are basically idiots, and most of the animals in the House of Commons are idiots.

Counting on a group of idiots to lead the UK, the advantages that the UK has accumulated over the years will be completely over.

At least, in his opinion, most of the people in the council are idiots.

No one but him can take up the great task of running Britain.

In the words of Frederick II: After so many years, Britain finally produced a man, that is William Pitt.

When William Pitt entered the government for the first time as an opposition party and served as Minister of the Interior, Pitt said to the then cabinet minister, Duke Cavendish: [My Lord, I believe that I can save This country, no one else can save this country except me].

This kind of pride or self-confidence made him always think that his appearance was to save the country.

Except for him, he felt that the rest of the cabinet members were basically not very smart, and they were a group of people who lacked understanding of the world.

It is a coincidence or it is actually one thing in essence. People with the title of "Patriot Party" will always lead those neglected voices in this country.

William Pitt sees himself as "the voice of the British people who put him in that position and who came to save Britain and make Britain great again".

He represented the "politically neglected marginalized" who couldn't speak loud enough at this time.

Of course, times are changing.

At this time, the "politically neglected and voiceless marginalized groups" in the UK are businessmen and shareholders of private companies.Because the people who can make a sound at this time are British aristocrats, and the range of "people" is still quite small. Three to 40 people are counted as people, and the rest are not. marginal people".

At the beginning of the war, Pitt, with the attitude of a "true patriot", clearly opposed Britain's involvement in the European war, and asked whether the king was a British or a German.

With the shooting of John Bean, he launched the biggest public opinion war, making John Bean a tragic hero, and constantly saying that this is tyranny, and British cities should be given greater freedom and autonomy.

For this reason, he became the Reedom Honoris Causa No.1 of the London Financial Street, and the entire London Financial Street cheered for the "freedom" promised by Pitt.

City businessmen, private company shareholders, Chester, Worcester, Norwich, Bedford, Salisbury, Yarmouth, Tewkesbury, Newcastle upon Tyne, Stirling And so on, the "civilians who can make a sound" in the city have given Pete great support.

Compare it with the incompetence, failure, loss of soldiers and generals, and bewilderment of the Newcastle cabinet in the early stage of the war.

The "miracle year" after Peter came to power - including North America's capture of Louisburg, Prussia's two consecutive epic tactical victories, and the completion of the blockade of the French navy. Peter's prestige reached its peak.

Those in the UK who are legally considered human beings, but whose political voices are not marginalized by the aristocracy, praised: This is the first head of government in British history who is not appointed by the king or elected by the aristocrats.

When Peter shouted that he must carry the war to the end, destroy the merchant ships and trade capabilities of France and Spain, and completely prevent their possibility of revenge, the fringe people in the whole of Britain cheered and supported him to carry the war to the end and fight all the time. To the point where France and Spain completely lost their colonial and trading capabilities.

but……

However, Dashun joined the battle.Boskorn was killed, India was completely lost, the East India Company was on the verge of destruction, West Indian merchant ships were hijacked infinitely, and smuggling in North America was rampant...

Those bourgeois who had fanatically supported him and lacked the right to speak in aristocratic politics have undergone a 180-degree reversal in their attitudes.

The Financial Street began to criticize Pitt's radical policies. The West India Chamber of Commerce was asking where the trade growth brought about by the war promised by Pitt was. Lancashire's textile artisans asked when they would have jobs. How to fulfill the national debt repayment promise?
The aristocrats were against him, and he didn't care because he had the support of the bourgeoisie, who had long been politically marginalized.

And now, too, the bourgeoisie are turning weakly against him, questioning him, not seeing him as the savior, and no longer seeing him as the one who will allow them to expand their trade.

More importantly, his family ally, his brother-in-law, George Grenwell, betrayed him.

The old king died, and before the new king succeeded, George Grenwell took the initiative to offer an olive branch to the new king.Before that, Grenwell promised that he would advance and retreat with him, and threatened to resign together, so that the king would not dare to move lightly.

Now, in Peter's eyes, the entire parliament is a group of insects, a group of trash, a group of sissies, and a group of people without vision.

The aristocrats were stupid, as were the bourgeoisie who had awarded him the Medal of Honor of the City of London, and so were the representatives of industry and commerce from the cities which had fanatically written to him and supported him.

The whole country is lost.

He felt that he might not be able to save Britain.

Because, he had a vague sense of what Dashun wanted.And vaguely understand that once Dashun's request is fulfilled, then Britain will be completely finished.

(End of this chapter)