1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 1005 The Confident French Navy

November 1683, 11, Versailles.

When the Ottoman Empire invaded the Holy Roman Empire, the great Sun King Louis XIV announced at the Palace of Versailles that France would stop all military operations in the Netherlands for a period of one year.In this way, the Spanish Habsburg dynasty can be freed to help its distant relatives in Austria.

The reason why Louis XIV was so generous, disregarding the covenant with the Ottoman Empire, and caring for the Habsburg Dynasty, was not due to common religious beliefs and similar cultural backgrounds, and of course, it was not for the sake of promoting Justice goes to the aid of the Catholic world and the defense of the old enemy - Austria.

Louis XIV was eager to be honored as Defender of the Holy Roman Empire, and hoped that in its light, his son would one day wear the crown of the dynasty that had long been enemies of the Bourbons.

He believed that the temporary cessation of France's war against the Habsburg dynasty could win more military support for Austria, so the emperor Leopold I, who owed him favors, would definitely give him a large amount of land in return for his inaction.

However, people are not as good as heaven, and when Vienna was in danger, he was rescued unexpectedly.The Ottomans, who were proud and underestimated the enemy, ruined their best chance to conquer Vienna because of their ignorance and slowness of action, and were forced to retreat by the European coalition forces that rushed to them.

Although this result made Louis XIV a little disappointed, he was secretly delighted by the huge losses suffered by the two warring parties in the Battle of Vienna.

The ally of the Ottoman Empire is certainly hurt, but each of France's former opponents also lost a lot of blood in this battle, and lost countless soldiers and ordnance. For no reason, France took a big advantage.

Louis XIV immediately ordered the troops to dispatch to use force to take back what he had wanted to get easily.In the past two months the French had taken Couteré, Dixmead, and Trier in Flanders with ease.None of the Holy Roman Empire, Bavaria, Hanover, Brandenburg-Prussia and other German states dared to speak out against it.

Even the ruling William III of the Federal Republic, who had always been against him, only expressed serious concerns, but did not take any action to prevent it.

As for the Kingdom of Spain on the side of the Pyrenees, they buried their heads low, lest they attract the attention of the French.

Oh, by the way, the poor Spaniard was being beaten up and down by the people of Qi at this time, and he was in a panic.Their American territory was continuously encroached and attacked by the Qi State. Not only were Patagonia and La Plata completely seized by others, even the governorate of New Spain was also attacked by the Qi State.

Not to mention, a powerful expeditionary fleet of the Qi State has also crossed the Indian Ocean and entered the Atlantic Ocean, frequently launching raids on the coastal ports and towns of the Spanish mainland.

The Spaniard's Mediterranean Fleet and Atlantic Fleet had fought against Qi's long-distance fleet several times, but what is surprising is that the Spanish navy, which was waiting for work and occupying a convenient location, was unable to drive back the Qi's navy.Relying on several ports in Morocco, the opponent relied on sharp artillery and superior maneuverability to avoid the real and attack the false, and constantly attacked the Spanish ships floating on the sea.

It is reported that in just a few months, Spain has lost more than a dozen ships, including five warships belonging to the Royal Spanish Navy, which fully demonstrates the tyrannical combat effectiveness of the Qi State Navy.

It is precisely because of the inextricable fight with the people of Qi that Spain was unable to support the desperate Austrian relatives, and the "good intentions" of the French were blinded in vain.

"Are the Qi people willing to cooperate with us to jointly attack and weaken the Spanish sea power?"

Louis XIV stood in front of a large mirror, carefully admiring the oriental-style imperial robes on his body, with a black gauze winged crown on his head, a round collar and wide sleeves, gold dragon patterns embroidered on the front, back and shoulders, and jade belts. leather boots.But His Majesty the King's relatively short stature could not set off this loose clothing, and his whole appearance looked a little ridiculous.

"Your Majesty, the people of Qi did not reject our proposal, but they did not show the enthusiasm they expected." François-Michel Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, the king's favorite minister and Minister of State for the Army, did not dare to speak to the king. His majesty's attire did not show the slightest mocking expression, but instead he smiled, his eyes were full of admiration, and he showed great appreciation, "The general representative of Qi State in Europe did not respond positively to our military offensive plan, and he seems to have some concerns."

"What concerns do they have?" Louis XIV asked curiously.

"The people of Qi said that although they were at war with the Spaniards, they had no intention of seizing the territory of the Spaniards in Europe. After all, Europe was too far away from the mainland of Qi. In addition, the people of Qi said that they attacked the mainland of Spain. The military forces used are all naval, and it is impossible to land and occupy the Atlantic territories occupied by Spain."

"Aren't the Qi people very close to the Moroccans on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea? As long as they want to, they can spend a sum of money and hire Moroccans to help them capture the Canary Islands."

"Your Majesty, the people of Qi are very smart. They seem to have seen through our French strategic intentions. They are unwilling to take advantage of our fire and attack the Canary Islands so that our French navy can seize Sardinia (that is, Sardinia, Italy)." Lu The Marquis of Foy said with a wry smile: "Moreover, they also know that even if they can capture the Canary Islands for a while, they will not be able to obtain continuous and effective support due to the distance from the mainland. It is very likely that they will make wedding clothes for others. This territory will be lost again."

"Then, the navy of the Kingdom of Spain has not been attracted by the people of Qi, can our navy cooperate with the army to take the entire Sardinia?" Louis XIV turned to look at his naval minister Sebastian Leco Earl Nor.

"Your Majesty, even if the Spaniards transfer all their naval warships to the Mediterranean, our French navy is confident of defeating them." Earl Sebastian Lekono said quite confidently: "As for covering the army to capture Sardinia Island, that is an extremely easy task for our navy.”

The reason why Sebastian Le Corneau is so confident, and even a little arrogant, is due to the rapid expansion of the French navy's strength in the past ten years.Up to now, the French Navy has more than 160 warships and nearly [-] naval soldiers.The foundation, process and related systems of shipbuilding have also been quite perfect.At this time, the size of the French navy was close to the sum of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, reaching the level of the number one in Europe (and the number one in the world).

The reason why the French Navy has achieved such achievements is inseparable from the recently deceased former Minister of Finance and Minister of State for the Navy Colbert.Since taking charge of the navy in 1669, the French navy's expenditure has increased every year, reaching an astonishing 1671 million francs in 1300-more than four times that of 1662, far exceeding other countries.

During this period, the French shipbuilding movement reached its peak.Colbert decided to let the king's fleet have the greatest and best ships in the world, so he ordered two of the most magnificent ships named after the Sun King with a displacement of 2400 tons and equipped with 120 bronze cannons. giant flagship.They are Royal Louis and Royal Sun.

After that, Colbert built two giant ships with a displacement of 2000 tons and 100 guns named after members of the royal family, the Royal Prince and the Royal Duke.These four giant ships fully display French shipbuilding technology and exquisite Baroque craftsmanship: the poop and upper side of each warship are decorated with exquisite sculptures covered in gold leaf.At that time, French warships were often based on yellow and blue, with lily patterns or golden decorations, which can be called works of art in naval history.

At the same time, France promulgated the "Maritime Law" and implemented a crew registration system, so that seafarers with sailing experience in merchant ships can be recruited at any time, ensuring that naval officers and soldiers can be replenished in a timely manner at any time.In addition, Colbert imitated the training model of Qi's naval officers in Toulon and Rochefort, and established a naval school dedicated to training sailing warship commanders to improve the professional skills and officer quality of French naval commanders.

You must know that the French army at this time is also invincible in Europe. After the baptism of the "Heritage War", the Franco-Dutch War and the "Amalgamation War", France is almost invincible on land, becoming the first in Europe to achieve both land and sea. Hegemonic country.At this time, France was in Canada and Louisiana in North America, Santo Domingo, Barbados, Guadeloupe, Tobago and Grenada in Central America, and Senegal and Bourbon Island (Reunion Island) in Africa. Both established vast colonies.

The fledgling French navy had already shown its strength as early as the Franco-Dutch War. Although it failed to completely control the sea dominance of the North Sea and the English Channel at that time, it showed extremely impressive strength.

Due to the unique geographical location of France and the ambition of Louis XIV, the French navy must be divided into three: the Mediterranean Sea in the south, the Bay of Biscay and the coast of Spain in the west, and the English Channel and the North Sea in the north. The existence of a relatively independent navy.

The Bay of Biscay, the English Channel, and the North Sea region, because of the existence of the two traditional maritime powers of Britain and the Netherlands, if the French navy wants to seek maritime hegemony in the above-mentioned areas, it will inevitably be strongly blocked by the two countries, which is not easy.

In comparison, because of the continuous decline of Spain's national power and the weakness of the Ottoman Empire's navy, it is much easier for the French navy to dominate the Mediterranean.

You see, the Spanish Navy can't even do anything to a Qi State task force that has raided tens of thousands of miles of sea routes. .Maybe, after they heard that the French navy had left the port, they could only hide in a certain port tremblingly, watching the French warships rampant in the Mediterranean Sea, seizing key maritime fortresses one after another. .
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June 12, Paris.

Under the blowing of the cold wind, the light rain slanted on the ground, mixed with fine snow particles, falling on the face and neck, making people feel a complete chill.

The two carriages drove through the dirty streets, and in the thick rain and fog, they stopped steadily at the gate of the Qi State Legation in Paris.Seeing this, several hired French waiters immediately ran to the carriage, opened the big umbrellas in their hands, and greeted the guests in the carriage respectfully.

"Zhang Honglu, Minister Sun, you two have worked hard all the way!" Pei Shanlin, Qi's military attache in France and Lieutenant Colonel Linghui of the Navy, welcomed the group into the embassy with a look of searching on his face, "Follow me How are the French talking? Are they willing to open a few ports for our navy to stop for daily supplies?"

"They are not only willing to open the port, but they also want to unite with our navy to attack the Spanish maritime territories!" Zhang Songhe, Qi's general representative to Europe, said with a smile: "They have no doubts about the several Mediterranean islands occupied by Spain. A strong covetous heart. Sardinia, Sicily, and even the Balearic Islands not far from the mainland of Spain want to embrace them all in one go, so as to completely establish their maritime hegemony in the Mediterranean."

"The French have such a big appetite! These islands are all Spanish territory. If they seize them rashly, they are not afraid of triggering a new European war?" Pei Shanlin was amazed.

"Louis XIV set up a 'territorial recovery adjudication court' a few years ago. This department has only one responsibility, which is to investigate the various treaty clauses signed by France and the legal documents preserved in the past. Once it finds out which territories According to past treaties, those territories that should be ceded or should belong to France, but have not been ceded or are still occupied by other countries, should be reported to the king immediately. Then, His Majesty the King will use force or coercion to recover these territories one by one." French Minister Huang Qide took a cup of hot tea from the waiter, took a sip, and then continued: "A few days ago, this so-called 'Territory Recovery Tribunal' dug out documents from documents hundreds of years ago. Some treaties and documents concerning the aforementioned islands, very far-fetched, assert that those territories should be placed under French jurisdiction. The French have sent envoys to Madrid to demand that the Spaniards 'give back' Sardinia and the Balearic Islands to France . Otherwise, Louis XIV will use force to retake the above-mentioned islands."

"Does this Frenchman have any shame?" Pei Shanlin was stunned.

"The French have the absolute strength to do these 'shameless' things!" Zhang Songhe said with a smile: "The Battle of Vienna caused heavy damage to the Holy Roman Empire and the German states, facing the threat of France , it can be said that there is almost no room for resistance. If the last war had not just ended and the signed "Treaty of Nijmegen" was not dry, the French might take this opportunity to launch a new European war However, the French navy wanted to prove its strength and establish its maritime supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea, so it chose Spain, which was weak in strength, and prepared to attack it.”

"So, the French want to cooperate with our country of Qi to jointly attack and weaken the Spanish sea power?" Pei Shanlin said: "What benefits can they give us? Can the domestic market be opened to our country of Qi?"

"The French are too stingy and don't want to give us anything!" Huang Qide said with a wry smile, "As for opening the market to our Qi country's products, it was no surprise that they refused again. I thought that Colbert died, and France is currently The trade protectionism implemented will change its course and reduce restrictions on the import of foreign goods. But who would have thought that the French would stick to it and insist on raising tariffs and restricting imports in order to prevent the outflow of precious metals."

"It's a pity that we can only stand at the door and drool over such a huge market with a population of 2000 million, instead of going deep into it to expand our product sales." Zhang Songhe sighed slightly, "Otherwise, we would have opened up the market of Qi State." The Mediterranean trade is bound to double on the existing basis. Over the years, the market of the Ottoman Empire has grown weakly, we must plan early, plan ahead, and look for new commodity markets!"

"After the Battle of Vienna, the Grand Vizier Mustafa of the Ottoman Empire temporarily stayed in Belgrade, preparing to continue to use troops against Austria next spring. I don't know if this battle will affect the Ottoman Empire. According to reports, Mustafa has many political enemies in Istanbul, and most of them will use this to attack him.” When it comes to Ottoman, Huang Qide can’t help but worry about the political changes there.

"So, I will leave for Istanbul in a few days to meet the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet IV, and exchange views on the regional situation after the Vienna War." Zhang Songhe shook his head and said: "Anyway , we still expect the political situation of the Ottoman Empire to continue to remain stable. Judging from the current situation, the country has not yet had a strong figure like Mustafa who can stabilize the overall situation. If there is a change in the Grand Vizier, it will inevitably lead to a political and political situation in the Ottoman Empire. Chaos in the army."

"I don't know if Honglu will be ripped off by them again when he goes to the Ottomans, asking for loans and assistance." Huang Qide said with a smile: "After all, there must have been a lot of losses in personnel and supplies after a major war. I'm afraid the treasury will be empty again."

"It doesn't matter. If you want loans and aid, then you can exchange some practical things. At the very least, the Su (Suez) road (Cairo) and Nile shipping must be fully controlled by us by every opportunity." Qi Guo's hands."

(End of this chapter)