Cutting 1719

Chapter 676 The European Meat Grinder
The banquet was very successful, a large amount of precious red wine was delivered to the dining table, people were drinking and drinking, most of them were red on their faces, with a faint smile, chatting reservedly and comfortably.

With a wine glass in his hand, Louis XV was talking with Ning Chengze and Ernst, accompanied by Prime Minister Fleury. However, in this crucial conversation, the French side has always been dominated by Louis XV. Prime Minister Fleury was just assisting, but on Da Chu's side, it was completely reversed. Ernst was in charge of the main conversation, and Ning Chengze only occasionally expressed his opinions.

"Ernst, congratulations, you have found your future in the East, and I hope this good luck will favor France."

Louis XV chuckled, and then glanced at Ning Chengze, who was silent at the side. He felt that the other party was full of mystery from the East. Although he looked young, he was strong and slender, but he was taller than himself. like a king.

Ernst smiled slightly, drank the red wine in the glass, and said with a smile: "China and France have long had an indissoluble bond. Now His Majesty Chu sent us to visit Europe, and the first stop was Paris. The purpose is to strengthen exchanges and communication between the two sides, and restore the Sino-French exchanges during the Sun King period, not just limited to trade exchanges."

Fleury on the side raised his brow slightly when he heard this, and said dryly: "Of course, the exchange between the East and the West should be done, but it is also based on the interests of the two countries. Now the common interests between France and Chu , It seems that there are not so many, it may be too early to talk about other things.”

A trace of dissatisfaction appeared on Louis XV's face. Just as he was about to say something, Ning Chengze, who had never said anything, quickly said something, but the Chinese spoken by the other party made him dizzy for a while, so he subconsciously Looking to Ernst aside.

Ernst said with a smile: "His Royal Highness said that China and France already have very deep strategic common interests. At least we have reached a broad basis for cooperation in India and the Americas, that is, to fight against the British - and now France wants to achieve the goal in France. The hegemony of China cannot be bypassed by the British."

"Our common interest is to fight the British together."

Fleury frowned, and argued: "But the current situation in Europe has not reached this point at all. In other words, if you intervene, it will make the situation even more tense!"

"The Prime Minister's words seem to overestimate us. How can a country thousands of miles away affect the situation in Europe?"

Ernst didn't seem to take the old prime minister seriously at all, he just responded lightly, and then set his eyes on Louis XV's face.

"Your Majesty, even an emperor as talented as the Sun King could not break through the European balance strategy created by the British. The Sun King led his warriors to win the Franco-Dutch War, the Grand Alliance War, and even the Spanish Succession War. fought every goddamn war, and the result?"

result?The result is that these wars have exhausted the French treasury, plunged the country into a plight of high debt, and the lives of the people have deteriorated, so that Louis XIV, who fought for half his life, asked his successor Louis XV in his dying entrustment. Don't get obsessed with war.
To be told not to indulge in war by a war madman shows what situation France was in at that time because of the war.

However, the difficult situation has passed after all. For the young and vigorous Louis XV, although he still remembered the entrustment of his great-grandfather, he no longer took it seriously. Instead, the yearning for merit and hatred for Britain gradually took over his heart.

Now Ernst's words just hit the heart of Louis XV. He sighed softly, his face was no longer as relaxed as before, and became very serious, "The result is that these things that have cost the empire countless efforts Hard work, after all, under the balanced strategy of the British, turned into ashes. What my great-grandfather regretted for his whole life was not limited to these.”

When Fleury heard that Louis XV was about to be abducted into a ditch, he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, the British are our enemies, but in the future these Orientals will not be our enemies." enemy? If the conflict with the British is intensified right now, it will only end up being used as a gun for these Easterners!"

However, before Ernst and Ning Chengze could explain, Louis XV glared at his teacher in displeasure. Although he felt more and more dissatisfied with the teacher in his heart, he didn't want to refute the other party on the spot. The teacher-student relationship was extraordinary.

Louis XV was only five years old when he succeeded to the throne, and he belonged to the only child of the royal family at that time, so everyone worried that he would die as early as other relatives, so they moved him to the Tuileries Palace in the center of Paris, close to the Paris royal family. , was looked after and taught by the Duke of Maine, Velloi, and one of the tutors was Andre-Hercule de Fleury.

Since the Duke of Velloy was an old and conceited nobleman, very rigid and serious, in the heart of the young Louis XV, he always had a certain fear of the Duke of Velloy, which made him feel very unpleasant.

Fleury was different, he was a young man full of vigor, and he was very happy to get along with Louis XV. In particular, Fleury had a learned and talented temperament, as mysterious and amiable as a king, which made Louis XV very happy. The young Louis admired him so much that he appointed Fleury as Prime Minister after Louis came to power.

Of course, Fleury, who has been prime minister for more than ten years, is indeed worthy of Louis XV. During his reign, the financial deficit and human loss caused by the end of Louis XIV's reign have been made up to a certain extent, and the situation in France has also tended to be peaceful. Order, so that France has regained a lot of strength.

But now that Louis XV wants to take France into the battlefield again, how can this make Fleury feel at ease?
Louis XV did not refute Fleury, but he did not agree with him either. Instead, he chose to change the subject and started talking with Ning Chengze about some differences between Chinese and Western art. Both of them had received a good royal education, so this On the other hand, they all talked very enthusiastically, while Ernst shuttled among the French nobles with a wine glass, advocating the Chu-Fa alliance to fight against Britain.

As for Fleury, he stood alone, looking at the joyful crowd, feeling a pang of sadness in his heart. He was not sad for Louis XV, but he finally understood that no matter how hard he tried, he could not Stop the crazy French from marching to the battlefield again
This is not the role that the so-called Eastern missions can play, nor is it a general trend that Louis XV can dominate, but the "dream of hegemony" buried in the hearts of 800 million French people, the sun that never sets
In June 1740, on behalf of Chu, Ning Chengze reached a new secret agreement with Louis XV. These terms were based on the secret agreements previously reached in India, and achieved a more in-depth cooperation, including economic, strategic, Technology and other multi-faceted communication, and very crucially, the clause states that when one of the countries is attacked by the UK, the other country should declare war on the UK within one year.

Before Ning Chengze and Ernst led the delegation to visit Europe, they had already obtained Ning Yu's permission, that is, in the future, Dachu would need to make more promises if necessary—if it wasn't for this promise, Louis X. Five will not rashly choose Da Chu as a partner, nor can it really convince the French upper class.

This kind of clause similar to binding has no real impact on Dachu, because although the treaty stipulates that war must be fought against Britain, it does not stipulate the scope of operations. If there is a decisive battle between Britain and France in the future, then Dachu can take the opportunity Fight against Britain in India and America, and then you can completely expel the British in Southeast Asia.

After the negotiation was successful, Ning Chengze and Ernst paid a symbolic visit to several other European countries, but these countries belonged to the scope of the French alliance, but did not have a foothold in the United Kingdom and the alliance to which it belonged. The almost naked hostile attitude was expressed, which also made Louis XV very happy when he heard the news.

"Only these people in the East understand who is the real master of Europe. Why are those guys in Austria still obsessed with it?"

Louis XV shouted at Prime Minister Fleury with a bit of joy on the one hand and a bit of complaint on the other hand: "They don't respect me at all! They don't respect France at all!"

Prime Minister Fleury had a headache, he said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the peace in Europe is now tied to a rope, and it may be completely broken at any time, but right now we are rushing in this direction! This will bring peace to France. Bring about great disaster!"

Louis XV snorted coldly, and he said with a strange smile: "So what? Let everyone in the world know that I——Louis XV, am definitely not a doll to be manipulated by the British!"

On October 1740, 10, Ning Chengze and Ernst finally completed their one-and-a-half-year mission to visit Europe, and set off to return home along the route they had come. Everyone in the world is watching.

On October 1740, 10, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI died unexpectedly, and soon a huge commotion surrounding the succession to the Austrian throne arose. Maria Theresa, the eldest daughter of Charles VI, announced her succession to the Grand Duke of Austria. The throne, while her husband Franz inherited the Holy Roman Empire, causing an uproar in Europe.

Franz was originally the eldest surviving son of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, and Elizabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, whose grandmother Eleonore Maria Josepha was Holy Roman Emperor The daughter of Ferdinand III, a cousin of the original Habsburg family, and he is also the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Today, a hat of the Holy Roman Emperor fell from the sky. Although most of the real power is still in the hands of his wife Maria Theresa, this still makes Franz ecstatic.

Just when Franz was happy, Prussia, Spain, the Elector of Bavaria, the Elector of Saxony, the Republic of Genoa, the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of Sicily, and the Kingdom of Naples jointly announced their opposition to the "Edict of State Affairs", arguing that Maria Trey Western Asia has no right to inherit the throne of Austrian Grand Duke, and Franz has no right to inherit the Holy Roman Emperor.

However, Maria Theresia stated very firmly that although she was only a woman, she had the heart of a king, and she was confident that with the help of the ministers, she would maintain the integrity of the Austrian monarchy.When her words were published, the war was on the verge of breaking out.

Soon, as the godson of Charles VI, the new king of Prussia, that is, the legendary war-crazed emperor Frederick II stated that he had signed the "State Edict" and solemnly promised to protect his cousin, Decided to take the initiative to lead 3 people to Vienna to serve as the king, and by the way also occupied Silesia.

Since half of the population of Silesia is Protestant, they have been persecuted by the Habsburg family for a long time, so when they learned that Frederick came to liberate Silesia, they were very proactive and soon helped the Prussian army occupy Breslau, and Frederick also properly stated that he would not plunder any house, nor would he harm anyone.

The time soon came to April 1741. Maria Theresa expressed her attitude to the kindness of her war-crazed cousin, King Frederick II. She ordered Marshal Philip von Neipelg to be in Moravia gathered an army into Silesia, and at Mollwitz, 4 miles southeast of Breslau, met Frederick's main force stationed in Silesia, and a major battle broke out between the two sides.

In this great battle, the Austrians had [-] infantry, [-] cavalry, and sixteen cannon, while the Prussian army had [-] infantry, [-] cavalry, and cannon. On the other hand, there are a total of sixty gates, which seem to be not that far apart on the surface.

However, at the beginning of the war, the Prussian Cavalry Marshal Earl Schulanburg made a serious mistake. He miscalculated the distance when he attacked, which caused the cavalry commanded by the right wing of the Prussian army, Friedrich, to go too far forward and did not provide timely assistance. , so that the Austrian dragoons taught a lesson to the Prussian cavalry.

Seeing that the battle was not going well, Marshal Schwerin, the master of persuasion, hoped that Frederick would run away quickly, so as not to be caught and asked for a reward, but Frederick saw that the situation was not good, and he did not want to stick to it. He was very decisive. He took the cavalry and fled away, while Marshal Schwerin chose to slip down.

Frederick's run did not really affect the overall situation, because Marshal Schwerin quickly commanded the Prussian infantry to resist the attack of the opponent's cavalry and infantry, and also killed the Austrian cavalry commander very bravely General Romell, General Goldie, and the Prussian artillery, without the threat of the Austrian cavalry, completely broke up the offensive formation of the Austrian army with very violent artillery fire, forcing the Austrian Marshal Neperg to order a retreat .

As the beginning of the War of Succession to the Austrian Throne, the Battle of Mollwitz ended hastily. When it witnessed the rookie side of Frederick the Great, it also opened the curtain for this war that was bigger than the original history. In the next ten years, almost most of the European countries will be involved in this cruel war.

Everything is just beginning.

(End of this chapter)