The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 377: The Four-Nation Alliance
"I don't know when it started, but expanding the empire's territory and turning all the unowned lands into their legal territory has become a cause that this country strives for, an outlet for the people's enthusiasm, and even one of the major considerations for whether the cabinet government of this country is qualified."

Dimeo van der Horst, senior director of the Dutch East India Company's China business, stood at the side of the ship, looking at the merchant ships lined up in a row in front of him, cutting through the turbulent Indian Ocean and heading southeast. The sea breeze was howling, and white seagulls were circling above the masts, as if leading these sea beasts through time and space to the legendary - oh, should be the wealthy continent in reality. He was filled with emotion.

"Perhaps many Qi people would take it for granted that they are the nation that controls the sea and the world. This is not because Qi has a lot of territory in the world, nor because they believe that the Qi people have any physiological superiority, nor do they believe that they have a divine mission that makes them destined to be great. All of this is because of their great strength, because they are obviously giants in industrial production and science and technology."

"Mr. De Horst, are you referring to the Orient in the fleet with a full load displacement of 12,000 tons?" Jane Driesen, the Dutch East India Company's Southwest Director of Hanzhou, asked softly.

"Yes, it's incredible. The carrying capacity of this giant ship is more than ten times that of our Golden Rose." Dehorst said, "The technology and terrifying industrial productivity possessed by the Qi people make all countries in the world feel powerless and insignificant. Qi can be said to be a well-deserved world factory and the world's most advanced laboratory. These pictures often appear in my mind: when the Qi people gazed at the flaming furnaces, the speeding train tracks, the steamships and cast iron bridges, their printing presses, factories, mechanical looms and steam iron plows, they must have felt that they were holding the fire of Prometheus in their hands. They may firmly believe that with technology, they can do everything, even reshape the entire world."

"Mr. DeHorst, like you, I have great respect and admiration for this country." Jane Driesen echoed, "Yes, the Qi people are ruling the ocean, and in time, they may also rule the entire world, because they have enough strength to support them to achieve this goal. However, I still think that the Qi people's sudden seizure of Bourbon Island seems a bit too hasty. Obviously, on the issue of Bourbon Island, the Qi people's actions will definitely anger the French, and then they will retaliate, and maybe even implicate our United Provinces Republic."

"As the master of the Indian Ocean, the people of Qi felt that France's behavior really offended them and was a provocation to their imperial authority." De Horst tightened his woolen coat to resist the damp and cold sea breeze. "More than 20 years ago, the people of Qi treated the entire Indian Ocean as their inland sea, and naturally classified it as within the sphere of influence of the empire's rule, and no outsiders were allowed to invade. It was also at that time that our East India Company fully realized that the Indian Ocean belonged to Qi, and our colonial territories would sooner or later be taken away by the people of Qi. Fortunately, Qi is a very civilized country that pays great attention to international order. When acquiring our colonial territories, it gave the company a relatively generous price. The English and Portuguese, like us, have a very clear understanding of their own strength and have successively withdrawn from the Indian Ocean region."

"And the French... ah, they are too proud and too self-righteous, always thinking that the glory of France can shine on the whole world. But they have never seriously considered that their influence on the European continent is not enough to ensure the safety of their overseas colonies. Previously, the English could frequently challenge the power of France, attack and seize their overseas colonies across the shallow protection of the English Channel. And Qi, whose maritime power is even greater than England, how could it tolerate France's provocation in the Indian Ocean region? If so, if the French want to retaliate against Qi, apart from rectifying Qi merchants and numerous comprador agents in the country, they can't hurt Qi's core interests at all."

"Yes, the arrogant French." Hearing this, Driesen curled his lips. "Sooner or later, they will suffer a heavy blow from the Qi people because of their stupidity and arrogance."

When it comes to the French, the Dutch always feel fear and hatred for them.

Because, since the reign of Louis XIV, the French had coveted the wealth of the Netherlands, oh, and of course, the land and population of the Netherlands.

Back then, in order to repel the French invasion, the Dutch dug up the seawall and flooded most of their own land, barely preventing France's annexation plan.

Although the arrogant French monarch has passed away for more than 20 years, the French people still have not gotten rid of their greed for the Netherlands and have been looking for opportunities. At some point, they will extend their claws to the Netherlands again.

Two years ago, during the Polish succession crisis, France took the opportunity to attack the Austrians. If the United Provinces had not issued a stern warning and carried out a certain degree of military mobilization, the French might have set their military targets on the Austrian Netherlands (in fact, in order to avoid fighting on multiple fronts, the French had always set their offensive targets on Lorraine and northern Italy), threatening the security of the United Provinces.

In order to deal with the military threat from France, in addition to strengthening its cooperative relationship with the Holy Roman Empire, the Netherlands also actively contacted Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, Spain and England (because the British crown territory of Hanover was located in the neighboring German region, making England worth winning over), trying to build a broad military alliance to safeguard its own security.

Therefore, in August 1734, when Xie Daoren, the general representative of Qi State in Europe, proposed to invite some "countries committed to maintaining regional peace" to establish a close alliance mechanism so that they could "coordinate with each other" and "jointly perform collective defense" when France implemented foreign aggression and expansion, he immediately agreed and first secretly signed a military cooperation agreement with Qi State and Ireland.

Originally, according to the Dutch's wishes, it would be better to bring in a few more European countries, such as Spain, Portugal, and Prussia, so as to share the Dutch's land military pressure.

Because, when facing the French invasion, the people of Qi would not send troops from their homeland of Hanzhou to rescue them, right?
If that were the case, it would take at least half a year for the Qi people to mobilize the army and then ship them to Europe, and it would be too late to rescue them. By then, they would probably just rush to collect the bodies of the Dutch.

Ireland is closer to the Netherlands, but given their strength, they probably won't be able to last even three rounds against the French.

Of course, there is another most effective way, which is to invite Qi to station a large number of troops in the Netherlands.

However, this move will greatly irritate the French.

Because the targeting of the troops stationed in the Netherlands is too obvious.

In Europe, everyone knows that the Netherlands and Qi have a very close relationship, as close as wearing a pair of pants. If Qi deploys a large number of troops in the Netherlands, it is obviously to defend the country and prevent French invasion.

This would inevitably lead to serious military confrontation between Qi and France, and even arouse France's desire for war, prompting them to launch an attack on the Netherlands ahead of schedule.

Of course, the more critical issue is who should bear the cost of Qi stationing troops in the Netherlands.

You must know that the expenses required for the troops stationed by Qi State in India, Persia, Ireland and other countries and regions were not fully borne by the Imperial Ministry of Revenue.

Not to mention India, the garrison troops numbering as many as 27,000 (excluding the Qi-Indian vassal troops) were ostensibly funded directly by the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of War was responsible for paying military salaries and daily maintenance expenses. However, Qi people had to levy taxes in the Indian territories under their control, and local princes and nobles, both large and small, also had to pay tribute to Qi as protection money. All this money would flow continuously into the imperial Ministry of Revenue.

Not to mention, the customs of the Mughal Empire and the Maratha Empire (yes, in 1732 the Marathas also proclaimed themselves emperors and officially became equals to the Mughals) were also controlled by the Qi people, and a large amount of tax revenue also flowed into the treasury of the empire. It can be said that hundreds of millions of Indians were helping the Qi State to support the more than garrison troops.

As for Persia and Ireland, they would have to bear nearly half of the total cost of Qi's garrison.

After all, these troops have come here from afar to protect the security of your country. You can't bring your own food and empty your family's pockets just to show your "noble internationalist spirit"?
If they stationed troops in the Netherlands, would they be willing to pay for it?

The answer is naturally no.

Now, why are the Dutch so demobilized?

It's because the rich people don't want to spend money to support the army.

Back then, the Dutch navy was the best in the world. It not only beat the former colonial master Spain, but also suppressed the emerging naval power England for a long time.

However, because all the Dutch merchants were obsessed with money, they were reluctant to pay to support naval construction. In order to prevent the Orange royal family from stepping in and reaching into their pockets to rob money again, they actually disbanded the entire Federal Army, which was equivalent to disarming themselves. This triggered a "disaster year" and the Federal Republic was almost destroyed.

Logically speaking, after being beaten several times by England at sea and repeatedly abused by France on land, the Dutch should have learned their lesson and deeply realized the philosophy of "where will the hair stay if the skin is gone", and should have actively supported the Federation to strengthen its military to prepare for another invasion by foreign enemies.

But the strange Dutch people still value money more than lives. After each war, they would immediately disband the navy and army.

After the War of the Spanish Succession, the Dutch seemed to have completely collapsed. Not to mention the revival of the navy, even the basic self-defense capabilities of the army were weakened to an extremely low level, causing this former European power to completely withdraw from the competition among great powers.

Because the Dutch people don't want to spend money to support an army that is of little use on a daily basis!

It is simply impossible to ask them to pay money to invite Qi State to station troops!

But the problem is, although we in Qi have good relations with you Dutch people, we can't be like Kaizi and pay for and bring our own food to come to the European continent to protect your safety.

Since the Dutch were unwilling to pay and had to consider the feelings of the French, the Qi people, after not receiving a positive response from the other side, very wisely changed the topic and discussed how to bring in Spain, Portugal, Prussia, Denmark, England and other countries to establish a broad anti-French alliance.

Unfortunately, Spain and Prussia obviously did not want to join in. The former belonged to the same Bourbon dynasty as France, and had cooperation in the Mediterranean and Italy, so they had no intention of offending powerful France; while the latter focused on the German region and the Baltic Sea, and had no fundamental conflict of interest with France. At the same time, Prussia also hoped that France could contain and weaken Austria so that it could have more say in Germany.

Countries such as England, Denmark and Sweden were more hesitant. They felt that France did not border their territories and would not endanger their security and interests for the time being. So why should they put themselves in opposition to the French for the safety of the Dutch?

However, just when Qi and the Netherlands were feeling frustrated about their lack of appeal, the Austrians suddenly came forward.

During the Polish succession crisis, although the Austrians joined forces with the Russians to drive out Stanisław I and installed their preferred Augustus III as the new Polish king, they suffered a shameful defeat in the Duchy of Lorraine and Italy.

However, the Russian Empire, their ally on which they relied, was under attack from all directions and was unable to withdraw, and was unable to fulfill the obligations of both sides to send troops, making the Austrians feel even more isolated and helpless.

At that time, in order to resolve the Sicily issue, the Qi people took the initiative to find the Austrians. After obtaining the empire's promise of ruling Sicily, they also provided the Austrians with a large amount of economic assistance and were willing to reconcile their relations with the Ottomans. This immediately brought about a historic reversal in the once tense and antagonistic Qi-Austrian relationship.

Therefore, with the participation of the Austrians, a powerful anti-French alliance was initially established two months ago. Qi, the Netherlands, Austria and Ireland signed a secret military alliance treaty. If they were threatened or attacked militarily by France, the contracting parties would work together to fulfill their collective defense obligations.

However, given that Qi and Ireland are far away from the European continent, after the outbreak of war, the Netherlands and Austria will bear the main war in Europe. In addition to launching military operations against France's overseas colonial territories, Qi and Ireland will also provide financial and material assistance to the Netherlands and Austria, and launch military strikes against France's coastal areas when appropriate.

"Perhaps it was because of the signing of this alliance treaty that the Qi people brazenly seized Bourbon Island with an absurd excuse." DeHorst turned his gaze to the mighty Qi warship behind him and sighed slightly. "A few years ago, after defeating England, which was known for its navy, they were ready to try to defeat the French, who were known for their land warfare, in order to demonstrate their courage and perseverance in ruling the world."

(End of this chapter)