Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1523 The So-Called Justice

"Mr. Tripp, didn't the French respond?" Major Jiang Yaohui, who had already hoisted his command flag on the topmast of the sail escort gunboat "Xiaohan" off the coast of Dunkirk, put down the mask on his chest with ease. Telescope, asked Marco Tripp who was standing beside him.

"How can there be any reaction, my friend, of course there is no reaction, and I would respond in the same way." Although the wind on the sea was strong, Marco still wiped the sweat on his forehead with a handkerchief, Reluctantly said: "I remember you said that this is an allusion in your history, but I can't understand it, and the French can't understand it either. Do you have to wait until now? Louis XIV issued a strict order to preserve the seeds of the navy and wait for the moment of great revival when a large number of French warships are launched into the water. At this time, no one dares to disobey the order."

Jiang Yaohui laughed when he heard the words, and then, together with Marco, they looked at a certain small boat that was nimbly approaching the "Xiao Han". There were two servants of the Tripp family and a naval officer on the east coast on the small boat.The three of them approached the French port with a white flag just now, and then gave a special gift to the commander of the French fortress (and also the commander of the fleet)-a woman's clothes-Jiang Yaohui hoped that this humiliation could be brought to Dunkirk. The French stimulated enough, and then let them get out of the tortoise shell to fight the East Coast Fleet.

But unfortunately, as expected, the French did not react violently to this, as can be seen from the vigorous shaking of the arm of the naval officer on the small sampan. The French endured it again, but did not fight. When there is a fleet for this kind of sake, it is really unique.

Of course, it is unscientific to say that the French have never played.Because just a while ago, when the people on the east coast dispatched a large number of warships to the Mediterranean Sea and united with the Spaniards to encircle the main force of the French Eastern Fleet, there was some movement in the Dunkirk Fortress: some faster French ships sneaked into the Mediterranean at night. Sneaked out, and hunted merchant ships from the east coast everywhere on the sea, and they were lucky, they really caught a single merchant ship that was left behind due to the weather, and captured a large number of textiles, mechanical parts, soda ash, medicines Wait, I made a small fortune.

Therefore, this is why the people on the east coast are anxious and angry about the French Western Fleet nestled in the port of Dunkirk.Nima is really a bunch of shameless villains, not to mention the fact that they dare not go out to fight, but they still have to let our master from the East Bank squat nearby to blow the cold wind with you?This thing is really disgusting, every time I think about it, I feel a little depressed!

And it is precisely for this reason that the people on the East Bank used the Dutch Tripp family as an intermediary—the price was to sell a large number of artillery to this arms dealer family to arm the Dutch Army—and engaged in the previous farce-like "Gifts", but now it seems that I am afraid it is a waste of effort. The French are thicker than bullets, and they have endured more serious humiliation (such as the burning, killing and looting of the East Coast Fleet off the coast of France). What a fart!

"What is the attitude of the French towards the armistice?" Major Jiang Yaohui felt that the French were unmoved, and suddenly felt that it was meaningless, so he asked about the most concerned political news on the ground in Western Europe-multinational mediation in Western France. war event.

It is said that the amazing strength shown by the French in this war frightened many people. England, the United Provinces, Switzerland, Austria, Genoa and other countries were all worried about this. Sweden, Denmark, Brandenburg-Prussia Countries farther away, such as France and Venice, are also very vigilant, worried that the French will have too much appetite and will attack them one day.Think about it, how can England with only [-] standing troops, the United Provinces with a weak army, Switzerland that is clinking poor, and Genoa with almost no army not feel afraid?The French can easily eliminate them with only one partial division.

Even those countries with a considerable army tradition, such as Sweden, Austria, and Brandenburg-Prussia, have only a standing army of more than 1 to tens of thousands respectively. Who is not wary of the French?You know, the French King Louis' army is now everywhere, either aiding or interfering with the situation in many regions. Austria, Crete, the Italian peninsula, Portugal, etc., where is there no army?And their king is also a guy full of ambitions—more and more monarchs now see that Louis XIV is a man of great success—how can a state leader with a slightly normal mind in such a situation, How can we not stumbling France overtly and secretly?

Jiang Yaohui once talked with Li Qing, the East Coast Plenipotentiary Envoy to Europe, and knew that the United Provinces are now frightened by the strength displayed by the French—especially since the French have never withdrawn the [-] troops stationed on the Dutch border. Next—is influencing various countries through multiple channels, at the same time sprinkling money and promising benefits, and has attracted many countries including Switzerland, the Bishop of Münster, Brandenburg-Prussia, Sweden, etc. to act as land thugs for the In addition, they coordinated their interests and pulled countries with sea power such as Denmark and England (for which they even decisively ended the war with Britain) to their side. This was not only to strengthen their own momentum, but also to Prevent these two countries from falling to France.You know, King Louis XIV of France also liked to use the silver bullet offensive very much, and France's finances have always been relatively full in recent years, which made the Dutch a little panicked.

What's more, because of its outstanding performance in many wars, the navy of the East Coast Republic of China in the New World was also favored by the Dutch, and they were strongly invited to join their alliance to fight against France.However, Special Envoy Li Qing politely refused. He said that the war between the East Bank and France was only to fulfill its obligations with Spain, and nothing else was involved. The implication is that the East Bank only sent troops after receiving the benefits of Spain. Now there are no justifiable benefits. Naturally, it will not help the Dutch get chestnuts out of the fire.They still want to gradually improve their relations with the Kingdom of France after the war and normalize bilateral relations. Why should they ruin their own affairs for the benefit of your United Provinces?

Later, the Dutch saw that the East Coast was not very willing to meddle in this matter, and it was estimated that they were unwilling to offer too many benefits to attract the East Coast Navy, so they gave up.This is actually normal. After all, the Dutch just spent a huge sum of 1200 million guilders to rebuild the navy two years ago (this is only a one-time cost, and the annual maintenance costs in the future may be scary. It can only be said that the Dutch are local tyrants. explain...), and exhausted the British Navy in a protracted war, when it was time for complacency.No matter how strong the navy of the people on the east coast is, it is just icing on the cake for the Dutch. It is good to have it (it can attack French merchant ships in the South Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, and Western Indian Ocean), but it does not matter if it is not, and it does not affect the overall situation.

On the contrary, the land thugs bought by the Dutch at a high price, the Hague side agreed that they should be vigorously recruited. After all, the French army is famous. Once it really breaks with the United Provinces, the Dutch alone will be defeated. .Therefore, since the people on the east coast were unable to provide the army to participate in the battle—and they didn’t know the combat effectiveness of their army. It is said that the troops who took the boat to Quebec to participate in the attack ended in a mission failure, and the combat effectiveness is estimated to be limited—then there is nothing to say. Let's get in touch later when needed, anyway, the relationship between the two countries is pretty good.

Seeing the attitude of the Dutch, Li Qing also understood what they meant, so she turned her energy to the back-and-forth negotiations with the French representative, the Marquis of Montespan.This time, the people on the east coast persuaded the Spanish court to communicate with each other and negotiate peace terms. False, at this time, I must hold on, and I can't be messed up by the other party's blackmail a few times.

The Spaniards also agree with this.Especially Don Juan, the illegitimate son of King Philip (the old king recognized his prince status in a flash before his death, allowing him to control the military, but he could not inherit the Spanish throne), this man who defeated the French army on the battlefield firmly disagreed. Many, very appreciative of Li Qing's proposal to return Franche-Comté, the South Netherlands, Luxembourg, Lorraine and other places.

Of course, he appreciates the attitude of the people on the east coast towards the islands in the Caribbean Sea, because the people on the east coast say that the Pope allocated the Caribbean Sea to Spain. Except for those that have already been clearly assigned to other countries by treaty, any island that is not under the control of the Kingdom of Spain is It is illegally occupied, and other countries can ignore it first, but the islands of Santo Domingo, Saint Christopher, Martinique, Guadalupe, etc. that the French occupied very much should be returned to Spain.

Li Qing's claim seems unrealistic, because the United Provinces, England and other countries that occupy islands in the Caribbean are destined not to spit out the fat that has already been eaten in their mouths, so this is nothing more than an addiction to lip service .However, the future ownership of the French Santo Domingo and other places occupied by the East Coast people is very worthy of attention, and this is precisely a major obstacle for the French to negotiate with the East Coast: the French want to claim unconditionally. Back to these islands, but the people on the east coast want to hand them over to Spain in exchange for other benefits.

The attitude of the people on the east coast is naturally unacceptable to the arrogant Louis XIV.Although this guy is currently facing strong pressure from the Dutch, he still devotes his energy to expressing his strong dissatisfaction to the people on the east coast. The Marquis of Montespan truthfully conveyed this point, but was ignored by Li Qing.

In order to cooperate with diplomatic negotiations, the Spanish provisional task force, which had been fighting abroad for more than a year, set sail again, left the port of Valencia, which had been entrenched for a long time, and instead of helping the Spaniards clean up the mess in the Mediterranean, sailed to Atlantic, renewed harassment raids on the French coast.France's foreign trade, which had just picked up because of the people from the east coast moving to the Mediterranean, fell into a low ebb again, which made many businessmen jump their feet anxiously, but there was nothing they could do.They can only secretly pray in their hearts that His Majesty the King's heavy fleet will be launched into service as soon as possible, and then drive out to wipe out all these nasty heretics' navies. The shame of being blocked is now.

However, until the fleet they spend a lot of money to build has become a combat force, everything on the ocean is still decided by the people on the east coast.The blockade of France's trade line reflects the maritime power of the people on the east coast. Now the provocation in front of the Dunkirk fortress also demonstrates their strength. The French fleet, which is huddled in the fortress and dare not come out, can only be the mighty east coast navy. background.

"Speaking of which, are you really planning to uphold justice for the Spaniards? Recently, many people in Amsterdam have been talking about your 'Caribbean to Spain' theory. There are people who scold you, people who laugh, people who don't care, and people who don't know why. What’s more. To be honest, I’m also a little confused. When did you change your gender? What kind of benefits did the Spaniards promise you, so that you can work so hard for them?” Marco Tripp and his servants who climbed onto the deck briefly said After some exchanges, he came to Jiang Yaohui's side again and expressed his doubts: "This is just to create obstacles to the negotiations in vain. You know, you could use these islands to make private deals with the French, but now what? I can't get it, and offended others for nothing, is it worth it?"

"I like the word justice." Jiang Yaohui smiled when he heard the words, and said: "The French have stolen many Caribbean islands, which is also true. Our country and the Kingdom of Spain are currently allies, and there are many economic and trade ties between the two sides. Do you think there is anything wrong with helping the allies to uphold justice? I am afraid there is not! As for whether the French will agree or admit it, it depends on the progress of the negotiations. I am a soldier, yes Those who are not interested, what they can do at present is to do everything possible to destroy France's foreign trade, reduce the French government's financial revenue, attack their will to fight, and then force them to submit. Maybe you will say that the French are very proud and will not easily Concession, then it doesn't matter, we are not in a hurry to end the war, everyone just spend it like this. Anyway, I firmly believe that we are the party of justice and will win in the end."

Marco Tripp laughed too.This east coast naval commander is very interesting, and he has a first-rate ability to tell nonsense with his eyes open.However, this incident also reminded the United Provinces that the relationship between the Kingdom of Spain and the East Coast is getting closer and closer (this can be seen from the fact that its domestic market is flooded with goods from the East Coast). What adverse impact it will have on the United Provinces is a question that the three-level parliament has to consider.But it doesn't matter, at least so far, the so-called "sense of justice" of the East Coast people has also had a lot of positive effects on the mediation of the United Provinces, hasn't it?

(End of this chapter)