Hidden Dragon in Qing Dynasty

The 1868 crisis of succession to the throne of Spain actually dates back to 1700, 168 years ago, when Charles II inherited it.

On November 1, 1700, Charles II of the King of Spain passed away, without a heir to the throne. According to the relationship, it could be inherited by either the Habsburg of the Austria or the Bourbon dynasty of France.

But he was also the brother-in-law of the Emperor of France's Louis XIV. On the other hand, Europe was different from China, without those so-called bloodline restrictions, women could all be queens, and it was common for wives and families to inherit the throne.

At that time, the Emperor of France, Louis XIV, continued this relationship and actively engaged in diplomacy with Spain. In the end, Charles II's will decided to pass the throne on to the grandson of Louis XIV, Anjou Philip.

How could the other kingdoms not know that Charles II ruled not only Spain, but also a small duchy of Italy, part of the modern Belgium, including the vast colonies of America, Asia, and Africa?

Once the grandson of Louis XIV ascended the throne, she would naturally reap the most benefits from these territories, at a time when France was in its heyday, when India, Madagascar, Canada, and the colonies along the Mississippi River all began.

It was because of such a strong nation that Louis XIV dared to build the magnificent Versailles.

Now he put his black hand in the pocket of Spain, and if he took control of the Spanish colonies, there would be no end to the strength of France.

Because of this, Britain, the Netherlands, the Austria and the Prussians within the borders of the Germany all opposed it. They formed an alliance and decided to fight against France. Thus, from 1701 onwards, the Spanish War of Succession broke out.

The war lasted from 1701 to 1713, both sides winning and losing, but in general it was the British, the Austria, and the Prussian armies that held the upper hand. If the Northern Russia had not been on the move, perhaps neither side would have been able to conclude a ceasefire by 1713.

On April 11, 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed with France and Spain on one side and Britain, the Netherlands, Brandenburg, Savoy and the Portugal on the other. In 1714, Offa signed the Rushtat Peace.

After this war, the momentum of France's rapid expansion of its national power was severely defeated, and many colonies, including territories, were ceded. In fact, the North America lost the most of the colonies, and even some of the territories in Italy and the Southern Germany were taken.

But France kept Philip's throne and the Bourbon dynasty finally took control of Spain. In order to prevent France and Spain from unifying into a single country, the British made it clear in the treaty that Philip and his descendants would never inherit the throne of France and that Spain and France would never merge.

This was the root of Spain's chaotic inheritance rights. Europe had a very complex lineage of nobility, and they even needed to train special officials to spend their entire lives researching them. Sometimes, kings couldn't figure out the relationship between themselves and other kings, and had to rely on professional calculations from thick files.

Why did European aristocracy have such a long name? It was not meaningless, every word of the name represented a person's identity, and those who were truly knowledgeable could easily understand a person's family background just by looking at their name.

The perverted and useless Yi Suobeila had already made a complete mess of Spain. Even if the French provided her with more military and financial support, they would not be able to withstand her repeated defeats. The people's hearts were already gone, they would not be able to support themselves up the wall anymore.

Now that all the countries were considering the issue of the successor, the French side of course hoped that Yi Suobeila's son Alfonso could succeed the throne. Although there were rumors saying that this child was born from a love affair between Yi Suobeila and Attendant, none of the Europeans cared about the bloodline.

As long as Alfonso was the biological son of Yi Suobeila, he was the son of the Bourbon dynasty and was born to kiss France. Of course, they were also afraid of the future retaliation from Alfonso, so they set their sights on the other legal inheritance system of the Spanish throne.

That was the Habsburg. Through vast amounts of genetic data, the Interim Government finally decided on two candidates, one was an Italian aristocrat, and the other was Prince Leopold, who lived in Prussia. These two people's bloodline was the closest to that of the Spanish royalty.

The Italian candidate was obviously just there to make up the numbers. There were only two people who had the power to compete for the Spanish throne: Alfonso, supported by France, and Prince Leopold, supported by Prussia and the Spanish Interim Government.

The fuse of the Franco-Prussian war was finally lit, but no one expected that the one who lit it was a Chinese woman, Fang Guan.

Fang Guan accepted the secret orders from the Prussian Prime Minister Iron-Blood, and with the help of a large number of his intelligence personnel, he purposely revealed to the Netherlands the heavyweight information that Prussia was prepared to support Prince Reopp in inheriting the throne of Spain.

The French intelligence officer began to move that night. The whole of Europe was abuzz, and with the intentional disclosure from Prussia, a few top secret messages were quickly spread to the other countries of English and French.

Napoleon was furious. He did not expect Prussia to have a plan to secretly escort Leopold back to Spain. The Prussian navy would secretly escort Leopold to La Coruna in the name of training him into the Atlantic Ocean.

He also started to hire elite Prussian veterans. When the situation had gotten to a certain point, he would join the Interim Government in sending troops into Madrid and announce the succession of the throne.

"Too shameless!" Prussia... You are all bastards! The Spanish of France will never allow you to get involved... "Send word down to the French navy, seal the English Channel and keep a close eye on the Prussian navy."

"Inform the British that they must suppress Prussia's ambitions. A united Germany is not in our interest!"

The entire French army started to move, and the Main fleet in the port immediately went to the sea to seal the bay of Biscay, the English Channel and the southern part of the North Sea.

The French diplomats took action, and three days later nine protesting messages arrived in Berlin, demanding an explanation from Prussia. The ambassador in London had been in the palace for four hours, and then the British and the British had been sent out to join the blockade of France.

A strong smell of gunpowder came from the skies of Europe!