New Shun 1730

The Dutch problem is not just a Dutch problem.

If Dashun wants to make Europe a dumping market, the Netherlands is the best "concession".

Because the Netherlands is the estuary of the most important waterway in Western Europe, the Rhine River. And through the well-connected canals, the Rhine River and the Danube River are connected.

Through the water transport network of the Rhine and the Danube, goods can be delivered to the entire Central Europe.

And it is connected to the Baltic Sea above, France, the richest country in Western Europe below, and the United Kingdom across the sea to the west.

This kind of concession and comprador advantage of "the main waterway flows into the estuary" is incomparable. After the opening of the five ports in history, Guangdong's trade soon began to decline and moved to Songjiang Prefecture. This is a natural geographical advantage. Relying on the huge advantage of water transport depth, the Pearl River is too short after all.

Moreover, it should be said that in Western Europe at this time, the Netherlands is the place with the strongest commercial capital.

Its royal family was already incompetent, the federal parliament was basically half dead, and the tax farmers, city regents, and Amsterdam financiers were the real rulers of the Netherlands.

This huge advantage was not available in Britain, because the British land aristocracy was still the real ruling class at this time, and its strength was so strong that industrial and commercial capital could only rely on the new faction among the land aristocracy to form a pan-Whig alliance.

As in history, starting from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, every war and every warlord melee would cause more capital to flee to Songjiang Prefecture, where there were concessions and foreign marines.

And there will be no fewer wars in Europe in the future. As long as Dashun can guarantee the neutrality of the Netherlands and deter other countries from taking action against the Netherlands, after this war, including capital in London, will also run to the Netherlands at a rapid speed.

However, after the end of this war, it is foreseeable that France will regain its hegemony in Europe, Prussia will be broken up, and Austria will lead Germany. The Franco-Austrian contradiction will once again become the main contradiction on the European continent.

By then, the troublesome "natural border" of France, the Catholic Belgian region, and the status of the Austrian Netherlands...are almost the powder kegs and fuses of war in Western and Central Europe.

This means that Dashun must exert more strength to ensure the neutrality of the Netherlands and ensure that several major European powers recognize the neutrality of the Netherlands.

It may even be necessary to use strong military force to force the Belgian region to demilitarize and actually semi-independent - this is also the confidence and security needs of capital, otherwise, the French will run to the lowlands, and capital would rather go to London or North America with the protection of the strait and the ocean.

In addition, it is necessary to ensure the "internationalization of the waterway" of the Rhine and a certain degree of the Rhine Customs Union at the spoils-sharing conference after the war.

From the perspective of class interests, this is not a big problem for the time being.

The Junker landlords, or the noble landlords of the Holy Roman Empire, do not oppose the low tariff policy for industrial products.

From the perspective of the economic activities they are engaged in, they oppose the duty-free import of raw materials, especially the raw materials that their estates can produce, and Dashun certainly does not export raw materials.

This problem naturally requires the help of France. To get something from France, Britain must be pressed hard on the Hanover issue to ensure that Britain gives up the Hanoverian electorate, and these things must be obtained by continuing to put pressure on Britain and fighting wars.

Moreover, on the issue of post-war Europe, Dashun must also come up with a convincing, at least dominant, plan for dividing the spoils, especially how to divide Prussia and how to temporarily suppress the contradictions between Austria and France. For example, is Austria willing to take back Silesia in exchange for the permanent neutralization and demilitarization of the Belgian region? If not, is Dashun willing to deter Austria and force it to accept it at the cost of possibly being involved in another war?

It seems that Dashun and Austria have nothing to do with each other, but in fact this is not completely unworkable.

The breaking point is Poland.

Poland's strange system of electing a king and the European geopolitical situation after Dashun's participation in the war made the destruction of Prussia inevitable. Silesia must be returned to Austria.

The current Polish king is not young anymore. Once he dies, the kingship will be chosen. Isn't Russia's attack on Prussia this time just for the purpose of advancing westward? If Russia doesn't think about the succession to the Polish throne, it will be a disaster.

If it can seize this opportunity, Dashun can completely avoid participating in the war and propose a plan of "dividing Poland in exchange for Belgium", that is, using the demilitarization of the Austrian Netherlands, that is, Belgium - the demilitarization of Belgium actually means semi-independence and will be closer to France - in exchange for mediation of the Polish issue. With a little deterrence, Austria can accept the division of Poland and the recapture of Silesia to maintain a fragile peace between Austria and France.

Because, once Prussia dies, Austrian diplomats should understand that the foundation of the Franco-Russian alliance has been laid, and another diplomatic reversal around Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans is coming: the original sacrilegious alliance is about to collapse, the alliance between France and Turkey will be broken, and the alliance between France and Russia will be formed; the alliance between Austria and Russia will be broken, and the alliance between Austria and Turkey will be formed.

Against this background, as long as Dashun shows enough willingness, it is completely possible to achieve the Dutch plan.

Once this post-war structure was completed, the Netherlands would become the financial center of Europe, a transit point for East-West trade, and the gateway for Eastern cotton cloth to enter the Holy Roman Empire.

In addition, Dashun's industry, which is about to begin rapid development, will receive low-interest loans from Europe. Europe, the place with the most gold and silver at this time, will use a large amount of precious metals as a booster for Dashun's infrastructure and industrial take-off.

A neutral Netherlands with no domestic industry, free flow of precious metals, a Netherlands that relies on Eastern trade goods to absorb European gold and silver, a concentration of financial capital, and interest rates much lower than Dashun, is the best Netherlands.

This will also greatly divide European capital groups. Industrial capital based on the country and financial capital aiming at the world will not be able to integrate.

With the new gold and silver mines in North America temporarily immobilized, and against the background of a higher return on capital for the initial industrialization of Dashun, Europe will soon fall into a strange lack of investment capital.

At least some people in Dashun's decision-making circle want to achieve this ambitious goal, and hope that the war will continue for another two or three years. The longer the better, and take advantage of the chaos to let Dashun's products seize West Africa and North America, which are not strictly regulated due to the war. and national protected area markets in Europe.

But it is also obvious that not everyone in Dashun supports this goal, because it may destroy the fragile balance of power within Dashun, and the emperor himself is old and worried about whether the prince can maintain governance in the future. There are also new schools and The rapid rise and power of the industrial and commercial class.

…………

At the same time, news of the Battle of Gibraltar had been sent back to London by several British officers on the ship who had handed over the ship first.

William Pitt locked himself in a room, unable to bear the tremendous pain caused by his mania and gout. He was smashing the expensive Chinese porcelain in the room to relieve his inner anxiety.

His anxiety did not stem from the loss of Gibraltar.

At this point in the war, losing Gibraltar is no longer a big deal. After the Dashun fleet appeared off the coast of Gibraltar and killed Bosken, the fall of Gibraltar was only a matter of time.

This obviously foreseeable tactical failure will not make Peter's heart collapse to the point of anxiety.

Peter's anxiety stems from his love for his motherland.

Others call him "little patriot", "patriotic doll" and "patriot party", but he never thinks it is a shameful thing.

Although in fact these nobles who called him such names were actually mocking him. But he was still very happy.

To be precise, his anxiety at this time stems from his love for the motherland, as well as his own arrogance and self-confidence.

To put it simply, in Pitt's opinion: the king is a fool, the Duke of Newcastle is a fool, the nobles in the House of Lords are basically fools, and the animals in the House of Commons are mostly fools.

If you expect a bunch of idiots to lead the UK, the advantages that the UK has accumulated over the years will be completely destroyed.

At least, in his opinion, most people in the parliament are stupid.

No one but him can take charge of Britain.

In the words of Frederick II: After so many years, Britain finally gave birth to a man, William Pitt.

When William Pitt first entered the government as an opposition member and served as Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Pitt said to the then chief minister of the cabinet, Duke Cavendish: "My Lord, I believe I can save This country, no one else can save this country except me].

This kind of pride or self-confidence made him always believe that his appearance was to save the country.

Apart from him, he felt that the rest of the cabinet members were basically not very smart and they were all a group of people who lacked understanding of the world.

It's a coincidence, or it's essentially the same thing. People with the title "Patriot Party" will always lead the ignored voices in this country.

William Pitt believed that he was "the voice of the British people that pushed him to that position and came to save Britain and make Britain great again."

He represents the "politically neglected fringe" who are unable to raise their voices loud enough at this time.

Of course, times are changing.

At this time, the “politically ignored and voiceless marginalized groups” in the UK were industrialists, businessmen, and private company shareholders. Because the people who can make a sound at this time are the British aristocrats, and the scope of "people" is still quite small. Three to four hundred thousand people are considered people, and the rest are not. But only if you are a person first, then you can be "unable to make a sound" "marginal people".

At the beginning of the war, Pitt used the attitude of a "true patriot" and clearly opposed Britain's involvement in the European war, questioning whether the king was British or German.

Using the shooting of John Bean, he launched the biggest public opinion war, building John Bean into a tragic hero and constantly saying that this was tyranny and that British cities should gain greater freedom and autonomy.

For this reason, he became the first person to receive the medal of honor (reedom Honoris Causa) in London's Financial Street, and the entire London Financial Street cheered for the "freedom" promised by Peter.

Businessmen, private company shareholders in cities, Chester, Worcester, Norwich, Bedford, Salisbury, Yarmouth, Tewkesbury, Newcastle upon Tyne, Stirling The "citizens who could speak out" in the city all gave Pete great support.

Compare this to the Newcastle cabinet's incompetence, failure, loss of troops and generals in the early stages of the war.

Pitt's prestige reached its peak in the "miracle year" after he came to power, including the capture of Louisbourg in North America, two consecutive epic tactical victories of Prussia, and the completion of the blockade of the French navy.

Those who were legally considered human beings in the UK, but whose voices were marginalized by the aristocracy, praised: This is the first head of government in British history who was not appointed by the king or elected by the aristocracy.

When Pitt shouted that he would fight the war to the end, destroy the merchant ships and trade capabilities of France and Spain, and completely prevent their possibility of revenge, the marginalized people in the whole of Britain cheered and supported him to fight the war to the end, until France and Spain completely lost their colonies and trade capabilities.

But...

But Dashun joined the war. Bosken was killed, India was completely lost, the East India Company was on the verge of destruction, West Indian merchant ships were infinitely hijacked, and smuggling in North America was rampant...

The bourgeoisie who once fanatically supported him and lacked the right to speak in aristocratic politics had a 180-degree reversal of attitude.

The financial street began to criticize Pitt's radical policies. The West India Chamber of Commerce asked where the trade growth brought by the war promised by Pitt was. The textile craftsmen in Lancashire asked when they could get jobs. The people who bought the national debt asked how Pitt would fulfill his promise to repay the national debt.

The nobles were against him, but he didn't care because he had the support of the bourgeoisie who had been marginalized politically for a long time.

Now, the bourgeoisie also began to oppose him weakly and question him. They didn't think he was the savior, nor did they think he was the one who could expand their trade.

More importantly, his family ally, his brother-in-law, George Grenwell, betrayed him.

The old king died, and the new king had not yet ascended the throne. George Grenwell took the initiative to extend an olive branch to the new king. Before that, Grenwell's promise was to stand with him and threaten to resign together, so that the king dared not move lightly.

Now, in Pitt's eyes, the entire parliament is a group of insects, a group of waste, a group of sissies, and a group of people without vision.

The nobles were stupid, the bourgeoisie who had awarded him the Medal of Honor of the City of London were stupid, and the industrial and commercial representatives of various cities who had enthusiastically written to him and supported him were stupid.

The whole country was hopeless.

He felt that he was afraid that he could not save Britain.

Because he vaguely sensed what Dashun wanted. And he vaguely understood that once Dashun's demands were met, Britain would be completely finished.