New Shun 1730

The expectations of the wealthy merchants in the Thirteen Colonies were beautiful, and the reality was also beautiful.

The French fleet had long been an administrative navy.

It is completely understandable that civilian officials are in charge of the army, as it is the only way to centralize power. However, the civilian officials have squeezed out the naval commander and made him have no say, which is a bit too administrative.

There are still some differences between the army and government departments, and the army cannot be regarded as a government department.

The French navy is hard to describe.

There are the best designers in the world, who can make a genius like Euler rank second in the Mathematical Application Competition for Ship Design; there are 74-gun battleships that are the best sailing ship templates before steam ironclad ships, which can really be used until the era of steam ships; there is a system of "regular service, and one-third of the military pay for registered reserve sailors" established by Colbert decades ago, and there is no shortage of sailors.

However, the navy is bad.

France's geopolitical environment does not even make France eligible to choose between land and sea.

Britain can build a navy with all its strength and make sailing ships the most reliable wall of Britain; if France puts all its energy on the navy, it may be defeated by Austria, the Netherlands and Spain on land.

Of course, Dashun also has similar problems, but the problem is that France is only the size of Sichuan Province, while Dashun is more than ten provinces as big as Sichuan...

Without sea control, colonial wars are lost.

Louisbourg is on Cape Breton Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. To be more intuitive, if the Gulf of St. Lawrence is compared to the Bohai Bay and Quebec is compared to the capital, the location of Louisbourg is exactly the Weihaiwei naval base of Dashun.

Located on the southern peninsula of the bay, it can directly block the bay. The location can be said to be quite good, otherwise Dashun would not have built a naval base in Weihaiwei or Lushun Port.

But the problem also comes from this. The premise of a good location is to have sea control.

With sea control, such a location is perfect as a naval base and fortress fortress area. It can be said that the site selection is very scientific.

But without sea control, what else can such a protruding Cape Island do except surrender when it is blocked?

This is similar to if Dashun bought Cape Town now, but before it could gain a foothold in Ceylon, it hurriedly found the gold mines in South Africa, which would be like making wedding clothes for others.

The core of France being cheated by Liu Yu is the same.

Without sea control, Liu Yu ignited the ginseng fever too early, and it was when France was busy with the European war.

This is like a three-year-old child holding a gold brick. Asking for a fight.

Even so, the French did not forget to thank Liu Yu.

In particular, they felt that Liu Yu was a good person, bringing such a good trade to France, earning hundreds of thousands of taels of silver before, which greatly increased France's continuous combat capability on the European continent.

This is the highest realm of cheating people, not only making the other party feel not being cheated, but also being deeply grateful to the other party.

Two months after the British colonial merchants launched the "Ginseng War", France had to raise the white flag and surrender at Port Louis, an important port in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Like Dupleix in India, France was confident in defending the city by land warfare.

However, without sea control, the French navy seemed dead when the British Caribbean Fleet arrived, and did not show up at all. It was an extraordinary performance of the French to hold on for two months.

After Louisburg was captured, a large number of New England militias made a fortune.

The many ginseng and mink furs that were not transported away in time in the fortress not only made the British colonial merchants who invested in this ginseng war return their money, but also made a fortune.

Those colonial militias who came with them also got some, which made them more determined to continue fighting.

Once Louisburg was broken, Quebec at the mouth of the river seemed to be just around the corner, as long as the French navy could not support it.

But in the following battle, the militias in the New England region felt the malice of the Dashun side.

They had just captured Louisburg.

Indians in the area north of New York State attacked colonial villages and towns in New England in groups.

Bloody revenge is a custom of tribal society.

Since white people slaughtered Indians, Indians also slaughtered white people in the same way. The Bible also encourages tooth for tooth and eye for eye.

Everyone repays an eye for an eye. If you cut my scalp, I will cut your scalp.

After the Lingdingyang incident, Liu Yu sent a lot of muskets to the Indians in North America. To survive on the international stage, you must do what you say.

These French Indian allies could not fight in battle, but they were very skilled in squatting in the mountains and forests to ambush and lie in the bushes to attack. They hunted the Protestant immigrants in New England like hunting.

The Indians used muskets well, and Liu Yu sent a batch of Minié rifled guns that were very suitable for ambushes, which made the Indians' combat effectiveness in sneak attacks and revenge rise sharply.

At the same time, in the Quebec region, in addition to sending some ginseng diggers, Dashun also sent a group of die-hard, devout Chinese Catholics who refused to leave the church after Dashun's strict ban on religion.

Those who still refused to leave the church under such a strict ban on religion must be absolutely devout. France has a very strict religious policy in North America, and Protestants are not allowed in the colonies. The strong Catholic atmosphere also makes these absolutely devout Chinese believers feel at home.

The French obtained the special residency from Louis XV, which also strengthened France's power in the Quebec region.

As a result, it was not so easy for the New England militia to capture Quebec.

In the southern region, a large number of Indians, under the instigation of the French or as allies of the French, constantly launched attacks on British colonies, which forced a large number of New England militias to choose to retreat to resist the increasing number of Indian sneak attacks.

Liu Yu hoped that the French would be at a disadvantage in North America, but he did not allow the British to take this opportunity to completely drive the French away.

The French navy was really disappointing.

It can only be said that fortunately, Spain had a naval genius, Admiral Bras, who died of illness after defeating the British and maintaining Spain's advantage in the Americas, as if he had completed his last mission.

As a result, Britain did not gain a comprehensive advantage in the war against Spain. Although it won in Luzon, it failed in America.

This made the British fleet unable to attack France's colonies in the Caribbean, and finally allowed France to temporarily save its underwear.

Before the ginseng trade, the French would not trade the whole of Canada for Haiti, which would eat mud cakes in the future.

If all the colonies in the Caribbean are lost, France will be completely passive this time. Although Liu Yu is pitting France, he does not want to pit it too much.

It is just right now. If the British really gain a comprehensive advantage in the colonies, post-war negotiations will not be easy.

The advantage is not great, which is very suitable for Liu Yu's planning of the European diplomatic pattern after the War of the Austrian Succession.

France cannot be defeated, but it must not win.

Some colonies can be lost in order to exchange interests after gaining an advantage in Europe.

In short, the Austrian-French contradiction is smaller than the Austro-Prussian contradiction, and the basis for the future alliance of China, Russia, Austria and France is that France cannot occupy the Austrian Netherlands or puppet the Netherlands.

The basis for the formation of the Anglo-Prussian alliance is that Britain cannot be forced by France to give up Hanover, and the King of England must have territory on the European continent, and always think about defending the "Land of Dragon Rising", and would rather give up many of Britain's interests.

As for these two foundations, at a time when France was winning victory after victory on the European battlefield, the only thing it could rely on was the tragic defeat of its overseas colonies.

Britain would return the colonies to France in exchange for France's withdrawal of troops from the Austrian Netherlands and France's recognition of the King of England's status as the Elector of Hanover.

It seems that the Austrian Netherlands and Britain do not have a great relationship, but the lowlands directly strangle the throat of the British Channel. Britain can allow the Netherlands to be armed neutral, but it must not allow France to control the Netherlands.

Once France occupied the Austrian Netherlands, the Netherlands would have no other way to go except to be a puppet vassal of France.

If France had the ports of the Netherlands, Britain would feel like a thorn in its back and a thorn in its throat, which would be absolutely unacceptable.

Similarly, the interests of overseas colonies are becoming more and more important. In order to get back its overseas colonies, France may have to accept the mediation proposal put forward by Dashun:

1: The Dashun Embassy will fund and support the Dutch parliamentary faction to drive out the Orange family, reorganize the government in the name of revolution or coup, announce that the Netherlands will join the armed neutrality alliance, and adopt a neutral policy towards the European war. The navies of the belligerent countries were not allowed to dock at the ports of the Netherlands.

2: The Netherlands abolished many treaties with Britain, including the Anglo-Dutch Mutual Defense Treaty, which was renewed indefinitely twice.

3: France withdrew its troops from the Austrian Netherlands and recognized the King of England and the Elector of Hanover as one, in exchange for Britain returning the colonies in North America and India to France.

4: If necessary, in order to ensure the neutrality of the Netherlands and abolish the Anglo-Dutch Treaty, France might give up its support for the Stuart family in exchange for the collapse of the Anglo-Dutch alliance.

As for the mess in northern Italy, Dashun really had no say at all.

But the good news was that in northern Italy, France and Spain were not fighting smoothly, and the Holy Roman Empire was suppressing France and Spain there, which could also ensure that Austria could take back the Austrian Netherlands.

This was the basic clause for Dashun to participate in the European Peace Conference and expand China's influence.

Dashun was not a major belligerent country, and this treaty would eventually require the nod of both Britain and France.

To get both Britain and France to nod, Dashun had to make some small moves. In short, the idea is to make France win in Europe and lose miserably in the colonies.

Now, the prerequisites for this concept have basically been met.

It only needs to come forward when necessary, when France feels that it is in crisis and its previous victory is difficult to maintain; when Britain feels that the French army is strong and invincible and it can't hold on if it continues to fight.

In fact, all countries are almost unable to hold on now. They have been fighting for several years and spending money like water.

If countries want to fight, they have to spend money.

If they don't have so much money, they can only borrow money.

If they want to borrow money, they have to go to the financial center.

At this time, the world's financial center is Amsterdam. The Netherlands has a policy of not prohibiting the export of gold and silver, and it also has the most relaxed financial market environment in the world at this time, and the interest rate is very low.

But...

The financial order in Amsterdam collapsed because of Dashun's voyage to Southeast Asia.

So, naturally, this war that lasted for several years because of the Austrian succession issue has actually come to an end and is about to end.

Although the European people could not see the dawn of the end of the war, Liu Yu, who was far away in Dashun, had already seen the dawn of the armistice.

All the Dashun envoys had to do was wait.

When France could no longer hold on, they would mediate and make a proposal acceptable to both sides, and then promote smuggling under the banner of armed neutral trade. Then, when the trade conflict between Britain and the Netherlands reached its peak, the fleet would enter Amsterdam to help the Netherlands win the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War and abolish Britain's "Navigation Acts".