1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 732 Sea Power
April 1657, 4, Jianye, Qi Palace, Chongzheng Hall.

Huang Zijia, Minister of Honglu Temple, and Ji Changrong, Zuo Qing, looked at each other with some unease, and then continued to stand with hands down, waiting for King Qi's decision.

"Does this so-called British envoy have a diplomatic power of attorney from the British government?"

"...The British envoy claims that its East India Company in India can represent the British government." Zuo Qing Ji Changrong hesitated for a moment, and said boldly.

"Really?" Qi Tian smiled playfully.

At this time, the British East India Company was not as strong as it was in the 18th century. It only obtained the British government's eastern trade license, and it was not exclusive.Unexpectedly, they dared to pretend to be the name of the British government and come to Hanzhou to bluff and deceive for commercial benefits.

"What are the opinions of other departments in the cabinet?" King Qi gently placed the document in his hand on the table.

"Returning to the king, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce's opinion is that the British should be allowed to trade in order to expand the sales channels of our country's products and exchange British specialties. Here, the Dutch family should not be the only one." said Chen Guangxing, Minister of Industry and Commerce.

"What's the opinion of the military?" Qi Tian turned his gaze to Qi Dajiang.

"My lord, my military opinion is that the United Kingdom is an island country hanging on the sea alone in Europe, and its strength is limited. It might as well allow it to enter India and Southeast Asia to share the power of the Dutch people." Qi Dajiang, chief of the general staff of the military department, bowed and said: "Although we maintain good relations with the Dutch at the moment, it is hard to guarantee that there will be twists and turns in the future because of the Nanyang and Indian affairs. Therefore, we can follow the example of the Portuguese and unite with the barbarians to control the barbarians."

"Your Majesty." Huang Zijia bowed and said, "It was rumored that the British were going to raid our mainland of Hanzhou. The British envoy claimed that this was a nonsense rumor, and that someone used it to slander the reputation of the British and sow discord between the two countries. In addition The British envoy also said that if we can establish normal diplomatic, economic and trade relations with our Qi country, they can lend our support in the Guangning Fort lease, and put pressure on the Kingdom of Banten to force it to submit.”

"Heh, do we still need the help of the British to seek the small land of Guangning?" Qi Tian sneered, "Even if we need to use external force to force the Kingdom of Banten to submit, then how can our country join hands with the Dutch East India Company?" Wouldn't it be more effective?"

"Uniting the East India Company will naturally put a heavy pressure on Banten. But with this move, it is hard to guarantee that the Dutch will not use it to seek more benefits from the Banten Kingdom." Huang Zijia said tactfully.

Compared with Qi's more "civilized" colonial method, the eating habits of the Dutch are much uglier.In recent years, with Batavia as the center, the East India Company has continuously expanded to the east, south, and west by force. Slowly encroaching on Tangerang, almost tripled Batavia's control range compared to before.This also made the Wandan Kingdom dare not forcefully claim the Guangning Fort occupied by the Qi State in the face of such an increasingly severe situation.

Out of the memories of later generations, in this time and space, Qi Tian was full of deep fear of Britain.If we look at the course of history, the United Kingdom will rise rapidly through a series of wars and the subsequent industrial revolution in the next hundred years, and will successively overthrow the world's ocean overlords such as the Netherlands and Spain, and then unite with a group of Continental countries, through the besieging of France, shattered the establishment of continental power, and finally achieved the status of British global hegemony.

How can such a potentially powerful maritime country be considered an island country with limited strength in an isolated ocean?Even if it is not yet developed, it is still a big country with a population of more than 500 million.The Anglo-Dutch war that broke out a few years ago put the maritime overlord of the Netherlands into a state of embarrassment, and had to beg for peace.

"Everyone, if the Qing captives completely occupy the mainland and have the power of the whole country, can we gather all the troops on the mainland to fight against them?" After pondering for a moment, Qi Tian suddenly asked.

"...I'm afraid it will be difficult to fight with one of them." Qi Dajiang shook his head and said.

"If our country of Qi doesn't allow the Qing captives to entangle themselves on land, but instead uses the advantage of ships to frequently harass the mainland, what might the Qing captives do to me?"

"The Qinglu navy is almost non-existent, and will not pose any threat to our navy at all."

"If the Qing captives are invaded by powerful barbarians again in the north, can they deal with both land and sea attacks at the same time for a long time?"

"...With the power to clear the captives, it may be difficult to deal with the threats from powerful enemies from both land and sea at the same time." Qi Dajiang thought for a while and said: "If this is the case, we will definitely give up one direction."

"In today's world, there are two hegemonic models, land power and sea power." Qi Tian stood up slowly, walked to the side of the hall, and opened the curtain, revealing a huge map of the world.Seeing this, a guard officer immediately picked up a teaching stick and handed it to him.

"More than a thousand years ago, Emperor Qin unified the six countries and established the Great Qin Empire. After that, through the Han and Tang Dynasties, we have become a land power dominated by Chinese civilization. Hundreds of years ago, the Mongolian Yuan expanded the empire's territory to The ultimate. Not only our Chinese civilization, but also the Roman Empire, the Arab Empire, the Persian Empire, and even the current Ottoman Empire in the west, all of which have created powerful land hegemony through land conquest."

"However, since 200 years ago, Spain and Portugal started the great world ocean exploration activities, and thus occupied huge colonies, becoming the earliest world empire. You know, Spain and Portugal originally lived in remote areas. On the peninsula, not only the local area is narrow, but also the population is not abundant. It is placed in the European continent, which is not considered a big country. But such a small country has established a huge global empire."

"Why?... The sea is here!" Qi Tian took a teaching stick and pointed heavily at the location of the large ocean area on the map. , staking land, seized countless colonies, and also acquired massive wealth, and then supported their huge empires that far exceeded the size of their own countries."

"As latecomers, the Dutch also followed in the footsteps of Spain and Portugal decades ago, and achieved another global ocean hegemony in a very short period of time. In this era, with the expansion of the ocean, with the With the development of ship technology and the advancement of navigation methods, future wealth will come from the sea, and future hegemony will also be born on the sea.”

"In this era, whoever controls the ocean controls the world. Whoever has absolute sea power can achieve maritime hegemony, and even global hegemony. But looking at the European countries, although Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands have successively established a It is a global empire, but it has a fatal weakness. That is, the three countries are located on the European continent, surrounded by powerful enemies. On the side of Portugal is Spain; to the north of Spain is the mighty France; As for the Netherlands, the situation is even worse. It is not only surrounded by France, but also Spain (Spanish Netherlands), Shinra, and many German states. With such a geographical disadvantage, if you are not careful, you will be involved in the European war. To divide their ocean power. The hegemony of these countries will decline, and it will be a matter of time.”

"That's why our country of Qi has no scruples to make friends with the Dutch people. It is because of the poor geographical situation in the Netherlands and its limited national power that it has not been able to focus on overseas colonial scrambles. It is not a big threat to our country?" Cabinet Prime Minister Zhang Wenqi Ruo Thoughtful, "In this way, our Qi State monopolizes the Hanzhou Continent, and there are no strong enemies in it, which is an excellent geographical advantage. Our Qi State only needs to fully develop its sea power, which is enough to maintain and expand our future overseas interests. .”

"That's right." Qi Tian smiled and nodded, then moved the teaching stick in his hand to the northwest edge of the continent, pointing to the location of the UK, "Although the UK is isolated on the sea, it is inconvenient to communicate with the continent, but its independent The geographical location ensures that they can completely stay out of the situation of continental disputes, and then wait for opportunities. The United Kingdom is a country with the same geographical shape as our country, so they can also focus on the development of the sea. power without fear of invasion by a strong neighbor (at this time, Scotland is a Commonwealth, although not formally part of the United Kingdom).

In fact, whether the geographical location is good or bad depends on the scientific level and economic development.

For example, in the farming era, China's geographical location is the best in the world. China faces the sea in the east, undeveloped rainforest in the south, and boundless snow-capped mountains and deserts in the west. Only the north has close contact with nomads.

This makes China relatively easy to defend and difficult to attack, as long as the nomads in the north can be defended, and at the same time, due to the contacts with the nomads in the north, China is not isolated from the world, unlike the American Indians, who are locked in a In a closed geographical environment.

In addition, China also has the three major water systems of the Yellow River, the Yangtze River and the Pearl River, so it is very convenient for agricultural development. Therefore, China has always been the most advanced civilization in the world before the 15th century. To a large extent, it has enjoyed this unique geographical advantage.

However, the great voyages that began in the 15th century and the subsequent great geographical discoveries brought new sources of wealth to the world, and at the same time turned China's geographical advantage into a geographical defect.

Because, after that, the Central Plains dynasty not only had to deal with the nomads from the north, but also had to deal with the challenges from the sea. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, although China enjoyed the benefits of overseas trade, it also paid a heavy price for it. .

From the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, Japanese pirates’ raids and Japan’s invasion of Korea brought harm to China far greater than the income from maritime trade. consumed the national power of the Ming Dynasty).

However, for an island country like the United Kingdom, the great voyage is a rare historical opportunity, allowing them to finally have the possibility of becoming rich and handsome, and then realizing class changes.

However, in the early days of the great voyage, Britain was not a beneficiary, because at the southern tip of Europe, Spain and Portugal on the Iberian Peninsula, their geographical location was better, and the wealth brought by the New World was the first. The empire on which the sun never sets is actually Spain.

So how did the British stand out?

Is it Magna Carta?Is it a parliamentary system?

Of course not, we were really fooled by foreigners in the early days of the spread of Western learning to the east.

The Magna Carta and the three-level conference in France are essentially changing the soup without changing the medicine. They are both the product of the struggle between the king and the nobles in the feudal era. As for the parliamentary system, the Dutch federal republic is better.

Objectively speaking, during the Tudor dynasty, that is, Henry VIII, who especially liked to cut off his wife's head, and his sons and daughters, Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth, had always pursued feudal centralization.

So don't say that the political system changed Britain, because from 1588, England under Queen Elizabeth defeated the Spanish Armada, to January 1649, 1, when Charles I was beheaded, and the subsequent Duke of the Protectorate The Renwell dictatorship, the restoration of Charles II, until the downfall of James II in 30, the British Civil War and the autocratic system, tossed for another 1688 years.

But during this period of time, Britain has replaced Spain as the number one maritime power in Europe, so it is pure nonsense to say that Britain succeeded by relying on the system. At most, Britain is transitioning their maritime hegemony to world hegemony. There has been a certain impetus.

The British constitutional monarchy and democratic parliamentary system that we talk about today were all developed after the rise of the UK.

So what is the innovation that really put the British on the stage of history?

It's a naval battle tactic!

That notorious pirate Drake changed the tactics of naval warfare, and that's the key.

Before the Spanish Armada invaded England in 1588, naval warfare tactics had actually remained unchanged for more than 1000 years.It is all approaching the enemy's ships, and then relying on help to board the opponent's warships, and fighting naval battles as land battles, land powers are not afraid of some so-called sea powers.

The Battle of Lepanto in 1571 was the pinnacle of this tactic. Don Juan, the half-brother of King Philip II of Spain, led 28 European allied forces and took more than 000 warships against Ali Pasha. The Ottoman fleet has more than 200 people and more than 3 warships.

Although this battle was called a naval battle, it was actually a land battle fought on deck. After a brief collision and bombardment, the warships of both sides immediately boarded each other under the cover of muskets and bows. Engage in hand-to-hand combat.

The Spaniards, with stronger muskets, thicker breastplates, and sharper swords, finally prevailed and won this epic victory.

Therefore, before 1588, the Spaniards who were the strongest on land in Europe were the well-deserved kings at sea.

If the British still stick to tradition at this time and fight the traditional boarding battle with the Spaniards, they will not be the opponents of the Spaniards at all.

But the British pirates headed by Drake inadvertently changed history. In order to catch up with the Spanish galleons that transported gold and silver, they had improved the traditional galleons, and their speed was faster. The manipulation is more flexible, the artillery is stronger and the range is longer.

So they no longer fought side-to-side with the Spaniards, but changed to long-distance bombardment. We will not fight with you hand-to-hand, but only fight with you from a distance.Although the effect was not very obvious in the initial stage, it was a decisive progress. The naval battle has since become a competition of warship maneuverability and firepower, rather than a comparison of the hand-to-hand combat capabilities of both sides. Manpower is no longer the decisive factor.

Therefore, as an island country with insufficient resources, the British found that they had the strength to confront the land powers.

Because of this military revolution, the biggest weakness of the island nation - its isolation overseas - has become its biggest advantage. As long as it has a strong navy, it is absolutely safe.

Prior to this, the traditional maritime powers were all coastal continental countries, such as Genoa, Venice, and later France and Spain. Their weaknesses were fully exposed, because they had to deal with land and sea at the same time. enemy.

Therefore, although the absolute strength of Britain in the early days was not as good as these countries, it could concentrate resources to develop its navy, so it had an advantage instead.

In addition, with the advent of the age of great navigation, the wealth brought by the sea can rival the wealth on land. Britain, which has command of the sea, naturally stands out.

This is the key to their success.

In later generations, my Qing Dynasty had to deal with the rebellion in the northwest, regain remote Xinjiang, guard against Russia in the north, French Vietnam in the south, British India in the southwest, and North Korea, so it involved too much energy. As for making the overall resources not as good as its own Japan (of course there are also political and military corruption).

And after the British became a sea power, they did two more things right next.

The first thing is that they have tried their best to control the key shipping channels. When Mahan wrote the theory of sea power, he mentioned that the reason why Britain can become an empire on which the sun never sets is because they control Gibraltar, Singapore, and Egypt. and South Africa.

All key shipping nodes leading to Europe are under the control of the British, so the fate of all European countries is subject to the British.

The second thing is to do everything possible to undermine the unity and unity of Europe, because as long as European countries are divided and confronted, they will not be able to build a strong army and navy at the same time, and it will be impossible to challenge Britain's commitment to the world. Control.

In fact, the Midi of the later generations is also an island country in essence, so its foreign strategy is destined to be the same as that of the United Kingdom back then. Any land power that takes the lead.

"So, for the future, we must plan as early as possible on some key routes and plan with all our strength. In this way, when our country's strength is growing day by day and we participate in the future world sea power competition, we can take a certain advantage. As for a potential maritime competitor like the United Kingdom, it is natural to carry out necessary strikes and weakening wherever Qi's power is within reach."

"Your Majesty is a sage, I am in admiration!"

Many cabinet ministers and military staff in the palace admire King Qi's global vision and long-term strategic layout.

"Therefore, in the next few hundred years, the seizure and maintenance of sea power will be an important foreign policy that our country of Qi will never change and must be firmly implemented."
-
The fourth volume of "Fengyun" is over
(End of this chapter)