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Chapter 1292 European Allied Forces
Faced with such a blatant provocation, Philip IV and Ferdinand III sent envoys to urge Louis XIII to speed up the formation of a coalition army. However, the weapons, equipment and logistical supplies they promised were always delayed, with less than 40% arriving.

At this time, representatives of the warring countries were gathering in the Louvre to discuss the number of troops and attack routes. However, they did not have enough cards in their hands so far, so how could they not be anxious and frustrated.

"Mr. Prime Minister, in your opinion, should the coalition's main attack be on land or on the sea?"

At this time, the door of a room not far away opened a crack, and a tall, thin, well-dressed, bald man floated out like a ghost. After a brief observation, he immediately locked onto Richelieu's position and greeted him enthusiastically as he walked.

"Mr. Speaker, many employees of the East India Company have returned to Europe. You should have more say in this regard!"

Without looking back, Richelieu knew from the accent that it was the President of the Dutch Provincial Parliament and the President of the East India Company Council. Most of the other countries participating in the coalition sent prime ministers and chief ministers, only the United Provinces Republic sent a businessman, who seemed out of place.

Even so, no one at the meeting raised any objection, because the Dutch East India Company was too rich. In that republic where merchants could be deeply involved in state affairs, the status of merchants was somewhat different from that in other European countries, and they could indeed influence policies to a certain extent.

"From a familiar perspective, the Netherlands is better at naval warfare and can provide more help in naval warfare. Unfortunately, the Ming Empire is also very good at naval warfare, and its ships and naval guns are better than those of the Netherlands.

If we launch an attack from land, the Republic will be useless. But if we attack from the sea, we are not sure of defeating the Ming Empire Navy, which makes me and the parliamentarians very conflicted. "

This big man is Andris Bick, the brother of Mayor Cornelis, who accompanied the Prince of Orange to the capital for negotiations.

After receiving a letter from his brother confirming the failure of the negotiations, he secretly rushed to Paris to attend this very critical meeting, preparing to strive for the greatest interests for the Republic on issues such as the composition of the coalition forces and the direction of attack.

"Is their navy really that powerful? Even if Spain, France, England and the Republic formed a coalition, it would be difficult to defeat it?"

In the eyes of most Europeans, the Spanish Armada must be the most powerful navy in the world at that time, and there is no other. Even the British Navy, which once defeated the Invincible Armada, would admit this very frankly.

As the Prime Minister of France, Richelieu could not escape cognitive defects and had deep doubts about the strength assessment given by Anders, even though the other party knew more about Asia and the Ming Empire.

"Excuse me for being blunt, sir! If the entire Ming Empire Navy were deployed to Enniao Port, the coalition would have no advantage in this naval battle. Although I have never seen them fight at sea, I have heard countless descriptions of them in the logbooks and from the mouths of the crew.

It was a very fast, maneuverable sailing ship, similar in size to our frigate, and equipped with 20 guns, judging by the gun ports. There was also a smaller warship that was similar to the frigate, but had more guns, probably of a smaller caliber.

The lessons learned from the Spanish and British navies showed that the guns of these two types of ships were extremely powerful, and even new warships like the New Spain could not effectively resist being penetrated by shells.

In addition, there is the range. Their naval guns can fire accurately at a longer distance and try their best to avoid entering the range of our naval guns. At this time, traditional naval warfare tactics have lost their effect, and we can't count on boarding battles, which will be very disadvantageous to us. "Andris said that he didn't understand the navy, but he had a deep understanding of naval warfare. The East India Company started with warships and mercenaries. Although they are all labeled as merchants, they are not necessarily worse than professional soldiers when they are really pulled into the battlefield.

"His Majesty Ferdinand III also believes that we should not attack via the sea, and hopes to focus on Persia. This way, we can avoid the Ming Empire's maritime advantage, and the coalition forces should be more confident in land warfare, right?"

Regardless of whether what Andres said made sense or not, Richelieu never expressed his stance, but instead brought up the opinion of the Holy Roman Emperor.

“Not really… Although the tragedy in Damascus was deliberately downplayed, it could not be hidden from everyone. According to the information obtained by the East India Company, the Venetian mercenaries and the Ottoman Guards were almost completely wiped out, and the Ming Empire’s army was only one-fifth of their size.

You have to know that among the Venetian mercenaries there are winged cavalry from Poland, hussars from Hungary and Germany, and even the Ottoman Guards. They are not a mob. Being able to defeat these troops head-on in a short period of time, their combat effectiveness should be valued. "

However, Andris seemed to be here to find faults. After disparaging the navies of European countries, he started to criticize the armies of European countries. And he not only talked about it, but also gave examples, which was a real slap in the face.

"Your Excellency the Speaker overlooked a detail. There were also French hussars among the Venetian mercenaries. According to their description, the artillery of the Ming Empire Army was very powerful, which just confirms the naval artillery you just mentioned.

But I think one or two smaller battles are not enough to explain the whole problem. War is a very troublesome thing. There are thousands of things that need to be carefully calculated, and the soldiers fighting on the front line are just one of them.

At present, the first thing we need to consider is not the combat effectiveness of the army, but how to smoothly transport the army and the necessary equipment and supplies to the front line. If this problem cannot be solved, everything else will be in vain.

I personally think that another thing that should be considered is who should lead the direction of Europe after the war. Obviously, the Habsburgs have failed, so why not let them pay more, which can be regarded as compensation to other countries. "

Richelieu was also a serious military academy student, so he could definitely understand Andris's analysis. But he did not get angry or even expose his family's shame by including the French Hussars in the ranks of the defeated.

However, what he was going to talk about next was not a pure comparison of military strength, but a more advanced and complex level. Seeing that Andris had no intention of objecting, he simply told him the ultimate goal and looked into his eyes with hope.

"If your Majesty Louis XIII can ensure the safety of the Spanish Netherlands, the Republic agrees with your Excellency on this issue."

Andris did not disappoint Richelieu and immediately gave a very positive answer. However, there was a prerequisite, which was that France had to promise to protect the Spanish Netherlands first.

In the previous armistice agreement, Spain was to withdraw its troops from the Spanish Netherlands and return the region to the Dutch Republic. However, a mere agreement on paper could not ensure safety, and additional supplementary clauses were required. These clauses could not be written into the armistice agreement, and needed to be negotiated privately between the countries.

(End of this chapter)