Great Qing Dynasty talker

The great hero, Catherine II, suddenly had a stroke~
She was already old, but she could not bear the mental blow of losing her territory continuously. She collapsed, lying on the royal blue velvet bed, drooling, unable to move.

In the presence of many nobles, she issued her final decree in an unclear tone.

"Paul, you may ascend the throne."

When Paul received the imperial edict, the corners of his mouth curled up, he could hardly contain his excitement, and turned around and left this outdated bedroom in a leisurely manner.

A series of unbridled laughter echoed through the corridor.

He used laughter to tell the world how deep his hatred for his mother was.
Listening to the laughter that resounded through the sky, Catherine II closed her eyes and big tears dripped from the corners of her eyes.

Even at this moment, she has no regrets. If she had let Paul take power earlier, she might have had a stroke 10 years earlier.

……

5 days later~
Catherine ended her colorful life.

Her grandson, Paul's own son, young Alexander, gave her a grand funeral.

This is the end of a generation of heroes.

Objectively speaking, in terms of achievements, Wu Zetian was only worthy of carrying Yeka's shoes.

When Paul succeeded the Tsar, the first thing he did was to break his mother's decades-long expansion strategy. At his strong request, the messenger of the Privy Council came to Dnipropetrovsk.

Peace
Li Yu did not show up.

Army Minister Lin Huaisheng and the envoy from St. Petersburg had a secret talk for a long time, but failed to reach any key consensus.

……

Li Yu's bottom line is:

After the war, he could return all the land west of the Ob River, but St. Petersburg would need to pay a ransom of 2000 million taels of gold.

In addition, Russia needs to publicly declare its withdrawal from the Treaty of Amsterdam and send 30 troops to participate in the war against Europe.

The attitude of the St. Petersburg envoy was:
We just admit defeat~
The lost land must be reclaimed, there is no compensation, and it is impossible to send troops.

However, Rakshasa can guarantee neutrality and will not participate in the ensuing war.

……

Rakshasa was as arrogant and stubborn as ever.

Li Yu was not surprised, but asked the messenger to tell Paul a story - to pull chestnuts out of the fire.

The meaning is clear:
Rakshasa is the monkey trying to take advantage of the fire, with a group of people gloating over his misfortune.

The negotiations have temporarily reached a deadlock.

The war is coming again.

The vassal army attacking upstream along the Volga River encountered the most stubborn resistance from the Russian army. If it were not for the steam battleships, the vassal army would have been defeated long ago.

The steam warships equipped with breech-loading guns had an overwhelming advantage in naval battles, easily sinking more than 60 Rakshasa warships, while only 2 of their own ships were sunk.

……

Ulyanovsk.

A great war has just ended, and the battlefield looks like hell as far as the eye can see.

The casualties were 15000 to 70000.

Under the repeated bombardment of ordinary black powder shrapnel, the conservative Rakshasa line infantry formation suffered a dimensionality reduction attack, and the corpses stretched for more than ten miles~
However, this group of vassal troops temporarily lost their ability and fighting spirit to attack.

It's too awful.

These Fuso and Korean people could never have imagined that the war would develop to this extent.

The Xiqing vassal army was calm, even a little secretly happy, because they were happy that they had recognized their new master.

Among the vassal armies, the chain was: Mongols > Western Qing > Fuso > Goryeo > Siberian tribes.

Li Yu personally drafted it~
……

15 days later,

The steam battleship brought the latest instructions.

"The Emperor has ordered that you will be rewarded with wine, meat, gold and silver for your meritorious service in the battle, and you can retreat to the east of the Volga River to rest for half a year."

The new vassal army took over the offensive mission.

The more than 6000 surviving vassal soldiers crossed the Volga River by boat and went on vacation to the battlefield on the east bank.

The Rakshasa troops are all on the west bank.

The east coast is a weak area.

The vassal army has guns and can do whatever they want.

……

The Wu army's offensive rhythm was neither fast nor slow, but very firm.

This surprised all the European troops, including Luosha, and after the surprise, they were terrified.

Although there was no Sun Tzu's Art of War on the European continent, they also had rich theories of war, and the original strategy of "active defensive warfare to wear down the Wu army" fell into an awkward situation.

Noble officers from various countries met in Vienna.

Most people suggest overthrowing active defense warfare and attack! attack! attack again!

A Junker nobleman said excitedly:
"If this war drags on for ten or eight years, the Wu army will win. Because they have abundant human resources and high organizational ability."

“They have achieved local logistics miraculously!”

"If we continue like this, our poor economy will not be able to survive, and there will be a revolution in Berlin, Vienna, and London as well."

……

Royal families across Europe were faced with a difficult decision.

It's like a gentleman living in a castle.

There is a tiger in the mountains outside the fort. Although you can't see it, you can hear its roar.

There is a lone wolf in the backyard of the castle, clamoring to eat the flesh of the nobles.

There was a fox outside who refused to admit defeat. Even though it was beaten to death, it still refused to give in and tried to contact the tiger.

The most terrifying thing is that the servants in the castle no longer look respectful.

The gentleman sleeps restlessly every day.

There is a pistol under the pillow and a long sword beside him, and he has to wear armor when he goes out.

……

In fact, the troubles are more than that.

Countries are facing severe problems in combating smuggling.
A large amount of brick tea is imported from the sea and land, and the smugglers are very powerful and can penetrate any pore.

Countries sent troops to blockade and capture smugglers.

But the border is so long and there are so many neighboring countries, how can we seal it?
Vienna, street shops.

"Well, is there?"

A businessman with shifty eyes looked around, then took out a broken brick of tea from under his clothes.

The customer took it and put it under the basket and covered it.

……

Habits are hard to break.

The tea-drinking habit that Li Yu had spent more than ten years cultivating among the citizens of European towns could not be destroyed by a mere war.

What's more, there are all kinds of rumors circulating in the market.

For example, if you don’t drink tea, you will get sick.

and,

From time to time, there are stories of sick people getting well after drinking tea. This is of course inseparable from the work of Earl Jia and his younger generations in the news industry.
You still have to drink tea.

If you don’t drink it, you won’t be able to save your life.

Psychological suggestion is very powerful.

But since the tea from legitimate channels is gone, we can only drink smuggled tea.

……

The city of Suez on the Nile River became a distribution center for tea smuggling, wholesale brick tea.

No matter which country you are from, no matter who you are, or even whether you are a human being or not, if you have money, you can sell it, and it is free trade.

The tea market is written in 10 languages:

"Behind you stands a powerful empire."

"Drinking tea is a natural human right. God would approve of it too~"

The pirates all thought this was a great idea.

The Saxon Mediterranean Fleet was extremely busy. The smuggling ships were so numerous that they could not be stopped at all. No more than one-tenth of them could be captured.

Smuggling during the day and smuggling at night.

……

A sea chase in the central Mediterranean, near the Kingdom of Sicily, has just ended.

A sixth-class ship of the Royal Navy attempted to intercept a merchant ship but failed, and then opened fire.

Unlike previous situations, this time, the four smuggling ships dared to fight back. The Royal Navy was caught off guard and paid the price of 4 deaths and 12 injuries.

finally,
Relying on its excellent qualities, the Royal Navy destroyed three smuggling ships and seized a large number of Wu State standard weapons from one of the ships.

The sailors cursed loudly.

……

What made them even more angry was that the smuggling ship that escaped was actually protected by the Kingdom of Sicily.

Driven by the huge profits, many small countries in the Apennine Peninsula joined in and took the initiative to protect the traffickers from smuggling tea across their own territory and into the heart of Europe.

There are good reasons:
What does the war between you seven countries have to do with the Kingdom of Sicily, the Kingdom of Naples, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Kingdom of Genoa?

Why not take the free money?

It's so easy to make money just by sitting there and collecting taxes.

……

Soon, the impoverished German states, such as Hanover, Hesse, Saxony, Hanover, etc., also joined the carnival.

Since they were far away, they simply went there to purchase goods in an official capacity.

No matter how powerful your Royal Navy is, you can't just fire at other countries' official ships, right?

For a time, smuggling was extremely rampant.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Earl Jia, who had just withdrawn from Constantinople, once again opened up a new diplomatic situation and made friends with more than a dozen neutral small countries and the Papal States with a transcendent status in one go.

The bishops intervened and declared the "trade blockade war" a complete failure.

……

The crumbling Saxon East India Company finally went bankrupt.

Under siege from all directions, tens of thousands of mercenaries were either killed, surrendered, or escaped.

In desperation, Governor Adelaide sent a personal letter to the Wu colony on the east coast.

Beg for surrender
This was Adelaide's last act of stubbornness. He would rather die than surrender to the shirtless natives who liked to raise their spears above their heads.

Losing to a higher civilization is regrettable but not humiliating.

Losing to an inferior civilization is a great shame!
After receiving 5 tons of gold, 3 tons of gems, ivory and agate, 20 tons of spices, hundreds of route maps, and the company's formal surrender letter, Wu's army dispatched 30 warships and 60 troop transports into the port of Kolkata.

The old Union Jack was lowered.

The five-color American flag slowly rose.

A new era has begun!

……

After 1 months,
The 7th Corps sailed south along the Irrawaddy River, then changed to a ship to cross the Andaman Sea and finally arrived in Kolkata.

They were equipped with breech-loading guns and rockets, and defeated the Maratha Alliance, the Mughal Empire, and the Mysore State Rebellion in succession in land battles.
The Admiralty took over all the facilities and personnel of the Calcutta Dockyard.

Encouraged by the double salary, the shipyard began to operate at full capacity.

More than 2000 Saxons including Governor Adelaide were invited to live in the suburbs of Guangzhou and would be sent back to their homeland after the war.

Everyone was grateful for Wu Ting's civilization.

If they were captured by the Maratha Confederacy, they would be squatting on the mud, eating the mushy food from the plate with their left hands.

……

The winter of 1794 came earlier than usual.

The main force of the Wu army led by Li Yu stopped at Kazan on the northern line and at the east bank of the Dnieper River on the western line.

The shipbuilders built the ship on site. The steam engine and parts were transported from Yili Heavy Industry thousands of miles away, and the rest were sourced locally.

It doesn’t matter if the wood is not fermented. We don’t plan to use it for a long time anyway, it is a consumable.

Next spring,
These steam warships could sail along the Dnieper River into the Black Sea, reach Constantinople, and then cross the strait into the Mediterranean.

In this way, the north and south lines merged.

……

Behind the army, a large number of new migrant workers have come from the country. They are shrinking their heads and trying hard to adapt to the new environment here.

At this time, everyone realized that Your Majesty's foresight was unmatched by ordinary ministers.

Created a self-sustaining logistics supply line.

Set up camp on other people's territory, cultivate other people's land, dig other people's mines, live in other people's cities, and marry other people's wives.

This battle is very exciting!

A few years later,
Spring Festival couplets written in calligraphy can be posted from Alashankou to the pass of the Alps.

This route is a lifeline, trade line, railway line, and troop transport line that stretches for tens of thousands of miles.

……

There are many smart people in the world.

After several rounds of emergency consultations, European countries decisively gave up building the Berlin-Vienna bastion defense system that stretched for thousands of miles and began large-scale conscription.

The total number of emergency military expansions was 300 million.

With the exception of Saxony, all other countries implemented a universal conscription system.

For a time, guns were in short supply.

Major military factories were expanded one after another, and countless military academy students graduated early to serve as platoon leaders.

The London newspapers hit the nail on the head:

“The largest war in human history – the Tea War.”

……

This winter in Europe is not peaceful.

At least hundreds of thousands of tea-drinking civilians were arrested and forcibly incorporated into the army.

At least 5000 tea dealers were arrested and executed on the spot.

For a time, selling tea became a more dangerous profession than joining the revolutionary party.

When the adventurers were importing tea into Suez City, they also bought weapons and armed themselves to sell tea. They would open fire immediately if they were inspected.

The reason is the 50 times profit behind tea.

This winter, a not-so-serious typhoid fever swept across Europe, which was not uncommon as it happened every few years.

Everyone says that drinking more tea with brown sugar will cure the problem.

Countless patients swore that they felt much better after drinking it.

……

Paris.

The provisional parliament organized by the Thermidorians welcomed several uninvited guests.

The secret room negotiations ended in a bad mood.

The proud Parisians rejected the Saxon proposal of "brothers fighting within the walls to jointly resist foreign insults."

The Speaker said:
"Excuse me, there is no brotherhood between the sans-culottes and the nobles. I would rather see the Wu army marching down the Champs Elysees than fight alongside you insects."

One more thing to add:
"Although we still have many differences among ourselves, we all agree that we hate you."

The negotiations broke down that day.

The offensive began the next day.

80 Prussian troops, 110 million Habsburg Monarchy troops, 20 Iberian troops, as well as 50 Saxon warships and 30 Iberian warships formed a spectacular intervention force.

……

As the chief said, we are not "brothers".

All captured Franks were asked a question by the intervention army: "Sir, do you support the monarch? Or the provisional parliament?"

If you answer the former, you can survive.

If you answer the latter, you will die.

The Christmas atmosphere was dispelled by death, and the Frankish army was caught in a tough battle on multiple fronts.

Parisians brought out all kinds of things to build barricades, and even the elderly and children were armed.

A striking slogan was posted on the side of the Champs-Elysees: Paris! Never surrender!

……

The Saxons would rather ignore the differences in their national systems and join forces with the Franks to send troops. The reason behind this is that there are only two traditional land powers in Europe, the first is the Franks and the second is the Rakshasa.

Now, Wu Jun is beating up the second place, and Europe is “beating up” the first place.

Just thinking about it makes me feel that the future is bleak.

Downing Street discussed it for three days and three nights and decided that the Franks must be dragged into the turmoil.

Regrettably,

The Franks had become so frenzied that they had lost their minds. They would rather die at the hands of the Wu army than shed their blood for everyone.

crazy!

All crazy!
At this time, everyone missed the Bourbon dynasty. (End of this chapter)