The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 102 Qingguo’s declaration of war

February 1725, 2, was the New Year's Eve of the Yisi year. Just as the residents of Zhongjing (formerly Hengzhou Fort, now Viedma, a city in south-central Argentina), the capital of the Qing Dynasty, were preparing to celebrate the New Year, a liaison speedboat sailed along the coast. He sailed up to Shuo at the mouth of the Xianghe River (now the Negro River in southern Argentina), quickly sailed into the port, and then brought back an urgent report from Yongding (now the city of Buenos Aires).

"The British barbarians attacked our Qing Kingdom's merchant ships?" Qi Shaoyi, the young third king of Qing Kingdom, suddenly widened his eyes and looked at the Kingdom's Prime Minister Yin Baisong and the Chief of the Military and Political Department, Hussar General (General) in disbelief. Bi Sihan, "Can you confirm that it was the Yingyi who did it?... Why did they dare to attack our merchant ship?"

"Back to Your Majesty, two British-Barbarian privateers suddenly attacked a merchant ship named Hesheng owned by the American Trading Company in the waters near Salvador, Portuguese Brazil. Fortunately, the ship escaped to the vicinity of Port Seguro after some difficult maneuvers. , encountered two cruising warships from the Northern Fleet of the Qing Kingdom Navy." Bi Sihan handed a battle report to King Qing, with a bit of solemnity on his face, "The British and foreign privateers saw that the situation was not good, and fled separately, but They were pursued by our naval warships and luckily damaged a British and foreign ship, and captured all the sailors on board. After being severely tortured by the naval officers and soldiers, the British and foreign sailors confessed to their privateering and robbery, and explained that their trip was under the influence of England. With the authorization of the Royal Government, intercept and attack Qi merchant ships as much as possible in the Atlantic waters."

"The British and foreign privateers were ordered to attack Qi merchant ships, so why did they attack our Qing ships for no reason?"

"Your Majesty, when our merchant ships of the Qing Kingdom go to sea, they usually fly the flag of the Qi Kingdom in addition to the flag of the Daqing Kingdom." Bi Sihan reminded softly.

"Oh..." King Qi Shao Yi of Qing nodded slightly, and then put the battle report in his hand on the imperial case, "Since the Yingyi accidentally attacked our Qingguo merchant ship, then send someone to the Yingyi merchant house to reprimand and warn, and ask They can just give us a proper explanation. As for the captured British and barbarian privateer sailors, the chief criminals were hanged at the dock of Yeongding Port, and the rest were all sent to the inland of Gyeongju (today's Patagonia region) and sentenced to hard labor. ten years."

"Your Majesty, according to the testimony of the captured British and foreign sailors, the Royal Government of England has issued nearly a hundred maritime privateering licenses in the past few months, allowing English armed merchant ships to attack and capture Qi at the right opportunity. Merchant ships. I have reason to believe that the three missing merchant ships in our Qing Kingdom were also committed by the British barbarians. Therefore, I believe..." Bi Sihan stopped talking at this point.

"Huh?" Prince Qing looked at Bi Sihan in confusion, frowned and asked, "The commander-in-chief has something to say, so go ahead and say it, but don't be so hesitant!"

"Your Majesty, I think we can take this opportunity to declare war on the British and barbarians to demonstrate the power of our Daqing Kingdom!"

"Oh, with just the dozen or so warships of the Qing Kingdom, we can fight against the British and foreigners?" King Qing smiled brightly, shook his head and said, "There are no sporadic Gaucho rebellions in Xiazhou (today's La Plata). It was completely pacified, causing local unrest; Yizhou (now Uruguay) has not been settled for ten years and still needs immigrants to control it; although the rebellion in Zezhou (now southern Chile) has been subsided with the help of Qi's navy, But the public sentiment is unstable and needs time to be comforted and stabilized. Under such circumstances, how can we, the Qing State, have the spare strength to fight against the British and barbarians far away in Europe?"

"Your Majesty, it is precisely because our Daqing Kingdom is in great difficulty and its finances are extremely difficult that we need to declare war on the British and foreigners." Prime Minister Yin Bosong, who was standing aside, said with burning eyes and meaning.

"If there is a life-and-death fight between the Qi State and the Yingyi, then they will send their own troops to attack. Is it possible that we, the small Qing State, should go to show courtesy and stand up for them?" King Qing's face suddenly darkened when he heard this. Come down.

You have a cabinet prime minister and a military chief. You know clearly that our country is small and weak, and the navy is even less able to rise to the occasion.Moreover, the war with Spanish America ended only more than ten years ago. The swallowed La Plata and the east coast area still need time to be digested and absorbed. There is an urgent need to vigorously recruit immigrants to enrich the empty country, and there is also a planned road to Yongding. Railways, local water conservancy construction, material subsidies for newly arrived immigrants, and many other things, none of which do not require huge amounts of money!

Declaring war on the British and barbarians, can we, the Qing Kingdom, afford it?
"Your Majesty, as you said, the British barbarians are far away in Europe, thousands of miles away from our Qing Kingdom. Even if they fight with them, our Qing Kingdom is not strong enough to pose a substantial threat to them." Yin Bosong smiled slightly, cupped his hands and said: "But as the suzerain of our Qing Kingdom, Qi State has enough strength to attack the British and Yi ships at sea, and even its European mainland. Moreover, in the past two years, Qi State has continued to have trade frictions with the British and Yi people, and there have been diplomatic and military problems. There is a vague confrontation, and the two sides only need a reason to start a war. Then, as a vassal state, we, the Qing State, should share the worries of the mother country, proactively provoke a war with the British and foreigners, and directly drag the Qi State into this war."

"Your Majesty, just imagine, once Qing and Qi jointly launch a war against the British and barbarians, will Chang'an have to mobilize a large number of maritime ships to the Atlantic Ocean? In addition to replenishing their supplies in South Africa, the rest Does it have to be provided by our Qing Kingdom? Our Qing Kingdom’s maritime strength is weak and cannot maintain maritime security. So does it need the necessary military and material assistance from the sovereign country? If Portugal forms a military alliance at the request of the United Kingdom, Qi will Should we directly send troops to Qingguo to launch an attack on Portuguese Brazil?... Regardless of the process and outcome of this war, our Qingguo will always receive a large amount of economic assistance from Qi. In this way, not only can we To a certain extent, it will strengthen the military strength of our country, and it can also promote the development of domestic industry and agriculture to a certain extent."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Bi Sihan continued: "This war will mostly be based on chasing and fighting on the sea. It does not involve too many landing operations. Our Qing Kingdom does not even need to dispatch a large number of troops. We only provide corresponding With logistical supplies, we can follow the Qi State and gain a lot of benefits. This will be of great benefit to our Qing State without any harm!"

"You are saying that through the war with the British and barbarians, we, the Qing State, can ask for more economic assistance from the Qi State?" King Qing's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Of course!" Yin Baisong nodded heavily and said with a smile: "More than ten years ago, our Qing State accompanied the Qi State in declaring war on Spain, thus seizing the southern region of Spanish La Plata and the east coast area in one fell swoop, expanding The land is thousands of miles away, which greatly strengthened the strategic depth of our Qing Kingdom. Moreover, after the war, it also received compensation of more than [-] taels of silver. In addition, Qi State sold all the Spanish ships and materials captured during the war to our Qing Kingdom at a discount. It not only promoted the development of the domestic maritime transportation industry, but also prospered the local economy. It can be said that in that battle, our Qing Kingdom earned sufficient war dividends."

"Today, the British barbarians are inciting many privateers to go out on the sea and attack our Qing Kingdom's merchant ships for no reason. This move is nothing more than a provocation to our Qing Kingdom's Chi Guoguo. In this way, our Qing Kingdom should take the opportunity to declare war on the British and Barbarians. To show toughness. It is reported that Portugal has a close relationship with Britain and the barbarians and has signed an alliance for hundreds of years. It has always followed their lead and may be coerced into joining this war. In Portuguese Brazil, many gold mines were discovered, and the people were prosperous. If we lead troops to accompany Qi into its territory, I think we can gain a lot and replenish the empty treasury."

"If we, the Qing Kingdom, attack Portuguese Brazil, will the Westerners take advantage of the situation and seize our Xiazhou and Yizhou?" King Qing was already thinking.

"Your Majesty, with the Qi army stationed there, the Westerners will not dare to act rashly." Bi Sihan said firmly: "It is said that the Westerners and the British barbarians are also in constant disputes in the Caribbean, and there is also a port in Europe that is occupied by the British barbarians. , the conflicts between them are quite sharp, and they will definitely not join the British and barbarians and go to war with our Qing Kingdom."

"In that case, let me inform the Qi State's envoy in Beijing that we, the Qing State, want to declare war on the British and foreigners!"
-
February 2, Anye Port, Yizhou (now Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay). "The Qingguo people will not allow us to dock?" Pat Mitchell's eyes widened after hearing the report from the returning sailors.

"Yes, sir." The sailor said with a frustrated look: "They claim that the Qing Kingdom is in a state of war with England and prohibits us from docking to obtain corresponding supplies."

"But, I haven't brought their declaration of war back to England, why is it in a state of war?" Pat Mitchell subconsciously touched the Qingguo declaration of war in his arms, and his mouth was full of words. Bitter.

"Sir, the Qingguo people on the shore have said that they have received the king's order and are mobilizing military forces to prepare to attack England." The sailor shrugged and said, "I think they are serious. All docks have been put under military control. Moreover, many soldiers have been stationed in the forts near the port, and all the gun jackets that are usually covered have been removed."

"Just them?" Peter Mitchell curled his lips and said disdainfully: "How many warships do Qingguo have, so they dare to attack our England?"

"Mr. Mitchell, since our England has entered a state of war with the Qing Kingdom, then the Qi Kingdom behind them will probably also declare war on our England. As far as I know, the Qi Kingdom has military protection for this South American kingdom. Our obligation." Declan Harry, the captain of the Overny next to him, said solemnly: "I think that we in England will face a huge crisis and challenge."

"Damn Qingguo people! Damn Qi people!" Pat Mitchell cursed in a low voice: "Then we must return to London as quickly as possible and report this matter to the gentlemen of Parliament. Oh, God, you can't think of me. The person in charge of a small business store will witness the outbreak of a war with his own eyes."

Yes, Pat Mitchell is just an insignificant person, a trading businessman with almost no connections or connections. He cannot interfere with the popular Caribbean sugar trade, the lucrative slave trade, or even the tobacco and cotton businesses in North America. To get in, we had to find our own way and come to the distant La Plata eight years ago to deal with the Qingguo people.

La Plata's grain, livestock, and seal skins, sea lion skins and whale products from Gotabania - oh, the Qingguo people call this southernmost region of South America Qingzhou - The profit is not very generous, but fortunately the volume is relatively large and there are few competitors. Whether it is shipped to Portuguese Brazil or shipped back to Europe, there is a good market.

To this end, Peter Mitchell rented a building in Zhongjing, the capital of Qing Dynasty, and opened an English business office, preparing to make this business bigger and stronger and develop it into a large transatlantic trading company.

Who would have thought that just as he was celebrating the Eastern New Year happily with a group of Qing businessmen, the foreign minister of this kingdom came to his business office, accompanied by a large number of soldiers with live ammunition.

The foreign minister told him with a serious expression that since the armed merchant ships granted privateering permission by the Royal Government of England brazenly attacked the Qing Kingdom merchant ships, this move would be regarded as an act of war by the Qing Kingdom.Therefore, Qingguo declared that it would enter a state of war with England from the date of the proclamation.

Oh, God, Qingguo has declared war on us, England!

After the Qingguo people announced the proclamation to him, they immediately made the decision to deport him and only gave him two hours to prepare.Afterwards, the rough soldiers escorted him and the accompanying merchants to the dock, where they boarded the "Auverny" docked here and left Beijing.

Unfortunately, some of the goods that Pat Mitchell had stored in the merchant house were confiscated by the Qingguo government before they were processed. Even the "Overny" they were traveling on did not have time to replenish much food and fresh water. Under the urging of Qingguo officials on the dock, he had to leave in a hurry.

As a result, when they arrived at Port Anye near the mouth of the La Plata River, they were not allowed to enter and obtain corresponding supplies.

"It seems that we will have to go through an extremely difficult voyage. Only by sailing to Brazil can we have a chance to obtain necessary supplies." Captain Declan Harry sighed.

"I don't know if our Kingdom of England is fully prepared for this upcoming war?" Peter Mitchell looked back at Anye Port in the distance and said quietly: "There are various signs. Come on, this Qing country located at the southern tip of the South American continent is quite eager to have this war come as soon as possible. I don’t know what their plan is?”

"Since the Qingguo people seized the east coast area from the Spanish more than ten years ago, they have de facto bordered Brazil." Captain Declan Harry thought thoughtfully, "Mr. Mitchell, you are talking about the Qingguo people. Will they have some unrealistic ideas about Brazil and want to take a bite out of the Portuguese? After all, our Kingdom of England has always had close relations with Portugal, and the big shots in London are likely to coerce them into joining this game. Come in war.”

"Huh, who knows?" Pat Mitchell shrugged, then turned and walked towards the cabin, "I need a good rest. Oh, God, my mind is so messed up. ... Damn war!"

(End of this chapter)