The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 242 Shinra causing trouble

November 1730, 11, Anzhou Peninsula (now the Istria Peninsula in Croatia and Slovenia), Lonin (now Pula, an important port city in western Croatia).

It is said that the history of Venice began in AD 453, when farmers and fishermen here fled to this small island in the Adriatic Sea to avoid the weapons of the Visigoth barbarians.

The island has fertile alluvial soil, which is conducive to farming. The residents used local materials to build an off-island fortress with stones and wood, and then used small boats made of wood from the adjacent inland to travel between them. So, the hard-working people just built the city of Venice in this mud and water.

By the 10th century, Venice began to develop rapidly. By around 1000 AD, the Venetians continued to kill Illyrian pirates, turning all the islands they lived on into the sphere of influence of the Republic of Venice, and expanded their territory. Around the 14th century, it had developed into the busiest port city in Italy and the most famous floating city in the entire Mediterranean integrating commercial trade and handicrafts.

Venice was in its heyday during the 14th and 15th centuries. It was the most powerful and wealthy maritime republic in Italy and one of the Mediterranean trade centers. During this period, the Venetians once held the most powerful financial, material and power in Europe.

Then, at the beginning of the 16th century, with the discovery of the New World and the opening of new shipping routes, the European commercial center gradually moved from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic coast. Venice ceased to be prosperous and its business declined.

In addition, Venice fought a three-hundred-year-long war with the Ottoman Empire. Not only did it lose cities and territories one after another, but it also made the economy of this maritime republic increasingly difficult to extricate itself from.

During the First Austro-Austrian War (1463–1479), Venice lost its possessions in the southern Balkans, the Principality of Negroponte, the island of Lemnos, and Venetian Albania.

In the Second Austro-Austrian War (1499–1503), Venice lost more Aegean islands, as well as the key strongholds of Modon and Cologne in the southwest of Morea (Peloponnese Peninsula), and also allowed the Ottoman Empire to The troops reached the mainland of Venice in northern Italy.

In the Sixth Austro-Austrian War (1684–1699), Venice formed the "Holy Alliance" with Austria, Poland, and Russia, recaptured the Morea Peninsula and some Aegean Islands, and finally achieved the only victory over the Ottomans in hundreds of years. .

Because Venice is too small and weak, and with its own economic and commercial decline, it has long been unable to maintain a powerful navy to maintain a certain degree of sea control, and it is even less able to defend its territorial security and maritime trade.

However, because the main opponent in this war was England, and there were few warships in the Mediterranean, the Qi people did not immediately mobilize their fleet to look for it to regain their position.

For a time, the people of Qi were bewildered and embarrassed.

As Qi's de facto military ally, the Ottoman Empire also took advantage of the opportunity to launch an attack on Venice from the land route. Under the cover of Qi's navy, it successively captured a large area of ​​Venice's territory on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea, including Malkaska and Spli. Special, Pula and other important towns fell one after another.

More than ten steam-sail warships and more than twenty armed merchant ships sailed into the Mediterranean, approaching the Adriatic Sea, and drove directly to Venice's mainland in northern Italy. After several months of fighting, the Qi navy simply defeated Venice's remaining navy and completely blocked and besieged the island of Venice.

The Holy Roman Empire and the Ottomans were locked in a tug-of-war at Belgrade, and were temporarily unable to aid Venice. At the same time, they were suspicious of Venice's capriciousness.

The majesty of the empire cannot be offended!

When the Qi State and the Ottomans discussed organizing a large-scale landing campaign to break through the city of Venice in one fell swoop and destroy this maritime republic that had existed for nearly a thousand years, they never thought that the Venetians would size up the situation and take the initiative to fight against the enemy after being besieged for four months. Qi State negotiated conditional surrender.

However, I don’t know whether the Venetians were caught in the door or kicked by the donkey. During the Qi-British War, Venice was invited by England and began to intercept and attack Qi merchant ships in the Mediterranean. It also fought with the Royal Navy of England. Arriving in Egypt, they attacked Alexandria and then besieged the Damietta port leased by Qi.

The Venetian's actions not only shocked the people of Qi, but also made them a little puzzled, but more importantly, they made them angry.

In the Fourth Wei-Austrian War (1570–1573), Venice lost the entire Cyprus. Moreover, because he was worried that prolonging the war would excessively damage its overseas trade, he also paid the Ottoman Empire 30 ducats to end the war.

It stands to reason that the Republic of Venice has always been so abused by the Ottomans. It should have ceased its activities long ago, abandoned its aggressive foreign policy, and maintained friendly alliances and mutual assistance with the Holy Roman Empire and several major European powers. Avoid getting involved in another war between great powers like the Ottomans.

During the Third Ottoman War (1537–1540), the Cyclades Islands, all of the Sporades Islands, and the last few strongholds in Morea, except for Tinos, belonging to Venice, were ousted by the Ottomans.

Yes, the Venetians are very aware of current affairs and are ready to give up resistance when the country is in danger, lest the entire country be devastated by war and the people suffer.

After establishing their superiority in the maritime battlefield against Britain, the people of Qi finally found time to "take care" of the Republic of Venice.

This is so embarrassing!
I must teach you a profound lesson, otherwise, you may not know "why the flowers are so red."

During the Fifth Austro-Austrian War (1645–1669), Venice also lost its most prosperous overseas territory, Crete, which also brought Ottoman power in the Mediterranean to its peak.

How dare you, a small country with a population of just over 200,000, dare to take action against a super empire that is committed to establishing world maritime hegemony? !

However, in the Seventh Austro-Austrian War (1714–1718), Venice not only lost the recaptured Morea again, but its strategic location, Corfu, was also heavily besieged by the Ottomans, and the situation was once precarious. Had it not been for the mediation of Qi, England, and the Netherlands, at the expense of Venice's formal abandonment of Morea and Crete, the Ottomans would have ended the war without any satisfaction.

As the war progressed, Qi gradually began to reverse the situation on the battlefield. In the North Atlantic, the Alboran Sea, and the English Channel, the Qi and British navies conducted several large-scale naval battles, all of which severely defeated the English navy and gradually gained the initiative on the battlefield. .

The powerful French chose to stand aside, but they made border territorial claims to Savoy, obviously hoping to take advantage of the chaos in northern Italy.

Although the Pope issued a strong condemnation of the massive invasion of Venice by the Qi Empire and the Ottoman Army, he did not take actual assistance measures. It is estimated that he was prepared to continue to wait and see due to the influence of the Kingdom of Spain.

As for several Italian states such as Sicily, Milan, and Genoa, they either had limited strength and did not dare to provoke Qi and the Ottomans for fear of getting into trouble; or they were limited by regional and trade disputes with Venice and chose to sit on the sidelines. .

Looking around, Venetians find themselves in an unprecedented state of isolation. The Kingdom of England, which once vowed to provide security to Venice, had long been forced out of the Mediterranean by the Qi navy, and huddled on the island of Great Britain, struggling to fight the Qi fleet that blocked the English Channel.

Faced with Qi's naval blockade and the Ottoman land offensive, the Ten-member Committee of the Republic of Venice finally decided to surrender to the enemy after months of disputes and discussions.

Therefore, Venice put forward the conditions that it was willing to cede part of the territory on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea to Qi and the Ottomans, and pay an indemnity of 60 ducats in exchange for peace between the two sides.

However, the Venetian conditions were rejected by Qi and the Ottomans, requiring them to cede all territory on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea, and the amount of compensation was also increased to 200 million ducats. At the same time, Qi also proposed that Venice punish the initiators of the war and the perpetrators of attacks and killings of Qi merchant sailors, fully open the domestic market, allow the two countries to station troops in Venice, and establish necessary concessions in the city of Venice for Qi merchants and sojourners Enjoy extra-legal jurisdiction..., etc., there are more than ten demands in total.

When the Venetians were still trying to argue with the Qi-Ottoman army over the terms of the armistice, they were horrified to find that more and more Qi warships and armed merchant ships continued to gather around Venice Island, and a large number of ships came with them. The Qi army and the Ottoman army, and even many mercenaries from Egypt and Arabia.

It was obvious that the Qi-Ottoman army did not expect to force the Venetians to surrender through negotiations, but was preparing to use military attacks and launch a landing campaign to occupy the entire territory of Venice.

Under strong military pressure, the Venetians were forced to agree to all the requests of the coalition forces, but out of fear of the Ottomans, they requested that only Qi troops be allowed to enter the city of Venice.

The people of Qi agreed to the Venetian request, and more than 3,000 army officers and soldiers landed and garrisoned this thousand-year-old city.

The Republic of Venice is a country that has accumulated wealth through thousands of years of Mediterranean trade. It was also the first country in history to start a large-scale slave trade; it was also the country that indirectly destroyed Byzantium. It was also the most realistic "goblin (capricious)", a miser who wanted money rather than his life.

It was finally completely defeated by a maritime empire from thousands of miles away, and crawled at the feet of Qi.

Under the coercion of bayonets, the Republic of Venice signed the "Venice Peace Treaty" with Qi, ceding all territories and islands on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea, and paying an indemnity of 150 million ducats. Officials and senators who advocated war against Qi and The murderers who participated in the attacks and killings of sailors on Qi's ships were handed over to the people of Qi. The domestic market was fully opened, import and export tariffs were determined through negotiation between the two countries, and Qi's ships could dock freely at the ports of Venice.

After the peace treaty was signed, Qi State held a spoils-sharing conference with Ottoman.

Qi obtained the Istria Peninsula formerly owned by Venice and dozens of nearby islands such as Krk, Cres, and Lošinj, while all the remaining land on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea belonged to the Ottomans. .

As a result, the Venetian territory was limited to northern Italy, and the entire land area suddenly shrank by 30%.

As for the compensation of 150 million ducats, it was divided equally between the two countries.

Except for the war reparations that needed to be repaid in twenty-year installments, the Venetians implemented all the conditions in the "Venice Peace Treaty" one by one in a very short period of time. The Qi occupying forces withdrew from the city of Venice a year later and restored the normal order of production and life in the republic.

However, although this war is over, various subsequent social problems still need to be solved and dealt with urgently.

Out of fear of pagans, there was a huge wave of refugees in the ceded territory on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea. Countless Catholics reluctantly abandoned their fields and houses, and fled with their families to Venice itself or the neighboring Holy Roman Empire.

The Ottomans took resolute measures to stop the fleeing Venetians and dispatched a large number of troops to intercept and kill them. In less than half a year, more than 4,000 people were killed, more than 20,000 were demoted as slaves, and everyone's property was confiscated and searched.

What's more, in order to completely shock the Venetians, the Ottomans carried out a brutal massacre on the island of Corfu, where the resistance was fiercest. More than two thousand adult men were crucified, and thousands of women were gang-raped. The children were taken into "Devshilme" and the entire island became a hell on earth.

Compared with the various brutal acts carried out by the Ottomans in the newly acquired territories, the Qi people's methods seemed gentler and gentler.

Except for renaming the Istria Peninsula ceded by the Venetians to Anzhou, the people of Qi did not adopt a policy of excessive intervention in the Venetians within the territory.

Whether the local residents continued to live and work in peace and contentment, or fled with their families out of fear of alien rule, the people of Qi seemed not to pay much attention to them and completely left them to their own devices.

Over the past two years, several groups of immigrants from Qi State have arrived in Anzhou and were all settled in Luoning City and surrounding areas. The land allocated to them were also the vacant farms that appeared after the Venetians fled.

If this situation continues, the entire Anzhou area should be able to quickly return to normal production and living order after experiencing short-term turmoil and panic, and the remaining residents will also adapt to the new rulers.

However, in June, a massive armed uprising broke out in the former Venetian territory under Ottoman rule. After receiving secret funding from neighboring HRE, local residents took up crude weapons and continuously attacked and killed Ottoman officials and soldiers in order to gain autonomous status.

As the situation intensified, the Venetian armed uprising gradually spread from the Ottoman territory to the Qi Anzhou area. In the mountainous areas near the north, many local residents shouted slogans to expel the Qi people and return to Venice.

The Qi people stationed two battalions of the army and two battalions of the Qi Yin servant army in Anzhou, with a total strength of more than 1,500. For the Venetians with a population of only more than 13,000, they definitely have enough strength and strength. confidence.

However, when the Army Headquarters in Anzhou ordered two battalions of Qiyin servants to march to the northern mountains to suppress the local "rebel" forces, they received an unexpected blow.

More than 700 Qi Yin troops were attacked by local rebels at a farm called Pazin. They suffered nearly 200 casualties and had to retreat to Luoning City.

According to the report of the officer leading the army, the rebels actually had artillery in their hands, and there were quite a few of them, three or five. This made it impossible for the Qi and Indian Army to organize an effective counterattack under the bombardment of enemy artillery.

Who would have thought that a group of rebellious farmers would have artillery?

The two battalions of Qi Yin troops who went to suppress the rebellion did not carry heavy weapons such as artillery at all. They all traveled lightly, and even only brought five days' worth of supplies.

I thought that the rebels would only have a few muskets at most, and most of them would be holding farm tools such as hoes, shovels, and pickaxes. They would immediately fall apart when faced with the suppression of the heavily armed Qi and Indian troops.

So, the question is, where did the artillery in the hands of the rebels come from?
Holy Roman Empire!

In view of this, the Governor of Anzhou and the army headquarters not only prepared their weapons and recruited nearby immigrant soldiers to strengthen the defense of Luoning City and surrounding areas, they also immediately sent several messengers on liaison speedboats to Egypt and Zhongyang Island to request Reinforcements.

Shinra is going to cause trouble, so why not hurry up and get someone to do it!

(End of this chapter)