The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 342: The Swedish Retreat

On July 1734, 7, Qi Shengping, the Qi State's ambassador to Sweden, arrived at the port of Tanze (now Gdansk, Poland) on a naval warship.

At this time, various forces gathered in the city of Tanzi, including Polish nobles who firmly supported Stanisław I Leczynski, the opportunistic French legation, the archbishop who took a wait-and-see attitude, the Swedish military and political officials who personally intervened in the succession to the Polish throne, and the Prussian diplomatic envoys who actively tried to mediate and persuade Stanisław I to give up the throne.

After learning that the Swedish army was defeated by the Russian army, Stanisław I tried his best to appeal to the Senate of Nobles to authorize him to form an army of 30,000 to resist the invasion of the Russian army and to hold the capital Warsaw, waiting for military assistance from Sweden and France.

However, as the Russian army continued to approach Warsaw, the noble parliamentarians who once supported Stanislaw I began to waver. Not only did they reject his proposal to form an army, but they also expressed their desire to reconsider the election of the Polish king to make it more "in line" with the wishes of all the Polish people.

What the hell!

Stanisław I was almost driven crazy by these rebellious nobles and denounced them loudly for "betraying the country and the enemy", disregarding the interests of Poland and kneeling to serve the evil Russians.

I won't make plans with you, boy!

So, on June 6, when the Russian army arrived in Wyszków, Stanisław I, escorted by two thousand Polish soldiers and a group of supporters, left Warsaw and came to Tanze, where he joined forces with more than four thousand Swedish troops who had retreated to the city.

In order to prevent the Russian attack, Stanisław I ordered the local garrison to cooperate with the Swedish army to dig trenches in Tanze, reorganize the city defenses, store various combat supplies, prepare for a long-term stand, and wait here for the military rescue promised by France and Sweden.

"How many defenders are there in the city?"

After Qi Shengping arrived in Tanze, he did not visit the Swedish and French envoys immediately, nor did he go to meet Stanislaw I. Instead, he went directly to the Qi Baltic Trading Company's Tanze trading station and summoned the head of the Black Guards who was in charge of intelligence affairs in Poland to inquire about the specific situation here.

"Your Excellency." The head of the Black Guard in Poland, the Imperial Guard Captain Yoon Jeong-hee, showed great respect to the Swedish envoy, who was a high-ranking member of the Black Guard and had some royal blood. He bowed slightly and said respectfully, "Tanze originally had more than 800 city defense troops, and the Swedish army that retreated to the city had more than 4,200 people. Stanislaw I brought about 2,000 cavalry infantry from Warsaw, bringing the total number of troops in the city to more than 7,000. In addition, Tanze has about 34,000 residents. If we recruit civilians, we can get about 3,000 to 5,000 people. However, the entire city of Tanze lacks the necessary weapons and ammunition, and there are not many artillery pieces for defending the city."

"In other words, Tanze can gather more than 10,000 defensive troops when facing the siege of the Russian-Polish coalition forces?"

"Yes, Your Excellency."

"The defenders in the city are from different parties and have a complex composition. Can they be united? Have you appointed a general to command the city defense?"

"Two days ago, after a fierce argument, Stanislaw I made a preliminary integration of the city's garrison and appointed Swedish General Markus Rohden as the commander-in-chief to unify the command of all the troops in the city."

"What's happening in Warsaw now?"

"The Russian army entered Warsaw ten days ago (due to the obstruction of the Swedish army, the Russian army arrived in Warsaw more than half a month later than the original time and space), and was warmly welcomed by many Polish nobles headed by Czartoryski and Potocki. However..." Yin Zhengxi paused, picked up a document from the table and looked at it, then continued: "However, many noble councilors in Warsaw firmly opposed the Russians' proposal that Duke Manuel of Portugal be the new candidate for the Polish throne, and refused to elect him as the King of Poland."

"Oh?" Qi Shengping was immediately interested when he heard this. "These Poles dared to openly oppose the king candidate proposed by the Russians under their bayonets. They are really brave! So how did the Russians respond?"

"It is said that the Russians were a little angry and originally planned to use force to force the Polish Parliament of Nobles to elect Duke Manuel as the new King of Poland. However, the Austrian envoy opposed this, believing that if the Russians did so, it would make the entire Polish issue more complicated and acute, and would also provoke the Polish people to rise up in resistance. Therefore, they proposed August III, the Elector of Saxony and the son of the late Polish King August II, as the new king candidate, and won the support of many Polish nobles."

"Would the Prussians be willing for Augustus III to be King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania while ruling Saxony?"

"Minister, the Prussians seem to have been persuaded by the Austrians." Yoon Jung-hee said, "It is reported that the Prussians have changed their minds and agreed to Augustus III becoming the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. We guess that Austria and Saxony must have promised Prussia some benefits or made some kind of promise, which led them to change their position and start supporting Augustus III."

"In fact, as long as Stanislaw I, who is supported by the Swedes, is not the King of Poland, the Prussians don't really care who will inherit the Polish throne." Qi Shengping nodded. "The Prussians are very wary of Swedish forces entering the southern coast of the Baltic Sea again and expanding their influence in Poland. Then, with the support of Prussia and Austria, August III is likely to be elected as the new King of Poland. By then, the Russians will probably have to accept this established fact with a pinch of their noses."

"Just as the Minister expected, we received news yesterday that the Russians agreed to Augustus III as the new King of Poland. I believe that in the next few days, the Polish Parliament of Nobles will vote to confirm it." Yin Zhengxi nodded and said, "By the way, Minister, how does the Kingdom of Sweden react to Polish affairs? Will they mobilize more troops to enter Poland and continue to support Stanislaw I?"

"Oh, the Kingdom of Sweden..." Qi Shengping smiled bitterly and said, "The Kingdom of Sweden is a little hesitant now, and seems to have some concerns about deeply intervening in the succession of the Polish throne. Prussia, Austria, Saxony, and Russia have all taken concerted actions to oppose Sweden, which inevitably reminds Charles XII of the painful Great Northern War."

In 1698, under the mediation of the Swedish traitor Johann Reinhold von Patkul, Russia, Denmark, Brandenburg, Saxony, Poland and other countries signed the Treaty of Preobrazhenskoye and secretly formed an anti-Swedish military alliance. As a result, the above countries launched the Russian Northern Campaign in 1700 and joined the battlefield one after another, opening the prelude to the Great Northern War.

Although King Charles XII of Sweden single-handedly challenged the anti-Swedish alliance and won consecutive battles in the early stages of the war, the country eventually ran out of strength and was unable to support the country on its own. After being defeated by the Russian army in the Battle of Poltava, the Swedish king lost the initiative on the battlefield and resisted until 1721. However, the Swedish king was unable to continue and had to end the war at the cost of ceding large tracts of territory under the mediation of France.

The defeat in this war caused Sweden to lose its hegemony in Northern Europe, and also allowed the Russian Empire to rise strongly after this war. Sweden was too remote in geographical location and its small population was always a disadvantage, and it was simply unable to cope with the group fight of the anti-Swedish alliance. Although King Charles XII was an outstanding commander and had expanded the size of the Swedish army to 1707 in 12 and fought around the surrounding countries and regions, it was ultimately weak and difficult to sustain, and a defeat in Poltava ended everything.

The small population of Sweden was not the key issue. That was still an era of mercenaries, and the small population allowed them to recruit mercenaries. The key issue was that every time Charles XII led his troops to war, he was too far away from home. After his defeat in Ukraine in the Great Northern War, he had nowhere to run, and in the end he could only take refuge in the Ottoman Empire, and then he returned to Sweden after more than a year.

If the battle was fought near the Baltic Sea, even if they were defeated, they could quickly return to Sweden to regroup and fight back. Of course, Charles XII also wasted too much time in Poland, which tied up too much of his military power, allowing Peter I to seize the mouth of the Neva River and part of Finland after Narva.

If Sweden had intervened less forcefully in Poland and focused its main forces on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland, it might not have given the Russians too many opportunities.

If Charles XII had pursued a strategy of steady and cautious progress, perhaps the regions that he had defeated, such as Denmark-Norway and Saxony-Poland, could have been gradually incorporated into Sweden to form a personal union.

In addition, the decline of Sweden's position in the Baltic Economic Zone is also an important reason. The pillar copper mining resources have become increasingly scarce, and the road to the west has been blocked by the successive rise of maritime powers such as England and the Netherlands.

During the Great Northern War, Sweden also ignored the role of countries such as Britain, France and the Netherlands. If it had strengthened its cooperative relationship with Britain, France and the Netherlands, given up some of its rights and interests in the Baltic Sea in exchange for an important port in the North Sea, and shared its interests in Denmark with France and the Netherlands, so that everyone's interests were effectively tied together, it might have received active support and response from the above-mentioned countries.

After the war, Charles XII reflected for a long time, summed up in detail the many lessons and reasons for the failure, and took them as a warning.

Of course, as he grew older, the once high-spirited young king had begun to mature and stabilize. He would no longer act on impulse as he did during the Great Northern War, believing that he could conquer the world with his own strength.

In 1727, after Qi provided a package of economic assistance, Charles XII took advantage of the fact that the Russian Empire was caught up in two wars and suddenly sent troops to invade Russia. He not only recaptured Courland in one fell swoop, but also besieged St. Petersburg for a year, trying to attract the Russian army to come to the rescue, thereby repeatedly inflicting heavy damage to the Russian army.

In this war, Sweden fully learned the experience of its failure in the Great Northern War. It not only actively sought financial and material support from Qi, but also took the initiative to ease diplomatic relations with neighboring countries such as Denmark, Prussia and Poland to avoid the strategic dilemma of being attacked from all sides again.

At the same time, Sweden also assured the above-mentioned countries that the war would be limited to the northern shore of the Baltic Sea, and the ultimate goal would only be to regain the lost territories that once belonged to Sweden from Russia and liberate the residents there from Russia's slavery and discrimination.

The result was that Sweden dealt a heavy blow to Russia through three years of war, eventually forcing the other side to seek peace, regaining all the lost territories such as Courland, Livonia, Ingria and Karelia, and turning Russia's former capital, St. Petersburg, into a border city close to Sweden.

During this Polish succession crisis, Sweden dared to mobilize its troops to enter Poland directly with the explicit support of France, Spain and Qi, confronting the Russians head-on and vowing to help Stanisław I ascend the throne of the King of Poland.

However, as the situation developed, Austria, Prussia, Saxony and Russia unanimously opposed Sweden's move and formed a subtle military alliance. Coupled with the Polish local nobles' inconsistent attitude, Sweden could not help but feel uneasy.

Will this Polish succession crisis once again trigger a Great Northern War against their Kingdom of Sweden?
What frightened Sweden even more was that more than half a month ago, the Russians launched a general military mobilization and prepared to urgently recruit 300,000 troops.

This move really scared Sweden.

I just drew a small straight, why did you throw out a bomb directly!
The Russians are going to do something big! ?

Therefore, Sweden began to ponder whether it should give in and make some compromises and concessions to Russia, Prussia, Austria and Serbia to avoid further deterioration of the situation.

Although the Qi people informed Sweden, Russia's general military mobilization might not be aimed at Sweden, but was most likely a stress response to the attacks on its southern territories by the Crimean Khanate and the Astrakhan Khanate.

The Russians were simply afraid that the Ottoman Empire would follow the Tatars and launch a large-scale military invasion.

But the Swedes still have many concerns and seem to be planning to withdraw the troops that have entered Poland back to the country to deal with the threat from Russia.

As for whether Stanisław I can still become the King of Poland, the Swedes do not intend to care and let his son-in-law Louis XV worry about it.

"That is to say, not only did the Kingdom of Sweden refuse to send more troops to support Stanislaw I, they also wanted to recall all of Tanze's 4,000-plus soldiers?" After listening to Qi Shengping's narration, Yin Zhengxi showed a worried look on his face. "If so, it's hard to say how long Tanze can hold out against the attack of the Russian-Polish coalition. After all, among the entire garrison, only the 4,000 Swedish troops are capable of fighting. Once this backbone is withdrawn, I'm afraid the whole city will lose the confidence to continue fighting."

"King Charles XII is old and timid. Thirty years ago, he would never have cared about the Russian military mobilization. We cannot let the Polish succession crisis be resolved just because the Swedes backed down." Qi Shengping stood up, stretched his stiff neck, and instructed him, "So, I came here to see the situation and see if there is any chance of a turnaround. Send someone to find the French ambassador and ask him to meet for tea tomorrow."

"Yes, Your Excellency." Yoon Jung-hee bowed in response.

(End of this chapter)