The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 348 Alliance
On October 1734, 10, after a three-month siege, more than 13 Russian-Saxon coalition troops finally captured Tanze. More than French and Swedish troops were captured, but Stanislaw I took advantage of the chaos to escape from the city and fled to Königsberg.

At this point, the war in Poland was basically over, and Elector Augustus III of Saxe successfully ascended the Polish throne. The Russians successfully intervened in Polish affairs and managed to save the situation slightly when the country was facing many crises, which boosted the morale of the people.

However, the Austrians found themselves in an extremely embarrassing situation, which could even be described as a disaster, in the regional conflict caused by the Polish succession crisis.

Fearing that the war would spread to the Netherlands, the United Provinces declared strict neutrality. Another ally, England, also remained neutral for its own geopolitical considerations. This left the Austrians with almost no external assistance, and they had to deal with the encirclement and attack of France, Spain, and Sardinia alone.

The Austrians' battlefields were mainly concentrated in two places, the Rhine region and Italy.

In the Rhine region, despite the famous general Prince Eugene leading the war, the Austrians still suffered a major defeat under the siege of the French army's superior forces. The Duchy of Lorraine was occupied by the French army, and the Philipsburg Fortress on the right bank of the Rhine also fell, with the loss of more than 8,000 troops.

In Italy, the Austrian army was in a worse situation. In the north, they participated in two fierce battles, the Battle of San Biagio and the Battle of Guasdala, winning one and losing one, but were forced back to the east bank of the Ticino River by the French-Sardinian coalition. The situation was quite bad.

In southern Italy, the Austrian army suffered a crushing defeat. The Spanish army easily defeated the Austrian army in the Battle of Bitando and captured the entire Naples.

However, the only good news was that the people of Qi were actually competing with Spain for Sicily. The two sides were facing each other across the shallow Strait of Messina, and there were signs that an armed conflict would break out.

When the Austrian court heard that the Qi people claimed that they had sent their navy and army to Sicily at their invitation, it remained silent, neither admitting nor refuting.

Obviously, the Austrians wanted to use this ambiguous attitude to watch the two countries of Italy and Spain fight for Sicily, so as to slightly ease the military pressure on the empire.

However, the Austrians were still filled with endless anger and resentment towards Qi's unauthorized occupation of Sicily.

"What you Qi people are doing is actually no different from what Spain, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia are doing. You are all a bunch of robbers who are taking advantage of the situation to rob people!"

On November 1734, 11, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and State Secretary Alois Stogel, Marquis of Graz, received Liu Yuanying, the Qi State's ambassador to Venice, who made a sudden and secret visit to the Hofburg Palace.

After some simple diplomatic etiquette and greetings, the two sides quickly turned the topic to Sicily.

Marquis of Gratz immediately and bluntly pointed out that Qi's occupation of Sicily was a serious violation of the territorial sovereignty of the empire and a blatant act of war.

In this regard, the Empire will reserve the attitude of retaliating against Qi, and will not rule out the use of force depending on Qi's subsequent actions to defend the dignity and territorial integrity of the Empire.

"So, Your Majesty the Emperor and Your Excellency the Marquis believe that our Qi State must withdraw from Sicily immediately?" Liu Yuanying asked calmly after Marquis Gratz had vented his dissatisfaction in a timid manner.

"...Yes." Marquis Gratz glanced at the silent Emperor, and immediately responded: "Your Qi State must unconditionally and without reservation withdraw all troops from Sicily, and restore the normal ruling order of the Empire there."

"Mr. Marquis of Gratz, if our Qi army immediately withdraws from Sicily as the Empire requires, then the army of the Kingdom of Spain will rush over immediately and make it part of the Bourbon royal family. In this way, the power of the Kingdom of Spain will spread from Parma in the north to Naples in the south, and finally reach Sicily. If, coupled with a hostile Kingdom of Sardinia and a covetous France, the Duchy of Milan in northern Italy will be completely surrounded by powerful enemies, and the day of its destruction will not be far away."

"..." Marquis Gratz's expression froze, but he still said firmly: "Our empire will eventually defeat all enemies and defend every territory of the empire."

"However, your legions in southern Italy have all been destroyed by Spain. The army defending the Duchy of Milan is struggling on the east bank of the Ticino River. If they cannot obtain sufficient manpower and material assistance, they will most likely lose this richest territory of the empire. In the direction of the Rhine, the Duchy of Lorraine has also been completely occupied by the French army, and their troops are advancing towards the western border of the empire. Although the Ottoman Empire in the south of the empire has assembled a large army in Moldavia to deal with possible invasion by the Russians, they have still stationed a considerable number of troops in Wallachia and Serbia. In the context of this tense situation, if we are not careful, there will be accidental shootings, which will then affect the southern border areas of the empire. Your Excellency Marquis Gratz, are you sure that the empire can deal with all the above external crises in a short period of time?"

"..." After listening to the interpreter's retelling, the corners of the eyes of Emperor Charles VI of the Empire twitched a few times, and then he said, "Mr. Minister, your visit to the Empire this time should not only be to point out the many crises of the Empire, and then threaten and intimidate the Empire in order to obtain Sicily, right?"

"Of course, we in Qi will not come here to watch the empire fall into such a dangerous situation, nor will we take advantage of the situation to rob it." Liu Yuanying said with a smile: "We should be able to help the empire solve some very difficult problems. Although we cannot completely eliminate all crises for the empire, we can at least alleviate the many difficulties you are facing."

"That's right. Although our empire is facing many external crises, we can still deal with them on our own." Marquis Gratz frowned and said, "Don't forget that the Russian Empire has already resolved the Polish succession crisis with Saxony and is ready to fulfill its obligations as a military alliance at any time to lend a hand to the empire and jointly deal with the joint invasion of France, Spain and the Kingdom of Sardinia."

"Your Excellency Marquis Gratz, you may not be very clear about the current actual situation of the Russian Empire, right?" Liu Yuanying shook his head and said, "According to the information we have collected from various parties, the Eastern Border Region of the Russian Empire has fallen into great chaos. The Yenisei Military Region and the Omsk Military Region under their Siberian Governor's Region have been captured by the Bohai Kingdom and the Dzungar Khanate respectively. The Tomsk Military Region has become an isolated island and is in a precarious situation. It is waiting for emergency rescue from Moscow. In the Volga River Basin, the Astrakhan Khanate is wantonly plundering Russian villages and cities, and the southern Russian grasslands are full of Torghut people. cavalry traveled back and forth; in Ukraine and Moldavia, the Russians were also struggling to cope with the military threats from the Crimean Khanate and the Ottomans. What frightened the Russians even more was that Sweden had assembled more than 80,000 troops in Finland, Karelia, and Courland, forcing the Moscow authorities to transfer more troops to the western region. Of course, the Russians have huge human resources and can recruit more troops to face multiple threats. However, with the Russians' dilapidated financial situation, can they raise the corresponding military expenses and necessary weapons and equipment? Your Excellency, do you think that the Russians will have the spare energy to support the empire under such circumstances? "

"..." After hearing this, Marquis Gratz fell silent.

Yes, the Russians seem to be in trouble now. Will they have extra energy to share the military pressure for the empire?
"So, what good suggestions do you people of Qi have?" Emperor Charles VI sighed slightly and asked softly.

"We in Qi have accumulated a batch of military equipment in the Republic of Venice. If the Empire needs it, we can transfer it to the Empire's army stationed in Milan to strengthen the Empire's defense capabilities."

When Liu Yuanying heard Charles VI's question, he couldn't help but feel relieved. Since the other party's attitude had softened, all the subsequent issues would be easier to discuss.

"In addition, given the empire's current empty financial situation, our Qi State can provide the imperial government with an emergency loan through the Mediterranean United Bank and the Imperial Huaxia Bank to alleviate the empire's temporary financial difficulties."

"…If the Empire needs it, our Qi diplomatic mission can go to Istanbul and persuade the Ottoman Empire to reduce the size of its troops in Wallachia and Serbia in order to eliminate tensions in the border areas between your two countries."

"...Well, in the end, if the Empire hopes to end the war with France, Spain and the Kingdom of Sardinia, we in Qi can work hard to mediate and actively promote peace, so as to restore peace and stability on the European continent." "...What do you people of Qi want from the Empire?" asked Charles VI.

"Your Majesty, I think the cold and distant relationship between our two countries should change now, and we should work together to maintain peace and stability on the European continent."

Charles VI and Marquis of Gratz looked at each other, both with a hint of surprise in their eyes.

The State of Qi is willing to take the initiative to establish formal diplomatic relations with the Empire!

"Then Sicily..." Marquis Gratz asked, "How will your Qi State deal with... Sicily?"

"Your Majesty, Your Excellency the Marquis, the current situation in Sicily is very clear. If our Qi State withdraws from the island, the Kingdom of Spain will certainly send troops to capture it, and the Empire will be powerless to stop it." Liu Yuanying said solemnly: "Under this situation, the Empire will inevitably lose this maritime territory and suffer unbearable heavy losses."

"If you Qi people occupy Sicily, won't our empire suffer heavy losses?"

"Your Majesty, Your Excellency the Marquis, although our Qi State has occupied Sicily, the Empire will also lose this territory. However, as a civilized and humble country, our Qi State will give the Empire a certain amount of economic compensation for this."

"How much compensation are you, Qi, prepared to give to the Empire for Sicily?" Marquis Gratz asked subconsciously.

"Three hundred thousand gold yuan!"

Three hundred thousand gold yuan was roughly equivalent to 1 million thalers, the imperial currency (1.25 tael of silver was approximately equal to thalers).

Hiss! This seems like a good deal!

If the Spanish seized Sicily, the empire would gain nothing.

Moreover, since the people of Qi had opened their mouth, the empire could naturally bargain and sell Sicily at a suitable price.
-
At 11 a.m. on November 12, Simone Doria, the ruler of the Republic of Genoa, and many high-ranking officials and nobles of the Republic warmly escorted the diplomatic envoys from Qi to the dock, and then waved goodbye reluctantly.

When the two steam warships sounded their whistles and were about to set sail, the Genoese people gathered on the dock burst into warm cheers and waved their arms to pay high tribute to the Qi warships.

As the Executive Government successively announced a series of cooperation documents signed with Qi State, the people of Genoa truly felt the great goodwill from Qi State.

The State of Qi will provide the Republic of Genoa with a low-interest loan of 200,000 gold yuan to supplement the weak finances of the republic.

Qi's banking sector will work closely with Genoa's financial sector to rebuild Genoa's financial markets by injecting much-needed liquidity into banks hit hard by Spain's financial bankruptcy.

Qi will carry out in-depth military cooperation with Genoa. In addition to donating a batch of high-quality weapons, they will also provide specific military guidance and training services to the Genoese army, and work with the Genoese navy to blockade Corsica to prevent the island's rebellious separatist armed forces from obtaining weapons from the outside.

Qi will provide corresponding financial and technical support for the expansion and renovation of the Port of Genoa to strengthen the port's position as a regional shipping center.

……

All this greatly boosted the confidence of the people of Genoa. Many people believed that with the full support of Qi, the Republic of Genoa would be revived again.

More importantly, with the in-depth cooperation between the two countries in many areas such as politics, economy and military, Genoa will gain strong foreign aid, thus avoiding the covetousness and invasion of the Kingdom of Sardinia and France.

During several days of bilateral talks, the people of Qi put forward a very constructive suggestion, which was to form a regional alliance to jointly deal with the risk of invasion by external forces.

This alliance will include all Italian city-states and republics that pursue independence and freedom. They will coordinate internally, help each other, and fulfill their joint defense obligations when facing foreign invasion to safeguard the territorial integrity of all countries in the alliance.

As the ruler of the Republic of Genoa, Duke Simone Doria was very interested in this proposal and had an in-depth discussion with the representatives of Qi.

It is reported that the Republic of Venice also attaches great importance to this proposal and is willing to have preliminary contact and exchanges with Genoa on the establishment of this alliance under the leadership of Qi.

Since the collapse of the Roman Empire more than a thousand years ago, the entire Italian region has been broken into countless kingdoms, principalities, autonomous cities and small family territories. Then the French, Spanish and Austrians took turns to fight for and rule Italy, causing serious political and economic divisions in the entire region, which completely turned into a battlefield for competition among great powers.

You see, the succession crisis that originally occurred in Poland, several major powers such as France, Spain and Austria turned into a mess in Italy, and the Kingdom of Sardinia also got involved, making all the Italian states worried about being affected by the war.

If the several republics and city-states in Italy can come together, work together and form a political and military alliance, they will at least have some power to protect themselves.

With the existence of this alliance, the surrounding major powers would be more or less wary if they wanted to come to Italy to compete for territory or plunder wealth, right?
Well, from now on, Italy’s affairs will be decided by us Italians, and no foreign forces will be allowed to interfere!
(End of this chapter)