Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1574 Making decisions about the future

As written in the elementary school students' composition, the office was "so quiet that you could hear a needle drop." Except for the occasional rustle of flipping through documents, no one spoke.Mo San was also happy and at ease, just sitting there like an old god, drinking tea, until the time was almost up, and then slowly let everyone express their opinions.

"I think it's right to settle quickly with the French, they're big fools, and we're quick fighters, they can take a lot of punches and they're fine, but we take one and it hurts. Grinning. In fact, I have never understood why we have not ended the war with the French. This kind of war that has not had much benefit should have ended long ago. The focus of our strategy now should be the New World and the Far East, just like before As we mentioned, Wu Sangui, the largest semi-separatist force in the Qing Dynasty, has been dispatched under Kangxi's strict order, and the situation has gradually begun to get out of control." The first one to speak was still Bai Yutang, and this guy is now sharpening his head Squeezing to the Far East, the conversation kept going there, leaving a group of colleagues in the office speechless, including Deputy Director Lin Dingzhi.

Lin Dingzhi, who is the deputy director of the Caribbean Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (mainly for the New Spain region and the Kingdom of the Free State), hates this kind of "Far East bragging" the most, but considering that Mo San has already set the tone, he dare not go too far Confronting each other, he just murmured, "If you want to interfere in the situation in the Far East, you must send more troops. The country has just disarmed and there are not many mobile troops. Could it be that the children of the capital from the First Mixed Battalion are sent to the Far East? This will cost a lot of money, and now the Dutch also hope that we can send a small part of the army to the Caribbean, just in case."

"How much can it cost? A mixed battalion has 1450 people. Even if it is sent overseas to fight, it is only 30 yuan per year for maintenance, and the first mixed battalion is only 60 yuan. In order to balance the situation in China, Shouldn’t we pay an extra 10 yuan a year in military expenditures? You know, that’s our largest source of population, and there are complaints about the lack of people everywhere in the country. Construction sites, farms, fleets, logging camps, manufacturing Factories and so on, if you don’t work hard to maintain your presence in the Far East, why don’t you drive us into the sea after the Qing Dynasty unifies the country?” Bai Yutang was not happy when he heard the words, and immediately jumped out to refute, as if there was a little bit of expression in front of Mo San mean.

After thinking for a while, the guy added: "What about sending the capital children of the First Mixed Battalion to the Far East? Let those people practice and practice! Many people are gossiping now, talking about the equipment of the First Mixed Battalion. Well, the treatment is good, but it’s just a show of honor guard. The children of the capital are fascinated by the world of flowers and flowers on weekdays, and they don’t have that kind of hard work and vigor. If this is the case, what about sending them to the Far East battlefield to prove themselves? ?”

"Okay, I'm here to discuss the European strategy, not the Far East policy. Let's get back to the topic. Kobayashi, what do you think of the Caribbean Department? The Dutch mean that we should be the villain who offended the French again, and repeat the old tricks. , Occupy French overseas colonies." Mo San saw that the two were arguing a little outrageously, and immediately eased the conversation, and brought the topic back to the current main topic, only to hear him continue: "You are all Chinese in the Ministry. Young cadres, I want to hear your opinions, not the opinions of those old-fashioned old guys, so you can speak freely without any worries."

"Minister Mo, Si Li's opinion is to end the war with the French first. Combined with the negotiation guideline issued by the mainland to Li Qing's special envoy in front of Aachen a while ago, the French Santo Domingo has decided to return to the Kingdom of Spain. In his hands, the French have been illegally occupying them for so many years anyway, and have never been recognized by the Spaniards. This time it is considered a return to the rightful owner. From a legal point of view, the French can't find anything wrong. As compensation, the United Provinces and our country will jointly impose on Spain. pressure and ask them to cede land including Strasbourg and the four surrounding free cities to the French as compensation." Lin Dingyi immediately calmed down when he talked about his own work, and only heard him say: "French People should accept this condition. In this war, Strasbourg was spared from the French because of the agreement reached in advance with the French (their representatives made contact with Louis XIV in advance, and then did not resist the entry of the French army). The production was not damaged due to military disasters. Moreover, the population is prosperous and the commerce is prosperous. The French will accept the compensation from Santo Domingo. After all, there are only more than 1000 French colonists in the half of the Caribbean island.”

"The Spaniards have long been powerless to control the cities of Strasbourg. The taxes are not raised, and the army is not stationed, so they have them there in name. Otherwise, the titles of Liberty City will never be Where did it come from. This time it was distributed to the French, and it would be a good thing for them to regain control of the entire Hispaniola island. They should not refuse. The only dissatisfaction is probably Stella Those citizens of Fort who are used to freedom, hehe, someone has come to clean them up, it’s too bad.” Mo San laughed and said: “Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia and other islands also want to Returning to the hands of the French, how could these guys be so lucky? They obviously lost, but relying on their big size and rich capital, they held on to their death. In the end, the Dutch jumped out to help them wipe Ass, tsk tsk..."

"So, in the future, the chess game in the Caribbean will still be played by France. England, the United Provinces, Spain, France, and us, all who can come have come, and your division will have refreshments in the future. And national intelligence The business relationship of the General Administration must also be strengthened, and the Free State is the top priority. Forget it, I will talk about these things later, and there is no rush now. But the next stage will focus on building the Huaiyuan Island base and strengthening the naval power there. It is also necessary to raise the agenda, of course, this requires us to communicate with the United Provinces and Spain first, so as not to cause misunderstandings." Mo San then said: "By the way, Xiaobai, you are now the senior assistant of the Ministry and the Chinese Director of the Department, although the scope of business is not here, let me share your opinion, and you will understand if you listen to it."

"Okay, Minister Mo, then I'll talk about it." Bai Yutang glanced at Lin Dingzhi, cleared his throat, and said, "Actually, we signed an offensive and defensive alliance with the Dutch -- of course this alliance is based on the opinions of colleagues in the ministry. The view is that the attack on the French only, similar to the Spaniards - is not a good choice for our country, because it may drag our country into a quagmire. According to the news sent back by the National Intelligence Service Well, the French have launched warships one after another in the past few years. Although it seems impossible to have a decisive battle with our navy at present, they are dispersed after the long coastlines of the Bay of Biscay, the North Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. Our maritime trade lines can also pose a major threat to us. For such a country, what benefits do the Dutch have to offer us to get us on their side? Direct cash? Sorry, we don’t want it yet, what we want is Industrial profits need the market. Minister Mo, please carefully form an alliance with the United Provinces. France is no longer the France of five years ago. They could only send one fire attack ship to participate in the Anglo-Dutch naval battle, but now there are more than 20 ships. Decent large professional warships can still be sent out, our merchant ships—can they hold up?"

"Yes, I agree with Director Bai on this point. I heard that the French will start a new phase of a larger-scale warship construction plan after completing the five-year construction plan of 65 heavy warships. It's crazy. Although I don't know where they got so much money, but once it is completed, their naval strength will steadily overwhelm ours, especially in the case of home battles. It is unlikely that our navy will compete with the Mediterranean Sea or compare Challenging the French fleet in the Gulf of Skye, like the incident that blocked people’s homes this time, is probably very difficult to happen.” Some people also spoke out to support Bai Yutang’s point of view, obviously the growing strength of the French navy made some people feel uneasy , and therefore opposed the signing of a military alliance with the Netherlands against the French.

Mo San nodded with a smile when he heard the words, but did not comment, but asked instead: "Then how do you think we should deal with the Dutch? You know, they tempted us with a super big order. Once the alliance is signed, Not only orders from the province of the Netherlands are given to us, but also orders from the four provinces of Zeeland, Friesland, Groningen and Oberijssel. Only orders from Utrecht, Gelderland and Drenthe will be diverted to England And the German region. This is a great benefit, at least it is a business with a total amount of more than 500 million guilders, and it is only the first phase. The army spent more than [-] million guilders in total, and they are also drunk...), isn’t it a pity to give up?”

"There are some benefits that should be given up. The order of the Dutch is poison wrapped in honey. Once it is eaten, it is hard to say what will happen. Maybe we will use up the national navy because the trade line is cut off. Big ship building, a fight to the death with the French, in this way, we are completely involved, and the Dutch can laugh and watch us fight with the French. Then the problem comes, we need to put ourselves in the Is it so passive? Sit back and watch the possible Franco-Dutch war and export a large amount of supplies to the Dutch is already a great goodwill that we can release. What else do the Dutch want? Are we going to risk giving up the business that has been in business for many years? Is it the risk of Italy, the Baltic Sea, Russia, the Ottoman market? Sorry, we don’t take this risk! Minister Mo, the above is my opinion, doing business with the Dutch is okay, signing a military alliance is absolutely not feasible! In fact, we should limit More of its military power will be deployed in the Indian Ocean and the Far East, taking advantage of the favorable opportunity of the European war, to carry out deep cultivation there, with a view to reaping benefits in the future."

"You're here again, is it time to mention sending the first mixed battalion to the Far East again, haha..." Mo San shook his head and chuckled, "It's impossible to form an alliance, and it will not be possible in the last few years. After all, we All of the sea lines of communication pass through the doorstep of the French, and their sea power has grown too fast in recent years, and Louis is still increasing the funds for naval shipbuilding and recruitment, which makes any alliance with the Netherlands Behavior will face huge risks. So this time, I am sorry for the United Provinces, we will not accompany! However, the mood of the Dutch people must be appeased, especially the republicans in power have always been on good terms with us, and we cannot let them lose face It's too ugly, so the export of a batch of previously restricted army and navy long-barreled artillery to the Dutch has been roughly settled. This may help them resist the surging French army. longer."

What Mo San said just now to break the export ban of some long-barreled artillery to the Netherlands actually has a profound background.In today's United Provinces, with the increasing pressure from the French, the Orange family, which has always been known as anti-French, began to gradually gain power, and gained more and more power in the major city councils, provincial councils, and three-level councils. Supported by the MPs, after all, their land aristocrats have always been deeply rooted in the army system.If the United Provinces want to withstand the land attacks of foreigners, they still have to rely on the land nobles headed by the Orange family. This has been proved since the 16th century when they resisted the rule of the Spanish.

Although the core republican lawmakers strongly advocated that Prince of Orange's father, Frederick, led an army to raid Amsterdam 20 years ago, intending to end the three-level parliamentary system. The news of the prince's mutiny was sent to Amsterdam, which made them ready to hold on in time, and then waited until Frederick died of smallpox and the crisis subsided), but under the real threat of the French, many people still got "forgetful Syndrome" and supported the return of the Orange faction to power.The efforts of the republicans also made the Orange faction hate to the bone, and the leader of the republics, Speaker Dewitt, became a target they wanted to get rid of quickly.

Therefore, it is quite necessary to give some support to the republicans now and help them stabilize the situation.Although it is difficult to say how useful this kind of support is in the face of the general trend threatened by France, it can help the republicans to procrastinate for one more day. It is still difficult to judge the attitude of the Orange party to the east coast.

In addition, the Directorate of National Intelligence also wrote a report to the Executive Committee, expressing their concerns about the personal safety of Speaker DeWitt.Because according to the feedback from various places, the two brothers, Speaker DeWitt, live a simple life and are very close to the people. They have a wide range of activities in The Hague and Amsterdam. They often go to places with many people and complicated environments, and they often only bring Two servants, once this extreme situation occurs, the probability of accident is quite high.And once DeWitt died, although the Republicans would not collapse immediately, it was true that they could no longer control the situation. Therefore, the safety of the key figure, Speaker DeWitt, was also a key node in the context of the Franco-Dutch war.

Just how to keep Speaker DeWitt?Is it sending troops to land in the United Provinces?This is indeed a problem!

(End of this chapter)