The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 279: The Dutch Campaign and the Diffusion of Technology

After breaking through the border of the Southern Netherlands, the Northern Army, commanded by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, made rapid progress.

The local garrison of the Belgian Duke was no match for the French army.

The key point is that in the southern Netherlands, that is, the southern part of Belgium, a large proportion of the population speaks French, and France already has a certain influence here.

This further contributed to the French advantage.

However, when the French army arrived at the gates of Brussels, the offensive momentum came to an abrupt halt.

A main Ming division stationed in Brussels launched a head-on blow to the influx of French troops.

The Ming Dynasty's infantry artillery had a range far exceeding that of traditional artillery, and it also had shrapnel shells with extremely terrifying explosive power.

The standard rifle of the Ming army not only has an extremely fast firing rate, but also has an extremely long range and a very high hit rate.

The French army, which had been in high spirits in recent years, had suffered nearly one-third of its casualties when it rushed to within a few dozen meters of the Ming army.

If it were an ordinary traditional army, it would have been defeated in this situation.

However, the French army at this time had a special spiritual blessing, and was able to rush to the front of the Ming infantry despite the terrible death rate, ready to engage in close combat and hand-to-hand combat.

The Ming army launched the first wave of bitter acid grenades.

Amid the horrific explosions and smoke, the French infantry, more than half of whom had suffered casualties, finally could not move forward.

The Ming army then launched a charge and completely defeated the mentally collapsed French army.

The cavalry general, Louis Nicolas Davout, stumbled back to the camp and reported to the commander of the army, Jourdan:

"General, the battle line formed by the Ming people's infantry artillery shrapnel shells, Australian rapid-fire rifles, and shrapnel grenades is too lethal. Our soldiers can't rush through."

At this point Davout changed his statement:
"No human army can rush through unless the morale of the Ming Dynasty collapses or the ammunition supply runs out."

Jourdan had been prepared for this. He had heard about the three weapons of the Ming army and even personally experienced the Australian repeating rifle he got on the black market:
"The Australian automatic rifle... even if it is deployed on a large scale in the military, its lethality is still too great, and our army is still unable to manufacture it."

Davu immediately said:
"The repeating rifles used by the main Ming army are quite different from the rifles available on the black market.

"Their rifles produce no smoke when fired, do not affect vision, and may have a higher range and accuracy than those circulated on the black market.

“It should be because the control is stricter, so it has not yet ended up on the black market.

“However, if the Ming only had this type of rifle, our soldiers would still have a chance to defeat them.

"But with the addition of shrapnel artillery and shrapnel grenades, we really can't get ahead."

Jourdan said in a somewhat irritable and frustrated tone:

"What on earth are those shrapnel shells? Why do they have such a strong explosion power? Has anyone got their shells and grenades?"

Jourdan's aide-de-camp, Jean-de-Dieu Soult, interrupted:

“I heard that scholars in Paris have been studying Ming Dynasty weapons in recent years.

“However, the Ming Dynasty’s control over grenades and artillery shells was stricter than that over rifles, and scholars have no physical objects to refer to.

“So there was no harvest, and I started to wonder if the shells were just legends.

"Now that we have encountered it directly on the battlefield, we are sure that such a thing really exists."

Jourdan walked back and forth in the tent several times:

"It's impossible for shells and grenades to be 100% reliable. There must be dud shells and grenades on the battlefield. We need to take the risk to pick up some!"

Jourdan stopped in the middle of the tent.
"Launch another charge! Aim to get the Ming's artillery shells and grenades!"

Dawu was slightly stunned:
"This... may kill many people..."

Jourdan cried:

"This is very important. If we don't figure out what's going on with the Ming's artillery shells and grenades, more people will die."

Jourdan's order was carried out.

The French army organized another charge. Soult, as Jourdan's adjutant, came to the front line to urge the soldiers on the real purpose of this battle.

After suffering thousands of casualties again, the French army obtained several unexploded shells and grenades.

These items were carefully packed in boxes and escorted back to Paris by cavalry.

The shells were handed over to a group led by Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier.

Lavoisier had been a tax farmer during the Bourbon dynasty, contracting part of the tax rights for salt and tobacco, and married the daughter of a wealthy owner.

Tax farming means paying a fixed amount of money to the royal family and then obtaining the right to collect taxes in specific industries in an area. How much can be collected depends on personal ability.

Therefore, tax farmers were considered to be a profession that cruelly exploited the local people and was tainted with the original sin of extortion.

So after the French Revolution began, Lavoisier's identity became sensitive.

Especially after Robespierre came to power, he began to purge the tax farmers who had once been domineering.

In the original history, Lavoisier was sent to the guillotine along with other tax farmers.

In this world, due to the pressure from the Ming Dynasty, Lavoisier's abilities were more valued and he was not arrested and imprisoned as in history.

Instead, they will continue to serve the Republic under the supervision of the revolutionary government.

Lavoisier led a group of chemists and apprentices, and first worked on restoring the percussion cap obtained from the black market and successfully produced mercury fulminate.

Fulminate mercury primers are the basis of all new equipment in the Ming army. They are used in everything from rifle bullets to grenades to artillery shells. It can be said that they are used in every aspect of the Ming main force.

In the original history, fulminate of mercury was invented around this time, and the chemical level in France was sufficient to produce this thing.

Therefore, the widely used artillery fell into the hands of other countries and was reverse-engineered by craftsmen in other countries. This is a form of technology diffusion that cannot be completely avoided.

However, the French were able to manufacture fulminate of mercury percussion caps and convert flintlocks into percussion rifles, but they were unable to mass-produce breech-loading bolt-action rifles.

This time, Lavoisier once again led his apprentices to carefully dismantle a grenade.

Pull the bamboo grenade inner shell out of the iron outer shell.

Then the bamboo joints were cut open to reveal the explosives inside.

Lavoisier and his apprentices looked at the things in front of them with confusion.

"Given this color and state, could this be bitter acid?"

After careful verification, Lavoisier confirmed that the Ming Dynasty's grenade charge was indeed picric acid.

"Piric acid can explode? Why?"

Lavoisier quickly conducted an experiment. He restored the Ming Dynasty's grenade and installed a primer he made. After testing it in the field, he found that it could really explode.

No one expected that picric acid would explode when used as fuel.

Picric acid had already been invented, and it was only a matter of time before its explosive properties were discovered.

The Ming army used picric acid grenades as standard weapons and used them extensively in the war. There was no way to completely prevent the spread of technology.

However, with France's technological level, it might be possible to produce picric acid grenades through handicrafts, but it does not have the ability to manufacture seamless steel tube artillery and matching shrapnel shells.

Although Lavoisier did not know why picric acid exploded at the moment, he immediately sent his discovery and report to the French government.

After receiving the report, Robespierre was also full of disbelief.

Robespierre went to meet Lavoisier in person and personally watched the picric acid explosion demonstration on site.

After confirming the authenticity of the report, Robespierre immediately ordered the mass production of picric acid and picric acid grenades.

But new problems immediately arose.

Daming's grenade has two layers of outer shell, and the inner layer is a short and thick piece of bamboo.

The picric acid charge is loaded into a bamboo joint at the front end, and a layer of iron shell is covered on the outside of the bamboo joint.

Lavoisier didn't know why the Ming Dynasty wanted to use bamboo. The key point was that there was no bamboo in France either.

Lavoisier continued his experiments and found that using or not that piece of bamboo seemed to have no effect on the power of the grenade.

The energy of the grenade mainly comes from the explosion of picric acid inside, and its lethality mainly comes from the fragments produced after the iron shell is torn apart.

The real reason is that picric acid reacts slowly with metals, producing compounds that are more sensitive than picric acid itself and will explode when hit or dropped.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty used bamboo joints and silk to contain the picric acid charge to prevent the charge from coming into direct contact with the metal shell outside. By the way, the extended bamboo was used as a handle similar to a wooden-handled grenade.

The reaction between picric acid and metal is difficult to test in a short period of time, so Lavoisier could not discover it in a short period of time.

The French held back for a while, stockpiled a batch of bitter acid grenades, and tried to attack Brussels again.

At this time, 100,000 reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty had arrived in the Netherlands with a large amount of ammunition.

Take over the original city defenses and prepare to launch a counterattack.

As a result, France launched a new round of attacks first. The bitter acid grenades suddenly taken out by the French caused a brief chaos in the Brussels defenders of the Ming Dynasty.

But the defenders were not defeated. Instead, they launched a counter-charge under the cover of machine guns and repelled the French attack again.

The French army had previously defeated other European armies, so morale was quite high.

But the Ming army had higher morale.

In addition, the French were only equipped with grenades of similar power, and there was still a huge gap between them and the Ming army in long-range artillery and rifles.

Therefore, the French army still could not defeat the Ming defenders.

The Ming reinforcements led by Li Anbang, Zhou Dahu and Tian Yiming arrived in the Netherlands and discovered that the French were equipped with grenades similar to those used by the Ming, so they slightly changed their combat strategy.

In order to take advantage of the dense firepower of rifles, the Ming army would originally wait until the enemy's infantry was within 200 meters before officially opening fire.

If the enemy army's fighting will is not strong enough, it will quickly collapse due to the continuous attacks of highly intensive and precise bullets.

However, if the will to fight is strong enough, this strategy will objectively shorten the distance between the two sides, giving the enemy the opportunity to close the distance and engage in hand-to-hand combat.

It turned out that the enemy had no grenades, and the Ming army could use the power of grenades to gain a huge advantage in close-range decisive battles.

Now that the enemy has grenades, we can no longer give them the opportunity to close the distance.

Li Anbang ordered the main force of the Ming Dynasty to launch an attack on the French positions and ordered the infantry to open fire directly from a distance of one kilometer.

However, you need to raise the shooting angle slightly and shoot the bullet towards the enemy's position.

Bolt-action rifle bullets using smokeless propellant are still lethal at a distance of one to two kilometers.

If the bullets are dense enough, you don't need to worry too much about accuracy.

In the original history, after the emergence of metal fixed rifled guns, similar rifle long-range projectile tactics naturally appeared.

Just like the ancient archers' projectiles, there is no need for special aiming, but the target can be directly covered and hit.

Similar rifle and machine gun projectile tactics were still in use until World War I, mainly to deal with enemies squatting in trenches.

Under this tactical strike mode, the French infantry had no way to assemble, and assembling would be tantamount to suicide.

But in this era, infantry using smoothbore muskets could not use typical line infantry tactics unless they were concentrated.

Using this tactic, the Ming army officially launched a counterattack and recovered the land of the Southern Netherlands.

The French army was unable to cope and could only retreat.

By the second half of the first year of the Ming Dynasty, which was 1794 AD, the French army was driven out of the Netherlands.

The first batch of French troops to enter the Netherlands numbered more than 30,000, and were subsequently reinforced by nearly 30,000 more. A total of nearly 60,000 French troops were deployed to the battlefield in the Netherlands.

But in the end, only about 20,000 troops were left returning to France, and more than two-thirds of the soldiers were killed, wounded, or fled.

France had never suffered such a huge defeat since the beginning of the Revolution.

When the French army retreated back to the border, panic broke out throughout the French Republic headed by Robespierre.

At the same time, the whole country was filled with a tragic atmosphere, and the French began to prepare to launch a war to defend their homeland.

European countries such as Britain, Spain, Prussia, Austria, and the Kingdom of Sardinia also believed that the war had reached a turning point.

They all began to take the initiative to contact the Ming Dynasty and suggested that the Ming Dynasty form an anti-French alliance to jointly interfere in and suppress the French Revolution.

The Spanish and British were particularly enthusiastic. Spain even brought out the bilateral treaty of friendship and mutual assistance, stating that it should work together with the Ming Dynasty to resist the French attack.

However, Li Anbang, commander of the Ming army, directly rejected their alliance proposal in accordance with the instructions of the Ming Emperor.

It conveyed the Ming Emperor's attitude that he had no interest in the anti-French alliance.

At the same time, after the Ming army arrived at the French border, it stopped advancing and did not continue to enter France.

They began to station troops near the border, built long-term military camps and fortresses, dug trenches and deployed barbed wire, and the Ming army began to stay here for a long time.

Whether it was the French, British or Spanish senior executives, they all felt that the breath they had held was hitting the air.

The rulers and high-level think tanks of European countries now have similar judgments:

"The Ming Dynasty really has no interest in occupying mainland France."

As long as the Ming Dynasty's vassal states do not take the initiative to attack their territories, the Ming Dynasty will not send troops to participate in the war. Even if it does participate in the war, it will only be to recover lost territory.

"But the Ming Dynasty is very interested in overseas colonies."

As long as there is a relatively appropriate reason, the Ming Dynasty might directly send troops to intervene.

Haiti and other French Caribbean colonies are direct evidence of this tendency.

When the Ming Dynasty's European Army was confronting France in the Netherlands, the US military also dispatched troops according to Zhu Jianxuan's orders.

With naval support and superior infantry firepower, all colonies in the French Caribbean were quickly swept through.

Faced with the current situation, Robespierre, with great regret and entanglement, arranged for Talleyrand to be his representative to negotiate with the commander of the Ming Dynasty's European Legion.

The revolutionary Bishop Talleyrand had taken off his black robe and put on the clothes of traditional aristocrats.

In the original history, Talleyrand was almost sent to the guillotine by the Girondists because of his secret contact with the imprisoned Louis XVI.

Fortunately, he was smart enough to flee to England in advance and escaped the disaster.

In this world, Talleyrand was not familiar with the new King Louis Philippe and did not hedge his bets to see which way the wind would blow.

So he was able to continue serving as a diplomat in the Republic.

Talleyrand brought a diplomatic delegation to Brussels to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty.

Li Anbang did not try to be mysterious and directly met with the French delegation headed by Talleyrand.

After Talleyrand bowed and greeted him, he directly explained his purpose:

"Respected General Li, we believe that this wrong war should end. I came here in the hope of signing a ceasefire agreement with the Ming Dynasty."

Li Anbang said casually:

"Yes, this war should not have happened in the first place. It is all your fault, the French, so you have to pay the price for it."

Talleyrand immediately said:

"No, no, no, it was the Ming Dynasty that first controlled the heir of the French king, occupied the French colony of Haiti, and controlled the French officials sent to Haiti."

After listening to two sentences, Li Anbang waved his hands impatiently:
"If you say this, then Ming Dynasty will not be able to sign a truce with France.

"The Ming Dynasty should continue to support King Louis Joseph's return to Paris and punish you traitors.

"Maintain a ceasefire on the current front, otherwise the war will continue."

Talleyrand was confused and annoyed:
"The Ming Dynasty should at least return some of its colonies in the Caribbean..."

Li Anbang said very bluntly and forcefully:
"There is no room for negotiation on this point. It's good enough that the Ming Dynasty doesn't ask you to compensate for the losses. It's simply a pipe dream to want to take back the islands occupied by the Ming Dynasty.

"I don't want to continue talking nonsense with you. If you can't even accept this condition, then go back."

Robespierre and Talleyrand's ideal goal was to return the areas of control of both sides to the state before the war began, mainly to regain the colonies in the Caribbean.

However, according to the instructions given by Zhu Jianxuan, Li Anbang could not make concessions on the land that the Ming Dynasty had already occupied.

However, the French mainland was a bomb at that time. The cost of occupying the French mainland was too high, and it was difficult for the Ming Dynasty to demand additional conditions.

At the same time, this ceasefire is most likely only temporary, and the war may break out again at any time.

Therefore, it is most appropriate to maintain the status quo and ceasefire.

Talleyrand had no choice but to accept the non-negotiable conditions and signed a simple armistice agreement with Li Anbang. He returned to Paris with great trepidation.

(End of this chapter)