The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 72 The Russians and the French

Just when the British Lord North's cabinet fell, Russian Empress Catherine II suddenly jumped out and made her presence felt.

As was done in history, she sent a diplomatic note to the major European countries.

It claimed that in order to protect the free trade of neutral countries during the war, it required the belligerent countries such as Britain, France, Spain, and Ming Dynasty to abide by a principle:
Ships of neutral countries can sail freely in the ports and coasts of belligerent countries. Unless neutral ships are carrying weapons, ammunition, shipbuilding equipment and other military goods that are explicitly banned, belligerent countries may not seize goods on neutral ships that are sold to their hostile countries.

Catherine II also stated in the note that she hoped to invite all other neutral countries to sign an agreement to form an armed neutrality alliance.

The allied countries jointly dispatched warships to ensure that the principle of neutral free trade could be implemented normally.

Although this initiative was addressed to all countries and seemed to be aimed at all the belligerent countries, it was actually aimed at Britain.

Because Britain is in a separate camp, and all other participating countries are in one camp.

The other belligerents only needed to attack British transport ships and were relatively restrained.

In the past, they only captured British ships and basically would not touch ships from neutral countries. There were already few neutral merchant ships going to the British mainland, and those going to America were not considered British.

However, Britain wanted to attack the transport ships of all other belligerent countries, and was very arrogant at the beginning of the war, launching almost indiscriminate attacks.

The British Navy was indeed powerful. While it could fight against France and Spain alone, it also had the energy to attack transport ships from other countries.

Britain initially attempted to impose a comprehensive maritime blockade, prohibiting other European countries from shipping supplies to North America, and even considered declaring war on the Netherlands, which had the ability to ship supplies.

In the original history, Britain really declared war on the Netherlands, but in this world it just endured it forcibly.

Russia called on neutral countries to form an alliance and even requested the dispatch of warships for protection in order to break the British blockade.

Although in this world, after the Ming Dynasty officially entered the war and the British North American Navy was defeated, Britain basically gave up the war in North America.

Britain's comprehensive blockade strategy could no longer be implemented due to the Ming Dynasty's involvement.

However, this does not prevent Russia from using established plans to increase its presence and use Britain as a target to enhance its influence in Europe.

After the big guy Russia stood up and spoke out, other European countries, big and small, responded one after another.

Everyone can see that Britain is doomed to lose this time, and all the countries that dislike Britain are happy to come out and shout a few words.

Denmark and Sweden were the first to join, followed by the Netherlands, Prussia, Austria, Portugal and others.

It has really reached the point in Britain where even the air is against him.

When Britain received the news from Russia, it had not yet received a response from other countries. After all, there was no telegraph at that time and news spread very slowly.

But British politicians can easily guess that many other countries will join in the fun.

These external threats have accelerated the pace of compromise among various factions in British politics.

At the end of March 1780, Charles Watson Wentworth, Marquis of Rockingham, became the new Prime Minister.

The new Prime Minister created two new Cabinet posts, those of Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary, the latter being the Foreign Secretary.

The Prime Minister appointed King George III's confidant, the Earl of Shelburne (William Petty Morris), as Home Secretary.

The Prime Minister appointed a Radical MP (Charles James Fox) as Foreign Secretary.

It is equivalent to the radicals and conservatives temporarily standing together.

This new cabinet, which was put together, concluded that the situation in North America was irreversible and that the kingdom's finances could not support continuing the war.

The key is that Britain’s diplomatic environment has become extremely bad.

Even if the Qing Dynasty decided to join an alliance with Britain, the war could no longer continue.

So the top priority is to end the war with the least possible cost.

Before Lord Byron, who was sent to Shenzhou, returned, it was temporarily impossible to determine the attitudes of the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty towards the war.

Now we should try to contact France and Spain first, and arrange a fleet to go to North America to actively contact the Ming Expeditionary Force to express our intention to seek a ceasefire and peace talks.

After the various factions in the UK compromised, the government's administrative efficiency actually improved and the corresponding tasks were carried out quickly.

After the British intention to negotiate peace was sent to France, France immediately held a high-level internal meeting.

There are only three people: King Louis XVI of France, Jean-Frédéric Philippe, Count of Maurepas, the Chief Minister of the French Privy Council (the de facto Prime Minister), and Jacques Necker, the French Treasurer. Louis XVI is now very proud:

"The British have taken the initiative to seek peace. The British have admitted their total defeat! We, France, are about to win!"

The 79-year-old Count Maurepas also seemed quite satisfied:
"Our strategic goals have been achieved in the war so far. This is truly a victory for us."

Louis XVI was a little confused. Although he was pleased with Britain's request for peace, he still knew what the war was like:
“Have we achieved our strategic goals?”

Jacques Necker next to him didn't quite understand either:

"We have not occupied any islands in North America, nor have we taken back Jersey. We have not achieved any real results."

Count Maurepas said, smiling:
"But we have curbed the momentum of Britain's further expansion, and Britain's position in Europe has been completely suppressed and isolated.

“Europe’s international relations for decades to come will be based on an armistice with Britain.

"France will thereby regain its leadership position on the European continent."

Louis XVI suddenly became proud again:

"That's true. We have indeed won a strategic victory! If only the damn Russians hadn't taken advantage of the opportunity to attack us.

"So, Your Excellency, do you think that we can now accept Britain's peace proposal and start armistice negotiations?"

Count Maurepas said:

“It’s enough. The combined fleet of France and Spain has suffered heavy losses and cannot recover its combat effectiveness in the short term.

"There is no possibility of defeating the British navy in the short term, and the plan to land in Britain can no longer be continued."

Louis XVI immediately continued to ask:

"What can we gain by stopping the war under such circumstances? After all, we have occupied nothing."

Count Maurepas sighed
“Although we did not occupy anything directly, we and Spain held back the main force of the British navy, allowing the Ming Dynasty to quickly destroy the British North American colonies.

"After this war, Britain will lose most of its colonies.

“This is also because one of the key goals of this war is that these North American colonies have been occupied by the Ming Dynasty, and we can no longer seize them ourselves.

“We can only try to get some of it back from our Ming allies in the subsequent ceasefire negotiations.

"So there is no practical point in continuing to fight the UK."

Louis XVI felt a little disappointed and was not very satisfied with the result, so he looked at Jacques Necker, the chief minister of the treasury:
"Do we have any money now?"

Necker was a Protestant and could not serve as a minister in Catholic France, so he performed the duties of the French Minister of Finance in the name of the treasury chief:
“Your Majesty, there is definitely no cash, and our finances are actually bankrupt.

“If you still need money, we have to find other ways to raise it, such as more loans and bonds.

"But we need to use more time to accumulate wealth and repay debts after the war."

The French top brass knew before the war that France’s finances would go bankrupt, but they only needed to achieve a strategic victory while going bankrupt.

Although the situation is a bit chaotic now, the strategic goals have been basically achieved.

Bankruptcy is actually not a big problem. Many royal families and courts in European countries have gone bankrupt.

France itself is very good at the financial industry, and Jacques Necker is a professional banker.

As long as the king and his ministers make proper follow-up operations and there is no immediate new turmoil in Europe, the financial crisis should be gradually reversed.

In the original history, France's intervention in the American War of Independence also led to financial bankruptcy, but it was not unbearable.

It was the fiscal bankruptcy coupled with several years of consecutive natural disasters that triggered the accumulated debt crisis, which can be regarded as an early economic crisis.

Louis XVI heard that he was bankrupt, but he didn't feel any sense of reality. Even considering the future life of paying off debts, he still couldn't make up his mind:

"Let's send someone to Madrid to take a look. If Uncle Carlos can accept it, then we can start negotiations."

After France expressed its intention to negotiate peace, the naval battle between France and Britain was basically over, and preparations for landing operations also really stopped.

(End of this chapter)