The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 678 This chaotic world
The year 1791, which is about to pass, was an extremely chaotic and thrilling year.

In England, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger finally saw the light of day and basically took control of state power.

The past three years have been a torture for this young man who became Prime Minister of England at the age of 25.

King George III, who supported and championed him to become prime minister, suddenly fell ill and soon became unable to take care of himself. He was once diagnosed with a mental illness, or what is often called madness.

Having lost the king's support, William Pitt the Younger, who was already looked down upon because of his youth, immediately fell into a huge crisis of trust.

What's more serious is that the Crown Prince, Prince of Wales, the future George IV, was very dissatisfied with William Pitt the Younger and was closer to Pitt's political enemy, James Fox.

In this situation, in order to preserve his political future, William Pitt the Younger performed some extreme operations.

He first deliberately adopted a tough attitude, which made the Prince of Wales, who was eager to become regent, lose his temper. Then he suddenly announced that the three chief justices who kept the imperial seal could use their seals on the imperial edicts.

As the name suggests, patents are actually imperial edicts from the King of England. There are three types: the Sovereign's Patent, the Royal Patent and the King of England's Patent.

Among them, the monarch's edicts are about major events such as succession, abdication, and establishment of a crown prince.

The royal edict is equivalent to the imperial edict of China. It is of little use in state affairs and politics, and is mainly used in more personal aspects, such as conferring titles on nobles, granting titles, and even endorsing invention patents.

The Letters Patent of England was used for the colonies, generally to issue policies such as colonial taxation, appoint colonial governors, etc.

If the Prince of Wales wants to become Regent, he must have a monarchical charter with the King's seal to complete the procedure.

But if this procedure was completed, the new Prince of Wales would probably fire Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger as the first thing he would do.

Therefore, William Pitt the Younger first deliberately made the Prince of Wales unable to bear it, and then announced that the Chief Justice, who had custody of the imperial seal, could use his seal on the monarch's bulletin.

However, the use of the imperial seal must be approved by the king, but the king is half crazy and cannot agree to use the seal at all.

So William Pitt the Younger stood up and said that the matter was urgent and he would take all the responsibility. He personally persuaded the Chief Justice to use the imperial seal.

This is really a good way to kill three birds with one stone.

First of all, the Prince of Wales, who became the Regent, had a much better impression of William Pitt the Younger, who was willing to take responsibility, and he no longer disliked him so much.

Secondly, the regent's inauguration edict was stamped with the imperial seal and did have constitutional effect, but the procedure for using the seal was illegal.

If they really wanted to be picky, Parliament could have overturned the Great Bull, which would have left a backdoor for Parliament to replace the Regent if George III recovered from his illness and returned to power, or if he could no longer hold power.

Finally, problems with the succession process will inevitably lead to the weakening of power.

As expected, as soon as the Prince of Wales took office, there was a lot of opposition in Parliament. William Pitt the Younger even deliberately instigated the ambitious second son of George III, Frederick, Duke of York, the younger brother of the Crown Prince, to question the legitimacy.

Finally, the Prince of Wales, who was driven into a desperate situation, was forced to accept the Regency Bill discussed by Parliament.

In the bill, his power as the regent was greatly weakened, and he almost became a real rubber stamp. The danger to William Pitt the Younger was finally temporarily lifted.

From this we can see that the reason why William Pitt the Younger became the Prime Minister of the first industrial country in history at the age of 25 was not because of his background, but because he was really powerful.

Soon afterwards, George III was cured and regained his ability to govern. The crisis facing William Pitt the Younger was completely resolved. With the king's increasing respect and trust, he truly began to show his talents.

In North America, William Pitt the Younger integrated the remaining royalist forces and rebuilt them into Upper Canada and Lower Canada, preserving England's power in North America. Historically, the foundation for the Canadian militia to burn down the White House was laid at this time.

In India, William Pitt the Younger abolished the British East India Company, taking control of India to a new level.

He was also very tactful and turned a blind eye to Dayu's actions in the northeast of the Indian mainland, namely the Ahom Kingdom and Manipur, and handed over the Arakan Kingdom, which was originally jointly governed by Dayu and England, to Dayu.

At the same time, strict orders were issued, prohibiting British Indians from sailing to Southeast Asia, and prohibiting the British Indian government from continuing to support the Gurkhas and not provoking Dayu over the Qiangtang incident.

In the military, the rigid and conservative English Navy was forced to begin to pay attention to the role of steam engines and build a large number of new sailing warships.

Although England was still in the exploratory stage and the tonnage of these warships was very small and it was impossible for them to challenge the status of sailing ships, they were at least developing in the right direction.

The Kingdom of England is recovering in this man's hands.

. . . .

On the Sharo side, although they temporarily lost a large area of land in the east, it is almost all barren land and has no great value.

During the three years, about 20,000 soldiers were lost, but apart from the truly elite troops such as the Kutuzov Musketeers, most of the rest were Cossacks and colonial troops.

In contrast, what Sharo achieved in the Sixth Russo-Turkish War (Russo-Turkish War) can be described as brilliant, extremely brilliant.

In 1788-1789, after the Battle of Kimburn, the Battle of Fokshani, the Battle of the Rumnik River and other battles, the Russians defeated more than Ottoman troops and occupied Odessa on the northern coast of the Black Sea and a large area of Romania on the eastern coast.

In particular, in the Battle of the Rumnik River, the 100,000-strong Ottoman Turkish army was defeated by the 25,000-strong combined forces of Sharo and Shinra.

This basically caused the Ottoman Turks to lose their ability to take the initiative in combat on the northern coast of the Black Sea, and also made the Ottoman army begin to fear fighting against the Sharo army, which was a huge blow.

By 1790, the Roman-Romanian coalition launched another large-scale battle. The Holy Roman Empire captured most of Serbia, including Belgrade, while the Polish-Romanian Empire captured almost all of Romania's land on the Black Sea side.

Sharo's navy also devastated the Ottoman navy on the Black Sea, which had more than 50 ships, including 16 battleships.

In January 1791, when Dayu launched the Battle of Xinwan Town, 1 Sharo troops, led by Suvorov, captured the Ottoman Izmail fortress group in the lower reaches of the Danube.

This was the last Ottoman stronghold in Ukraine. At this point, the Tsarist Russian Empire finally gained complete control of the vast Ukrainian black soil plains.

In June, Kutuzov defeated more than 6 Ottoman troops in Babadag, Romania.

In July, Marshal Repnin commanded the main force of the Romanian army in the Battle of Mercin, with 7 troops fighting against , defeating the Turkish New Army led by Yusuf Pasha of Ottoman Turkey.

The main force of the Ottoman New Army was almost completely wiped out, and from then on it was no longer able to launch even a counterattack.

It can be said that the rapid decline of Ottoman Turkey was closely related to the huge losses in the Sixth Russo-Turkish War.

In this war, the Ottoman Turks lost a total of 170,000 soldiers on the ground and more than half of their navy. They declined directly from a second-rate power to a sick man that could be bullied by everyone.

In all subsequent Russo-Turkish wars, the protagonist was no longer the Ottoman Empire, but rather Britain, France and other countries who fought to weaken and control Russia for their own interests.

. . . .

In Prussia, Frederick the Great's nephew, King Frederick William II of Prussia, was extremely covetous of the Netherlands and intervened in the precarious government of the Federal Provinces several times.

At the same time, because Tsar Rus achieved too great success in the Russo-Turkish War, Frederick William II traveled around and called on European powers to restrict Tsar Rus.

This suggestion was quickly approved by the newly enthroned Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. The rivals of hundreds of years suddenly became close at this moment.

In North America, the first president of the United States, George Washington, also began to play with abstractions, or perhaps after being slapped in the face by reality, he finally faced reality.

Since the establishment of the United States was based on the excuse of resisting the extortion of the Kingdom of England, after the founding of the country, people like George Washington actually wanted to not collect taxes, or even not have a government, and only retain a parliament.

Well, it seems that North America’s long-term preference for touting small government and anarchism is a fundamental problem.

These abstract things are actually trying to create the kind of fantasy paradise proposed by Lao Tzu thousands of years ago, where there is a small country with few people, chickens and dogs can hear each other, and there is no government to disturb.

As a result, after just a few years, the country could no longer hold on. Officials had no salaries, and sheriffs relied entirely on dedication. The great United States of America did not even have a regular army.

In fact, not to mention supporting the army, even the parliamentary masters have lost their money.

This won’t work. Whether or not to collect taxes is secondary, but the gentlemen took up guns and drove away the King of England. We can’t all just become peasants, right?
Even if we take a step back, we can't use our own money to maintain the government.

So George Washington began to collect taxes, and he collected even more harshly than the English government.

Naturally, this aroused widespread dissatisfaction among the people, who began to take up arms and fight against the United States government just as they did against the British.

George Washington, who rose to the presidency by rebelling against England in the name of tax rebellion, had to summon the militia and prepare to suppress the rebellion while earnestly trying to persuade the rebellion. But no matter what, George Washington was truly a hero.

Although he experienced repeated tax changes, under his rule, America finally established its political system and country, and the economy recovered rapidly.

North Carolina, Vermont and other states joined the United States one after another, which not only expanded a lot of territory but also laid the foundation for further expansion of territory westward.

This made America begin to appear like a quasi-powerful country.

Of course, among all the powerful nations in the world, the most explosive and turbulent one is France.

Because on June 1791, 6, King Louis XVI of France and his entire family, under the planning of François-Claude Amur, Marquis of Bouillé, dressed in servants' clothes and disguised themselves and escaped from the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

Everything was going smoothly, but Louis XVI didn't know whether he had lost his mind or the Revolution had dealt a devastating blow to his confidence.

When he was about to escape successfully, he went to talk to local farmers and asked them about their views on the Great Revolution.

Perhaps, before leaving France, Louis XVI wanted to hear good opinions from some of the lower-class people about himself as a king, as a psychological comfort for the loss of his country and family.

However, his action was soon noticed by others.

Louis XVI did not think about how strange it would look in the countryside that a man dressed in servant's clothes, but with the demeanor of a big shot, was asking farmers on the roadside about the king and the revolution without any reason.

The most important thing is that he was wearing servant's clothes but looked like a master, while the people around him were wearing master's clothes but looked like servants.

It would be strange if this didn't attract attention, especially during such a sensitive period.

Louis XVI was quickly discovered and reported, and was later recognized by Drouet, the local innkeeper.

In ancient times, both in China and abroad, the stationmasters of such post stations generally also had the job of catching thieves and searching for thieves, so it was reasonable for them to recognize Louis XVI.

Soon, the news of the king's escape spread throughout Paris. When Louis XVI and his family were escorted back to Paris, the revolutionary government humiliatingly did not change their clothes, but made them still wear servants' clothes in order to reduce their prestige among the people.

But in reality, you don't have to do that at all.

Because at this time, the revolutionaries in France believed that they had the ability to kill the king's entire family, but they did not do so. This was because they still respected the king, even though the king brought only disaster to the country.

Therefore, Louis XVI's escape was seen by the people, especially the citizens of Paris, as being ungrateful and excessive, and was seen as a betrayal of the king to the entire nation and the Kingdom of France.

Similarly, Louis XVI and Queen Antoinette, who were captured, were also very dissatisfied. They felt greatly insulted. Doesn't the king have the right to travel freely in the country?
It is the Franks who are rebelling against their king!
At this point, there was no longer any room for maneuver between the king and the people.

Voices calling for the king's execution began to emerge among the people, and Queen Antoinette also began to write letters to major powers, accusing the French of "sins" and requesting intervention from all countries, especially her own Holy Roman Empire.

Antoinette even wrote a letter to our Eastern Emperor Mozibu, asking Emperor Ceres to send troops to rescue them in consideration of the close relationship between the two countries and the marriage relationship between the royal families.

. . . .

Brussels, Lower Netherlands.

All the forces of the Chinese Empire in Europe are basically gathered here.

It’s not that they want to praise Mo Zirong and his wife, who have just been crowned Prince of Belgium by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and who also serve as Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Duke of Limburg, Duke of Parma, and Governor of the Diocese of Liège, but Paris is too chaotic and they can’t stay there at all.

As a result, Cao Zhenyong became Mo Zirong's guest of honor, and was in charge of the administration of Belgium as well as Luxembourg, Limburg and Liege for him.

After receiving the letter for help from Queen Antoinette of France, Cao Zhenyong immediately hid it in a sandalwood box with great care.

He knew that this kind of letter for help sent by the king of a fallen country could sometimes have a miraculous effect.

Mo Zirong frowned, not showing any excitement about obtaining the Belgian throne, because what was happening in France was really terrible.

"They will definitely come to Brussels, they will definitely come. I know those people. They don't even care about His Majesty Louis, so they certainly won't mind giving a slap to a little Belgian prince like me.

It's like kicking a stray dog at your doorstep on your way out—so careless yet so harmful."

This is really scary. Brother Mo San has compared himself to a wild dog. Although it is a bit impolite, it is very vivid.

Beside Mo Zirong, his wife, Archduchess Elizabeth, was sobbing. She was worried about her sister, Queen Antoinette of France.

"Mr. Prime Minister, do you really think those crazy civilians, no, those crazy rebels, would have the guts to kill the king and queen?"

Cao Zhenyong looked down on this woman. What does it mean to have the courage to kill? You married a Chinese man, haven't you read a few Chinese history books?

Don’t you know what it means to risk one’s life to pull down the emperor, what it means to have the bones of all the nobles trampled on the streets and the inner treasury burned to ashes?

In Cao Zhenyong's view, not only the king's family, but most of the French nobles would surely die.

Because what is happening in France now is similar to what the great general Huang Chao did, both of which wiped out the aristocratic families. The only difference may be that these people are more educated than Huang Chao.

Uh, that’s not right. There should be only one Huang Chao, but now in France, there are a lot of Huang Chaos. In this case, do the king and his family still want to survive?

“The situation is indeed very dangerous and everything is heading in a bad direction.

In my opinion, His Majesty Louis is now of no use except to strengthen the rebellious zeal of the French people, and every time they look at the Tuileries Palace, this idea arises in their minds and becomes more determined."

Although Archduchess Elizabeth called Cao Zhenyong Prime Minister, Cao Zhenyong was not the Prime Minister of Belgium, so it was impossible for him to refer to himself as "minister".

When Archduchess Elizabeth heard what Cao Zhenyong said, she cried even louder, because she understood that although her sister had sent a letter for help, Belgium did not have the ability to rescue their family, and she was even in danger of being beaten by the French army.

"His Majesty Emperor Leopold will certainly not ignore it, and other European kings will also take action, not for His Majesty Louis, but for themselves."

Cao Zhenyong said to the somewhat bewildered Mo Zirong, "Your Majesty, I have three suggestions.

First, we must start expanding our military and preparing for war now. If we don’t have money, we should borrow money. The war must be fought.

The second was to immediately send someone to contact His Majesty King Frederick William II of Prussia and ask him to agree that if the Luftwaffen army could not defend Brussels, it could retreat to Prussian territory for rest and recuperation.

Third, Queen Maria, please go to Vienna immediately and make sure to understand the arrangements made by Emperor Leopold II so that we can cooperate. The Lufan Kingdom is small and weak, and still relies on the Holy Roman Empire."

Cao Zhenyong made three suggestions, and Archduchess Maria Elizabeth listened to them without any hesitation. After Mo Zirong agreed, she immediately prepared to leave.

At this time, Cao Zhenyong brought together the backbone of Lu Fan, Army Lieutenant General Wang Wubing, Brigadier Generals Liu Guoqing and Liu Guorong, as well as Lieutenant General Rakochi Zog and Brigadier General Friedrich who had returned from Dayu, and began to plan.

“Brussels will definitely not be able to be defended. Your Majesty should be mentally prepared. The monarchies on the European continent will definitely intervene, it just depends on the scale.

I suggest that the Lufan army hide behind the Holy Roman Army, and must not take the lead and provoke the French revolutionary army.

The most important thing is to protect the king. As long as the king is here, our court will provide us with continuous support. Even if we fail a hundred times, we will be able to turn things around."

It was a very insightful and heartfelt statement. Mo Zirong himself and the main generals all agreed with Cao Zhenyong's opinion.

Seeing that Cao Zhenyong and the others had already made arrangements, Mo Zirong calmed down a lot. He looked at Cao Zhenyong and asked, "Angel, why don't you go to Vienna yourself? I'm afraid Maria won't understand the situation."

Cao Zhenyong slowly shook his head. "Let Baron Moritz Kruger accompany me. I'm going to Paris."

"Going to Paris now?" Mo Zirong's eyes widened. "The government composed of those rebels does not welcome envoys to Paris at this time."

"But I must go." Cao Zhenyong replied through gritted teeth, "Princess Charlotte is engaged to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. This concerns His Majesty's reputation. Therefore, anyone can be in trouble, but she cannot. I must go to Paris and take her away!"

"Knowing there is a tiger in the mountain, he still goes there!" Mo Zirong was immediately impressed. Cao Zhenyong went there with the attitude of dying if he fails.

Of course, this was not for the emperor's face, but because Maria Therese Charlotte was too valuable.

The Chinese Empire must keep her in its grasp, especially since Louis XVI and his entire family are likely to be wiped out.

(End of this chapter)