The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 717: Greater Netherlands or Greater Hungary

May 1795, 5. This was the 18th year of Emperor Guangzhong's reign in the Great China, originally the th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty, and the th day of the fourth lunar month.

Mo Zirong, Prince of Belgium, Grand Duke of Transylvania, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Duke of Limburg of the Holy Roman Empire, returned to Vienna under the escort of a Transylvanian cavalry regiment.

Not long after that, he went straight back to Sibiu, the capital of Transylvania, and lived in the Chaoyun Castle in Sibiu, which he had not lived in for a long time, acting as if he was indifferent to worldly affairs.

King Mo was heartbroken, but this heartbreak was not caused by his son.

Mo Zirong was a relatively soft-hearted person who preferred romance to governing the country. After he handed over power to his son Mo Gongze, he was only a little reluctant at the time, but he didn't have much attachment afterwards.

So the ones who really hurt his heart were the Hungarians, or to be more precise, the Hungarian nobles outside of Transylvania.

At this time, although the Holy Roman Empire had not yet degenerated into the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to be fair, the status of Hungarians within the Holy Roman Empire was not low. Although they were certainly not as good as the Austrians, they were still second to none.

Other ethnic groups within the Holy Roman Empire, such as Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes, have a far lower status than Hungarians.

However, there are only a few people who think that having obtained Long should not lead to more, like Emperor Guangwu of Han, and that what they have now is enough. Most people are actually never satisfied with what they have obtained.

Therefore, after enjoying the treatment of being the second master of the Holy Roman Empire, the Hungarians were not very satisfied and always wanted to be on an equal footing with the Austrians.

The Austrians looked down on these slave-owning steppe barbarians and always wanted to Germanize them, and from time to time they would stir up trouble to warn the Hungarians.

The two races have been fighting over this issue within the framework of Shinra.

This situation only eased for a period of time after Queen Theresa took over and used her superb means to balance both sides.

However, in the later years of Queen Theresa's reign, her successor Joseph II clearly did not want to continue like this.

Joseph II, who had Greater German ideas, hoped to use enlightenment as an excuse to liberate the serfs to disintegrate the power of the Hungarian nobles. After dealing with them, he would assimilate the lower-class Hungarians.

But Queen Theresa knew that this was impossible, because those who were willing to stay in the Holy Roman Empire were precisely the Hungarian nobles who had benefited, while ordinary Hungarians not only had strong independence tendencies, but many also had revolutionary ideas.

If you really want to wipe out the Hungarian nobles, then ordinary Hungarians will rise up in rebellion before you can assimilate them.

Therefore, in order to prevent her son Joseph II from destroying the country directly after her death, Queen Theresa revived the Grand Duchy of Transylvania, which had been abolished due to unrest among the nobles, and handed it over to her son-in-law Mo Zirong.

The purpose was to allow Mo Zirong, as the Grand Duke of Transylvania, to lead the Hungarian nobles to resist Joseph II's self-righteous actions to weaken the Hungarian nobles and ensure the integrity of the Holy Roman Empire.

In the following ten years, Mo Zirong, the son-in-law, was very conscientious in his duties.

He used his influence time and time again, even distributing the benefits he gained from China to the Hungarian nobility and even a large part of the Croatian and Slovenian nobility.

This reduced some of the damage caused by Joseph II's reforms and successfully kept the Hungarians within the Holy Roman Empire.

It can be said that the strength of the Holy Roman Empire at this time was stronger than in history, because the Hungarian Revolution and independence movement that broke out along with the French Revolution in history did not happen at all.

However, another disadvantage of this was that the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II had made it clear that he would not carry out the abolitionist policy implemented by his uncle and father in Hungary, so Mo Zirong's position became awkward.

With the emperor's guarantee, many Hungarian nobles felt that it seemed unnecessary for everything to go through Mo Zirong as a middleman.

For example, the fact that Francis II was able to so quickly and decisively express his intention to give up the Austrian Netherlands was due to the approval of most Hungarian nobles.

Only after they pretended to support the emperor and would not secretly seek Hungarian independence, did Francis II dare to take this opportunity to give Mo Zirong a blow.

This can also be regarded as a sequelae of Mo Zirong's trip to Belgium.

Originally, the Hungarian nobles followed him because they hoped that Mo Zirong could become the vice-emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, become their spokesperson at the highest decision-making level, and create a Holy Roman Empire of Germans and Hungarians.

Second, he hoped that Mo Zirong would cooperate with China's strategy and use China's strength to restrict the Russians in the more distant future.

Let the Hungarians occupy the lower Danube plain protected by the Southern Carpathian Mountains and the Balkan Mountains, as well as the lowlands along the Black Sea coast, and establish a Greater Hungarian Kingdom.

Unfortunately, Mo Zirong had neither the desire to become the Vice Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire nor the courage to lead the Hungarians in internal reform and establish a great kingdom.

So after going to Belgium, except for the Transylvanian nobles who had gained a lot of benefits by following him, the rest of the Hungarian nobles were gradually drifting away from Mo Zirong.

"My dear, don't be sad. This is what the Hungarian nobles are like. They enjoy the benefits of the Holy Roman Empire and claim to want independence, but in fact they only want benefits.

They praised us before because they could gain benefits, and now they are abandoning us because of the benefits.”

Archduchess Maria Elizabeth saw that Mo Zirong was unhappy and hurried over to persuade him, "You have been the king for so many years, you should be able to understand this.

Moreover, in such a chaotic world, if those nobles follow us wholeheartedly, it will make things even more difficult.

Because Franz is not very tolerant, and we hold too much power, he may use more drastic measures to deal with us."

Hearing this, Mo Zirong's expression became much better, "A blessing in disguise!
My dear, we have returned to the starting point. For more than ten years, we have owned more than ten territories through Transylvania given by our mother, but now, God has taken them all back.

"What's the harm, my dear? Franz can take everything, but he can't take one thing.

That is, I am the daughter of Queen Theresa, the Archduchess of the Holy Roman Empire, and you are the brother of Emperor Guangzhong, His Royal Highness the Prince of the Great Yu Dynasty of China.

There will be a day when Franz will ask us for help, and then we, his aunt and uncle, will ask him to return everything to me!"

"Well said!" Mo Zirong clapped his hands and laughed. After a few breaths, he stood up and took two steps, launching a final counterattack against Franz II.

"Franz has a high opinion of himself, is incompetent but ambitious, and can't distinguish between priorities and benefits. So I'll lend him a hand!"

"Write to Vienna and tell them that since the Holy Roman Empire has abandoned the Lower Netherlands, my titles of Prince of Belgium, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Duke of Limburg, and Acting Bishop of Liège are no longer legal.

According to imperial custom, all these titles will be revoked."

Maria Elizabeth looked at her husband in shock. How cruel!

Because these titles are attached to the Lower Netherlands. Since the empire does not want the Lower Netherlands, these titles should be abolished directly.

This was difficult for Franz to accept, because the series of titles above were originally important components of the title of Holy Roman Emperor.

It was something that her brother Joseph II, her younger brother Leopold II, and the current emperor's son Francis II all wanted to take back.

"For us Chinese, this is called 'better to die with honor than to live in disgrace', or to give others a taste of their own medicine."

Mo Zirong laughed coldly. As long as this letter was sent to Vienna, the consequences of abandoning the Netherlands, which seemed to be a trick on Mo Zirong, would immediately backfire on Francis II.

Maria Elizabeth couldn't help but shudder. She was willing to take a knife herself to make Franz spit blood!
The political struggle was so terrible that even her husband, who was usually easy to talk to, could be so decisive.

"I wonder how Carl is doing. He's not used to life in England. He has so many things to worry about every day."

Maria Elizabeth began to worry about her son who had sought refuge in England. Mo Zirong knew what his wife was worried about. He smiled and said:
“You don’t have to worry about this at all, because troubled times mean risks for people like us, but for your son, it’s the perfect stage for him to perform.

Don't forget, he is the one that my father, the retired emperor, and my brother, the great emperor, have recognized as a promising leader. He was born for these troubled times!"

. . . .

Brussels. Just when Mo Zirong and his wife were worried about their son, Mo Gongze had not even left Brussels.

It turned out that after Mo Gongze came back, the Lu Fan army swept away the tiredness and cowardice of the past few years and instantly restored a lot of morale.
This is mainly because after Mo Gongze came back, everyone felt that they had a goal to strive for, understood to what extent the motherland would support them, and also knew Mo Gongze's ambition.

Of course, at this time, the Lufan army could not have known that Mo Gongze had some ideas about becoming Augustus of the Roman Empire. They thought that Mo Gongze's ambition was to take over the entire Netherlands and the Rhineland on both sides of the Rhine River to create a Greater Netherlands Kingdom.

This is also very good. It has agriculture, industry, trade and minerals. If it is successfully established, it will be a very prosperous country.

As a result, the Lufan Army immediately showed a temperament that was completely different from that of the Mo Zirong period, when they were somewhat unaware of the future and blindly followed the Austrian and Prussian armies to fight the French army in the lowlands without any purpose or clue.

They began to regard the Upper and Lower Netherlands and the Rhineland as their own territory and were determined to protect their own industry.

Seeing that the army's morale was good, Mo Gongze immediately rejected the original strategy of retreating to England like a stray dog.

He first led his army north and defeated more than 7,000 patriot militia organized by the Dutch near Middelburg, seized a large amount of supplies, and by the way rescued the family of William V, the permanent ruler of the Netherlands, who were trapped in the city.

However, there was a small problem on the British side. Their fleet was bombarded by the Dutch patriot militia. The fleet, which had only a few warships, did not dare to confront the Rotterdam Fort in the port, so it set sail and left without waiting for William V and his men to arrive.

Seeing this situation, Mo Gongze simply led his troops back south, preparing to station in Antwerp between Brussels and Rotterdam, waiting for the British fleet to pick him up again.

Arriving in Antwerp, Maugonze heard that the French army was preparing to take Brussels, so he immediately led his troops to attack. Meanwhile, Major-General Kléber, an aide to French commander Jean Jourdan and a famous French general who was stabbed to death by Syrian students, was organizing his troops to enter the city.

The French army was excited by the French-speaking people of Brussels who came to welcome them.

With such a good mass base and the Belgian side having given up resistance, they did not make much preparations, so that many soldiers only brought guns, and the gunpowder and lead bullets were left in the camp.

As a result, the Lu Fan army suddenly attacked at this time, and the French army was completely unprepared. The more than 10,000 French troops who were preparing to enter the city could only pretend to stabilize the front line and then call on the rear army to bring supplies to support them.

When the Lu Fan army saw the French army forming a battle array, they immediately formed an infantry battle array and fired volleys, disrupting the French formation and making it impossible for them to use bayonets to form a battle array to defend against cavalry attacks. Then they launched a direct head-on attack with 1,500 Han and Xiongnu cavalry.

These cavalrymen are basically hussars with a fierce fighting style. They are very good at driving and killing, which is exactly what they are used for here.

The battle immediately turned into a war of cold weapons. The infantry had no formation, no armor, and it could even be said that they had nothing but bayonets, and were completely unable to fight against the cavalry.

Although the French soldiers relied on their high fighting spirit and used their flesh and blood to block the attack, the more than 10,000 people were unable to deploy in a hurry and could not inflict effective casualties to fight back.

As a result, their front lines were repeatedly penetrated, and when their courage began to fade, the only option left was to run away.

The battle lasted about two hours. If Mo Gongze had not chosen to quit while he was ahead because he was afraid that other French troops, especially the French revolutionary cavalry, would come to support him, the French vanguard would probably have been wiped out.

But even so, the casualties were extremely heavy. At least 2,000 people were killed, and more than 10,000 people retreated in a panic from Brussels to Mons before they could gain a foothold. Kleber counted them and found that only more than 6,000 people were left. The rest were either captured or fled.

The unfortunate General Kleber instantly went from being a great hero of the Battle of Fleurus to a sinner of the revolution. He was removed from his post as acting commander of the Sambre-et-Mas Corps and recalled to Paris.

After venting his anger, Mo Gongze changed his attitude and declared that he would never give up Belgium even after Prussia and Austria were ready to surrender.

He even organized a secret police force to torture revolutionaries in Brussels, pretending to be determined to fight France to the end.

The reason why Mo Gongze did this was because he had received news from Reinstein that the Chinese Expeditionary Force that followed him to form the Lufan Army had arrived in Gibraltar.

After a brief period of adaptation and recovery, it will take at most a month to reach Belgium under the escort of the British fleet.

Of course, Mo Gongze would not be so foolish as to use his own capital to confront France. What he wants to do is to raise his own value and increase the value of the entire Belgian government in exile.

In the words of later generations, this is called demonstrating one's own united front value.

You know, a Belgian prince who brings his army and is a collaborator will receive completely different treatment from a stray dog like William V.

Not to mention, William V was at least a relative of King George III of England, while he was nothing.

In addition, Mo Gongze also needs fame, a fame that will spread throughout Europe.

He has the blood of both the Habsburg and the Moravian royal families, which is already considered very noble in Europe, but if he also has the reputation bonus of defeating the French revolutionaries, he will be the top prince in Europe.

This reputation may bring him more benefits than Mo Gongze's bloodline.

At that time in Europe, true aristocrats did not play the game of national distinction, they played the game of class distinction, and even many commoners believed very much in aristocratic blood.

With fame, powerful figures and ambitious people from all over Europe will come to invest in him, and even the people he rules will become more obedient.

Let’s not talk about the present, just look at future generations. Canada’s stupid Prime Minister Trudeau was able to rely on his family background and appearance to build up his reputation and finally achieved great success.

Mo Gongze's seemingly crazy "performance art" in Brussels was actually a bluff, the purpose of which was to scare the French army so that they would not dare to come to Brussels easily, thus buying time for himself.

Sure enough, the French army was frightened and failed to organize troops to enter Belgium at the first time, but stopped at the Franco-Belgian border again.

7 month 17 day.

Reinstein arrived in Antwerp with an expeditionary force of 7,000 men, accompanied by 1,200 British troops.

Now everything is safe. Mo Gongze originally just wanted to scare France, but he didn't expect that they would not attack for a month.

As a result, up to now, if we count the British army that can cooperate with him and the sailors on the warships, Mo Gongze already has a land and sea army of more than 20,000, and they are elite soldiers.

Soon, Mo Gongze found out the reason why the French reacted so slowly, which was that something went wrong in Paris again.

After overthrowing Robespierre's Reign of Terror, the newly-elected Girondins went too far and resumed their old ways, namely, their regime was too lenient.

This led to the resurgence of the old aristocratic conservatives and Catholic devouts in France, who were already dissatisfied with the Revolution, and the Chouans who had caused the War of the Vendée began to become active again.

Mo Gongze's success in defeating the French revolutionary army in the Brussels raid greatly encouraged these people.

With the support of England, General Puyser, who was in exile in London, led 4,000 French expatriates who fled during the Revolution to form an expatriate army and landed on the Brittany Peninsula in western France.

At the same time, the Catholic royalist army in the Vendée region, which had not been wiped out, also made a comeback and merged with the expatriate army to prepare for a counterattack.

June 7.

The expatriate army and the Catholic royalist army were defeated on the Quiberon Peninsula in Brittany. Except for General Pusey and a small number of soldiers who escaped on English warships, the rest were captured and subsequently executed.

However, this battle was not easy for the First French Republic. The main revolutionary army from Paris suffered heavy casualties, and it caused a vacuum inside Paris.

On August 8, the French revolutionary army gathered again, and 15 people marched towards Brussels.

Mo Gongze led 11,000 Lu vassal troops to defend the dangerous terrain on Kaodeng Mountain north of Brussels.

The two sides fought fiercely, more than 200 artillery pieces fired fiercely, and the infantry charged in groups.

For the first time on the European battlefield, the Lu Fan army finally showed all its strength and was willing to fight a decisive battle, demonstrating extremely strong combat effectiveness.

Although most of the officers and soldiers were tortured by the eleven-month sea voyage and faced French girls with extremely high revolutionary enthusiasm, they were still forced to retreat.

In particular, there were 3,000 Goryeo infantry soldiers led by Hu Quanhuan's eldest son Hu Yizhong, who were guarding the left side of the King's Palace on Koodsan Mountain.

With their superb archery skills and resolute will, they defeated enemies that were several times their size many times over, preventing more than 10,000 elite French troops from breaking through the Lu Fan army's position from the easiest flank.

Jean Jourdan looked at all this and felt cold sweat on his back. Although the Belgian army had always been very strong in combat, they were not resolute in fighting. Some were afraid of casualties and would often choose to avoid areas with heavy casualties in decisive battles.

Therefore, although their combat effectiveness is strong, they do not pose a great threat to the French army.

But this time, Jourdan found that the Belgian army on the opposite side seemed to be a completely replaced army, fighting bravely and extremely resolutely.

"The ferocious wolves have encountered their wolf king. This battle will be difficult." Jourdan sighed and began to have thoughts of retreating. Then, the French attack began to weaken.

Almost at the same time, Louis XVI's younger brother, Count of Artois, the historically restored Charles X, landed again with the support of England, leading 1,000 French expatriates and 2,000 British troops.

This was the first time that the core nobles of the Bourbon dynasty led their troops to land on French soil after leaving France, which was of great significance.

His arrival quickly caused a chain reaction on French soil. A large number of old nobles and their children who hated the Revolution, as well as all classes of devout Catholics, responded openly or secretly.

The impact of this incident was so great that there were even rumors that the National Guard in Paris was going to rebel against the revolution and welcome the king back.

The Count of Artois was also very good at taking advantage of his advantages. Although his command of the battle and the combat effectiveness of the 3,000 troops he brought were average, he himself was very good at creating momentum.

Under his instigation, uprisings against the Revolution broke out all over France.

In particular, a large number of royalist youths hiding in the Peltier district of Paris, which later became the second district of Paris, began to move around, preparing to welcome the Count of Artois into Paris.

The weakness of the government of the First French Republic also gave them an opportunity to take advantage of.

For a time, many people believed that the return of the Bourbon family to continue ruling France was a foregone conclusion. Even a large number of senior generals began to disobey the orders of the National Convention of the First Republic.

Under such circumstances, Jourdan had to withdraw his troops from Brussels, and Mauconze seized the opportunity to order his cavalry to pursue them fiercely. The rearguard of the French army was badly defeated, and more than 4,000 people were lost in the retreat alone.

This battle, together with the previous Brussels raid, made Mo Gongze famous in this battle called the Battle of Brussels, and he became the most capable military prince in Europe for a time.

He immediately surpassed the older generation such as Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Joshua, Prince of Saxe-Coburg.

Hundreds of countries, large and small, on the European continent no longer regard Belgium as a second-rate vassal state, but rather view it as a great power.

On the contrary, the newly born First French Republic and the achievements of the French Revolution seemed to require a real tough guy from heaven to preserve them.

(End of this chapter)