18th century total war

Chapter 270 Belgian vassal

"Your Majesty, Williams Arnold from Brussels, Belgium, has come outside the Tuileries Palace and asked for an audience."

"Let him in."

In fact, Williams had already arrived in Paris, but it was not until Li Wei became emperor in France and the French Republic became the French Empire that he summoned him.

This is naturally a preparation for Li Wei's next political plan.

While waiting, Levi had already recalled the information about Williams Arnold provided by Manid in his mind.

Although the other party is a native of Brussels in Belgium (Brussels is the capital city of Belgium), he is not of noble origin, but an ordinary middle-class intellectual.

Later, after the outbreak of the French Revolution, the Belgian region was invaded by the French army. During the period when the French army was stationed, a large number of French Revolutionary ideas poured into the Belgian region.

It has to be said that the slogan of freedom, equality and fraternity is very attractive to the civilian class. Even though the French army did all kinds of evil in Belgium, the idea of ​​the French Revolution was accepted by most Belgian civilians.

There is no other reason, Belgian civilians are also oppressed by the aristocracy and the church class!

As for the invasion of the French army, the local nobles and church forces were the first to be defeated and destroyed, which gave ordinary Belgian civilians the opportunity to come into contact with the ideas of the Great Revolution.

Why did the ideas of the French Revolution spread slowly in Europe?

It is because other monarchy countries have listed the ideological dissemination tools related to the French Revolution as forbidden items. If Livi hadn't sent Fatis to establish the Lindenwan Brotherhood, the ideas of the French Revolution would not have been able to spread in other parts of Europe.

Even in the history of the world in Li Wei's previous life, the spread of the idea of ​​the French Revolution only became popular in Europe with the expansion of the Napoleonic Wars.

Among them, the Napoleonic Code played a vital role!
The most direct consequences of the spread of the ideas of the French Revolution in the world of Livy’s previous life were:
It triggered the Great Uprising in Europe in 1848, which led to the collapse of the Vienna system established by defeating Napoleon in 1815. The powerful Austrian Empire (the new replacement of the Habsburg dynasty after the Holy Roman Empire was dismantled by Napoleon) was forced to compete with The Hungarian nobles signed a peace agreement, turning the Austrian Empire into a dual state like the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

As a result, the national strength of the Austrian Empire, which was at the forefront of the hegemony of the European continent at that time, suddenly declined. Later, in the conflicts of national uprisings that broke out from time to time, it gradually came to an end, until it was completely collapsed during World War I!

In the history of Li Wei's previous life, the only place that was not affected by the European uprising in 1848 was Tsarist Russia, and it was Tsarist Russia who sent troops to help to keep the mainstream of European monarchy countries, except that the French monarchy was changed by revolutionaries. Apart from becoming a republic, other European countries managed to keep their monarchy, although they were severely injured in the uprising.

The reputation of Tsarist Russia also reached its peak in the European Uprising in 1848. It was not until the Crimean War that the British and French allied forces used weapons and equipment that were an era ahead of the Russian army to help the Ottoman Empire defeat Tsarist Russia. He won the title of Tsarist Russian European Gendarmerie.

The most fundamental reason why Tsarist Russia was not affected by the European revolution in 1848 was the backward serf system in Tsarist Russia. At that time, the first industrial revolution had already begun in the whole of Europe, and only Tsarist Russia was still guarding the backward serf system. .

It was the backward serf system that blocked the spread of revolutionary ideas and weakened the revolutionary party's uprising power in Tsarist Russia.

This shows how powerful the revolutionary idea is!
The advancement of weapons and equipment has made the number of people a crucial factor on the battlefield. As long as everyone is guaranteed to have a gun, a group of civilians can also take advantage of their numbers to defeat a small number of elites!

Not to mention, revolutionary ideas often make the rioting citizens of the civilian class more brave.

In fact, the later Redism ideology was improved from the ideas of the French Revolution.

It is not difficult to understand why after the French Revolution broke out, the combat effectiveness of the French army took on a new look, and even ordinary civilians' armed forces would greatly increase their combat effectiveness.

If Li Wei had not possessed the golden finger of the total war system, he would never have been able to defeat an army armed with revolutionary ideas.

Even during World War II, before the invention of the atomic bomb, armed forces at the ideological level could make up for the lack of weapons and equipment.

The madness of the Japanese is a typical example. If the United States hadn't used the atomic bomb, the Japanese, who were lagging behind in all aspects, don't know how long they could resist.

Perhaps the slogan of [-] million pieces of jade shouted by the Japanese is bragging, but relying on the advantages of local defense operations and the fighting spirit of not fearing death, it only takes a few million lives to make the US military pay an unimaginable price!
At that time, the United States did not dare to land on the main island of Japan to fight, because the huge casualties of the Battle of Iwo Jima made the US government see the difficulty of occupying the entire territory of Japan.

There are many similar examples, such as the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, the Vietnam War, and so on. They were all classic wars in which a weak country faced a strong country with equipment advantages and turned against the sky. Didn’t they rely on ideological weapons?
Of course, Li Wei's army was able to win many battles, relying on the fighting spirit of not fearing death...

Li Wei knew that his reputation in the European monarchy countries and the aristocratic class had long been rotten, so it was naturally impossible to find a traditional European aristocrat to serve as the king of the Kingdom of Belgium.

Even if there is an administrative enlightenment operation, controlling a king, there is a big family behind him, and if he finds that his family members are not right, it is easy to speculate that it is Li Wei's hypnosis method.

At that time, behind the king's family, after stabilizing the situation in the Kingdom of Belgium, they can secretly use insidious means to replace the king who was enlightened by the administration, and then push a family member who was not enlightened by Li Wei!
According to European royal inheritance laws, this is a completely reasonable operation!

As for the important members of the whole family to come to Paris to brainwash Levi, this is impossible. Who said that Levi's ability to hypnotize has spread among the upper class in Europe?

This is why Li Wei would rather find a Belgian civilian leader than find a famous nobleman from Europe to establish the Kingdom of Belgium.

I am worried that the Kingdom of Belgium will be out of my control!
On the other hand, looking for a Belgian civilian leader does not have a powerful family behind him. It can even be said that he himself is a promise among his relatives. Controlling Williams alone is equivalent to controlling his entire family.

The civilian class is not like the aristocratic class, which has a large number of collateral and even direct family members!
Williams was chosen for the simple reason that he is the leader of the emerging liberal party in the Belgian city of Brussels.

After the French army withdrew, the Belgian area was immediately occupied by the Prussian-Austrian allied forces, and was reintroduced into the family territory of the Habsburg dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire.

However, as Austria was defeated all the way in Italy and was forced to sign an armistice treaty by the Livy government, Austria ceded Belgium to France, and the Austrian garrison here naturally withdrew...

Originally, Li Wei wanted to turn Belgium into a large region of France, but the cabinet ministers told Li Wei that the Belgian area had great resentment towards France due to the wanton looting by the French army there before.

In particular, the Armistice Treaty between the Holy Roman Empire and the French Republic was introduced into Belgium, and the anti-French alliance disintegrated. After the Belgian people knew that their hometown was ceded to the French Republic, several outbreaks broke out in less than a month. Ten civilian armed forces come!
It is estimated that this is one of the reasons why the Holy Roman Empire was willing to cede Belgium to France.

Although France ruled Belgium without the obstruction of the church and local nobles, the hatred of the Belgian people was undoubtedly more difficult to clean up. In addition, the Belgian region was deeply invaded by the ideas of the French Revolution, and various revolutionary parties sprouted like spring bamboo after rain.

Naturally, guerrillas keep appearing like locusts.

Even less than a week after the withdrawal of the Austrian army, all large and medium-sized cities in the Belgian region were occupied by civilian armed forces, and a loose offensive and defensive alliance was formed to establish an independent country.

Some of them want to establish a republic, while others want to find a qualified person from the traditional European nobles to establish the Kingdom of Belgium.

All in all, it cannot be annexed by the French!

Perhaps the armed forces in these Belgian places are very poor, and there are not even a few artillery pieces, but if the French army enters by force, it is not difficult to occupy large cities. If you want to clean up the Belgian guerrillas, you must be prepared for a long-term security war!

This will not only greatly consume France's national strength (wars cost money!), but will also turn Belgium, which is in the recovery period, into nothing again...

In this way, what Li Wei gains is only a land where wars continue, there is no output, and money needs to be poured into it. This is obviously not in the interests of the Li Wei government!

Therefore, Li Wei agreed to the proposal made by the cabinet ministers and wanted to establish a vassal state in Belgium.

Let the Belgians establish a political power on their own, and they will naturally not rebel continuously.

The government candidates for the establishment of a vassal state must be Belgian natives, and they must also have a certain reputation among the people. It is best to have their own armed forces and cronies, enough to support the embryonic form of a regime.

In addition, Li Wei also insisted that Belgium must be a kingdom, not a republic!
Li Wei fully learned the lessons from the historical experience of his previous life. The Republic is a hotbed of revolutionary ideas. Over time, revolutionary ideas will inevitably spread.

Once revolutionary ideas spread, Belgium will sooner or later have countless revolutions, and it is not impossible to overthrow the government of the vassal state and get out of Li Wei's control.

So Li Wei intends to establish a conservative monarchy from the very beginning.

Kingship is still very sacred in this era, and many foolish people will subconsciously fear it instinctively.

The most important thing is that the inheritance system of monarchy countries is that the father dies and the son succeeds. As long as the heirs of the Belgian royal family come to Paris, Levi can firmly control the Belgian royal family.

Just like the Kingdom of Catalonia that controls Aragon.

After many screenings, Williams, the leader of the Belgian Liberal Party that now occupies Brussels, became the candidate for the king of the Kingdom of Belgium.

The various guerrillas and revolutionary parties in the Belgian region also know very well that they are not comparable to the military power of France. If Li Wei of France is willing to allow them to establish an independent country, even if it is a small vassal country that needs to pay tribute regularly, the Belgian region Various civilian armed forces are also acceptable.

If you don't accept it, you will become the public enemy of the civil armed forces in Belgium!
Everyone just doesn't want the French army to enter the Belgian region, and it's not that they really have to fight the French army to the end. After all, no one wants to die on the battlefield...

Being able to control Brussels, the most prosperous capital city in Belgium, the strength of the Belgian Liberal Party is undoubted, and it is the most powerful among the civil armed forces in Belgium at this time.

Therefore, Williams took it for granted that he became the first king of Belgium.

Obviously, this is a very ambitious guy.

As for his civilian status, perhaps before Aragon established the Kingdom of Catalonia, Williams did not dare to accept the crown bait thrown by the Livy regime.

But now, with the support of Li Wei's regime, the Kingdom of Catalonia is flourishing, and even the Kingdom of Spain admits that they are a sovereign country!
With the precedent in front of him, Williams, who was born in the common class and did not know that Levi had hypnotic ability, readily accepted the conditions offered by France, rushed to Paris, and participated in Levi's coronation ceremony. I'm just waiting to see Levi, go back and establish the Kingdom of Belgium, and put on the crown for myself!
In the past, if the common people dared to do this, they were looking for death, but now, with the endorsement of the Levy government that just defeated the anti-French alliance, Williams is naturally fearless!

The worst case scenario is that before Belgium is occupied by the enemy, he will lead his people to France to serve as a government-in-exile and wait for the French army to fight back to Belgium. He will still be the king, just like the lucky man in Aragon!
The example of Aragon made Williams very envious.

In this day and age there are no commoners who don't want to be nobles, let alone kings!

As for the propaganda of revolutionary ideas, perhaps when Williams first came into contact with the ideas of the French Revolution, he was indeed a passionate and pure revolutionary youth, but as he climbed to the position of liberal leader, the corruption of power has long changed Williams original intention!

People are going to change.

As for the idea of ​​betraying Li Wei, Williams has not yet, after all, he has not yet gained a firm foothold in Belgium, and he does not have the capital to bargain with France.

But after Williams establishes a firm foothold in the Kingdom of Belgium, it may not be certain whether he will always regard France as the boss...

Thank you for taking the medicine, did not 666 reward 100 starting coins.

(End of this chapter)