New Shun 1730

"But this battle needs to be fought very delicately."

"We can't lose, but we can't let our allies win."

"Sometimes, the most difficult enemy to deal with is actually our ally."

"Otherwise, why did the Duke of Xingguo wait until Dupleix was recalled on the Indian issue? Why should we wait until local governance fell?"

Faced with the question of whether to be the emperor or the Five Hegemons, Chen Qinghai still said the most important "but".

Before the war begins, we must think about how to end it.

And how to end it involves how much we should win.

Everyone present knows it.

If the Sino-French coalition really wiped out the British fleet.

Then, it would be very close for Dashun to be driven out of Europe.

The emerging class of Dashun hates Britain.

Because Britain has navigation regulations, the East India Company, and high protective tariffs.

But the emerging class of Dashun also hates France, even more.

Because Britain can at least buy some tea and raw silk, the French can't even buy much tea, and they are always thinking about domestic substitution.

Dashun must win.

But it must win when the main force of the British navy is strong enough to fight France alone, and it must not be the kind of victory in which the Sino-French coalition forces completely destroy the British fleet.

The maximum delivery capability of Dashun in Europe is these three to five thousand elite combat engineers.

Dashun's combat engineers are very capable, but even if they are very capable, they cannot have an overwhelming advantage on the European continent and can overwhelm everyone.

There are too few people.

Once the main force of the British fleet is eliminated, the Jacobite usurper will land in Scotland, and the chain reaction it will trigger will be unpredictable.

The emerging class of Dashun does not want to prolong the war too much, nor does it want to cause the complete desolation of Europe, or even to start a religious heresy trial war on the British Isles.

If the war wants to end more safely, it must be fought very delicately.

To defeat the British.

But the remaining warships of the British are enough to guard the Channel without the participation of Dashun.

Otherwise, France will definitely kick Dashun away: I can land in Scotland, why should I listen to you? India has been lost. Anyway, I am not that interested in India. I have the final say in European affairs. Please go back. Goodbye.

This is the so-called "allies should be more cautious than enemies" problem.

Chen Qinghai said: "We naturally know the difference between the 'Son of Heaven' and the 'Five Hegemons' that the Marshal just mentioned. But if you want to be the 'Son of the Western Zhou Dynasty', you need to suppress the princes by your own strength. Before the 'Eastern Zhou Dynasty', there is no need for a hegemon. The soldiers of the Son of Heaven are enough to pacify them."

"We also have the heart of the Celestial Empire to unify the eight wildernesses, but now it seems that we are not strong enough. We really can't rely on our own strength to suppress the war trend. We must go in the direction we have planned."

"For example... if we completely annihilate the British fleet, and France wants to We want to land in Britain and even become the hegemon of Europe. Do we have the ability to deter France and Spain, saying that if you dare to do so, we will destroy your navy together? Doing so does not conform to the new international order and new etiquette envisioned by the Celestial Empire? "

"I am not self-deprecating, but I am afraid that we do not have such ability now. If the battlefield is in Nanyang, we are naturally invincible; but if it is in Europe, we can't even beat the Netherlands alone."

Although his judgment was a bit discouraged, everyone nodded and agreed with Chen Qinghai's statement.

Neither self-deprecating nor arrogant.

Although this trip to Europe was smooth all the way, the logistical preparations and various contingency plans made in advance by the General Staff made the whole process very stable.

However, as to whether Dashun could become the emperor at this time, the officers who really came to fight this battle were all pessimistic after arriving in Europe.

It can't be done, it's too difficult.

At least with the current technical level, the logistics alone can scare them to death. The price level in Europe means that logistics and supplies rely on money, and they really spend money like water.

A small country like Prussia can pull out 100,000 field troops. France spends 70% to 80% of its military expenditure on the army, and can still maintain 30 to 40 battleships.

The limit of Dashun's ability to concentrate tens of thousands of people in a short period of time is India.

There is no foothold in West Africa at all.

Mercantilism is rampant in various countries, and they all want to export more and import less.

Dashun can be regarded as taking a big advantage, so that it can directly intervene in the world war in Europe, because Europe is in chaos, and the battleships of European naval powers are all shrinking near their homeland, but Dashun does not need to keep battleships in its homeland at all.

The reason is also very simple.

France may really land in Scotland if there is no British fleet in the Channel.

And around Dashun, even if Britain plays the game of Wei to save Zhao and pulls all the navy over, even if it does not consider logistics and supplies, who can it expect to attack the capital? North Korea? Or Vietnam? Or Myanmar?

Even so, the Shun could only maintain the level of "whoever you support will win".

It could never achieve the level of "I say what to do in the future and you must listen to me".

A naval battle in Gibraltar made the Shun navy, which was considered a newborn calf, realize that the level of the British main fleet was the same as theirs.

In terms of land battles, it is estimated that France, Prussia, etc. would not be bad either, and the Shun could not really defeat 50,000 with 3,000.

Now that Li Li has made it clear about the "Son of Heaven" and "Five Hegemons" issues, it is equivalent to making it clear how to discuss the post-war situation. They need to fight on the battlefield to create a post-war situation that is beneficial to Dashun's hopes.

They have already understood the essence of this war in the pamphlet at the beginning of the war.

Because of the three views they have accepted, they can read the pamphlets derived from the logic of the three views they have accepted very smoothly.

That is:

The colonial conflicts between France and Spain and Portugal and Britain.

The conflict of Austro-Prussian dominance within the Holy Roman Empire.

The conflict between Russia's westward advance and Prussia's rise.

With Dashun's participation in the war, these three major conflicts will be resolved.

Prussia is doomed, Silesia will definitely be spit out, and the issues of East Prussia and Poland are basically not related to Prussia.

The issue of British, Portuguese and Spanish-French colonies, in fact, the trade issue negotiated by Count Aranda and Dashun this time is itself a solution to this colonial issue.

After these three major contradictions are resolved, a stable international system must be established at the peace conference, and this new international system that transcends the Westphalian system must be led by Dashun.

After this incident, all countries must experience a long period of peace.

Dashun must digest India.

Spain must solve the Americanization problem of America.

France must solve the domestic gentry tax or financial reform and the contradiction between theocracy and political power.

Britain must face a lot of debt problems and colonial taxation problems.

Of course, the most perfect situation is to solve the Luzon problem through negotiations and incorporate it into the new international system. In this way, Dashun can win a complete victory and do its best to maintain this international system.

Dashun does not have the ability to maintain an international system of the emperor's rituals that is truly dominated by him and subjugated by all.

At least west of the Cape of Good Hope, Dashun cannot accomplish anything by itself. It must get one or more of the countries such as Britain, France, Spain, Russia, and Austria to nod. If these countries do not nod, it will not be done by Dashun itself.

As for the imperial free trade zone system of the Five Hegemons model, it means that Dashun is not just going to put the Luzon issue on hold... but Spain has set such a precedent, and all countries will inevitably follow suit, with the government docking trade model, and the government leading the sales of oriental trade products within its sphere of influence.

Its essence is not free trade between countries.

Rather... each country moved the East India Company to a trading port. The East India Company just stopped going to sea, but after changing its name, it still controls the monopoly of its own oriental trade products.

Then... how much Dashun can sell depends on how much each country buys.

This is naturally definitely not the hope of trade expansionists such as Liu Yu.

The people sent by the court to negotiate did not expect Spain to propose this plan to take the opportunity to lay out the post-war international pattern, or it was completely inconsistent with Dashun's plan.

And if it remains unchanged and must follow Dashun's expected post-war pattern, it will be difficult to deal with it now.

Spain did not take advantage of the good and pick peaches together as the Privy Council expected. Instead, they resisted the huge temptation and wanted to maintain their previously accumulated American advantages in the post-war situation.

Indeed, Luzon was under the control of Dashun.

But the Spanish who were in power this time were very well-organized, and they put on an attitude that if you attack Luzon, I don’t want it. If you don’t accept the maintenance of the Spanish colonial system in the post-war situation, then I won’t participate in the war.

This certainly took a huge political risk. For example, Dashun was really angry and went back to attack Luzon.

But there is no doubt that Spain won the bet.

Because Dashun did not want to miss the European chaos that it had waited for so hard at this time because of Luzon.

From a military perspective, Chen Qinghai and other officers all believed that Europe’s combat effectiveness was still very strong.

It seemed to have a great advantage, but if we consider the post-war division of spoils and use war as a political solution, then it would not be so easy, and we must fight carefully, like walking on a tightrope to control France from losing control.

Then, taking Gibraltar as soon as possible is the key link.

After taking Gibraltar, the British Navy can only shrink in the Strait. Dashun's merchant ships can control trade in the Mediterranean, West India and other places.

The triangular cruising area of ​​the Mediterranean Sea between Senegal, Havana, Cadiz or Gibraltar can be truly established.

The navy can also help France to take back the colonies in North America little by little and eat up several British support points in the Caribbean, thus laying the foundation for cutting the balance of power in North America.

This is different from the previous generals who were not subject to the orders of the king. The previous purpose was to win.

Now, the purpose of war is trade, and winning is not the purpose. How to win and benefit trade is the purpose.

After a lively discussion, Li Xi pondered for a while and said slowly: "This is a serious matter. It should not be my decision. But now communication is not easy. Two years have passed. The situation is changing rapidly. By then, I may miss the big thing."

"If the court and the Privy Council really know Spain's thoughts, they must have a more sophisticated way to deal with it. But it is definitely not possible now."

"There are priorities."

"If Spain continues to be neutral and we attack Gibraltar, I am afraid that we will have to bury the elite combat engineers trained in the past ten years in this pile of rocks."

"Let me take the responsibility for this matter."

"Spain's conditions can be agreed to. But Spain must join the war and open Havana as a wartime naval base. Our warships can dock in Havana for repairs."

"Luzon can be listed as a non-conquerable land, and we can allow them to trade in Luzon and Cadiz. Our merchant ships can also guarantee that they will not trade privately with Spanish colonies."

"First, set the general framework and quickly send someone back to Beijing to report the changes. We will discuss the specific details later. After the general framework is set, we must quickly encircle Gibraltar before the New Year this year, so as not to affect next year's trade."

"Who are you working hard for in the Western Ocean? Spain will take advantage of every opportunity. We have become the power of emerging countries that strangled Spain and Portugal, and they, the old colonial countries, will benefit!"

"After the war, Spain seems to have returned to the international situation before the Treaty of Utrecht. If it can solve the problems of the church, the Jesuits, and the chieftains in America, it is quite possible to revive."