New Shun 1730

Every country has its own interests.

Every country's diplomacy is also based on its own interests.

In Europe, France pursues hegemony.

And Spain pursues balance.

For France, the biggest dilemma is to take into account both land and sea, which makes the French navy unable to defeat Britain, and the army unable to defeat the coalition forces of Austria, Prussia, Russia and other countries, at least not dominant.

So if Britain can be dismembered and plunged into a new round of religious wars and Scottish wars, then France will be the biggest beneficiary.

From the perspective of anti-British, Dashun and France have the same interests.

But from the perspective of the post-war pattern, Dashun and France are in conflict, but there is a certain resonance with old countries like Spain in the old era.

Dashun is anti-British because Britain is about to become the hegemon of the sea, not because Dashun and Britain are feuding.

Dashun really doesn't like France to become the hegemon of Europe, because France's industrial foundation is still good, its own industrial and agricultural production and the high tariff protection tradition of Colbertism make Dashun not want France to become the hegemon of Europe.

Therefore, after Dashun and Spain reached some consensus on trade, the "Sino-Western Secret Treaty" supplemented by the subsequent clauses of the simplified version was signed.

Dashun guaranteed that Luzon would not be conquered.

Spain opened La Concepcion, that is, the Isthmus of Gibraltar, for Dashun to launch an attack.

Once Gibraltar was captured, the Dashun Navy would cooperate with Spain to blockade Porto at sea.

After the war, Dashun would conduct docking trade with Spain, and trade in Cadiz and Manila. Dashun guaranteed that its merchant ships would not go to the Spanish colonies for smuggling trade. Spain will build a sailing fleet dedicated to trade between China and the West.

During the war, Spain opened the ports of the Caribbean, and Dashun's ships could dock and resupply in Havana, and the shipyards in Havana were obliged to maintain the damage control and repair of Dashun warships.

During the war, Dashun will send three cruisers as escort ships for the Spanish treasure ship and galleon trade.

On the west coast of America, China and the West are separated by 33 degrees north latitude, each retreating 0.5 degrees of latitude as a buffer zone between the two sides. Dashun guarantees that immigration activities on the west coast of America shall not exceed 33.5 degrees north latitude, and Spain guarantees that colonial activities on the west coast of America shall not exceed 32.5 degrees north latitude.

The two governments reached a settlement on the multiple Manila massacres since the Ming Dynasty, but Spain needed to compensate Dashun with 1 peso silver coin to prove that Spain did admit the massacre.

Spain will oppose any canonization of martyrs in China, Japan, Vietnam and other Celestial Empire areas. Spain guarantees to expel missionary groups such as the Jesuits in Manila within a certain period of time.

The two governments reached an agreement on joint encirclement and suppression of Muslim pirates in Sulu, and after completing the encirclement and suppression of pirates, the demarcation line between the two countries in the South Seas was determined.

Under the franchise state or under special circumstances, Dashun's official merchant ships can go to Spanish colonies for trade. However, they are not allowed to trade with private merchants, but go through normal customs channels, and the Spanish government controls the trade.

Spain will continue to implement the agreement that it will not send trade ships to Japan since Japan closed its doors to the outside world.

China and Spain reached a rescue agreement in the South China Sea. If merchant ships of the two countries are in distress, they can dock at ports of both sides, and both sides are exempt from berthing fees, but neither side is allowed to trade at non-destination. If the ship is damaged and the goods cannot be transported, the government officials of both sides can negotiate and the government will purchase them, and private trade is prohibited.

Chinese capital has the priority to mine ores in Spain. For the remaining ores except gold and silver, if Dashun is willing to invest, the Spanish government will impose a 71% tax. However, whether mining is allowed is decided by the Spanish government.

Generally speaking, this is the agreement reached temporarily by the two sides. For more things, Dashun needs to send the news back to the capital, and the capital will take the strategic direction.

Things on the battlefield are of course urgent.

As soon as the Spanish side signed the secret agreement, the Dashun army immediately boarded the ship from Menorca and landed on the Isthmus of Gibraltar.

Spain has fortresses and towns here, and Dashun also began to dig trenches as much as possible on the edge of the town.

In the direction of Toulon, France, part of the army that was originally prepared to participate in the Scottish landing, as well as some artillery, also temporarily transferred about 3,000 people to start strengthening the blockade of the Isthmus of Gibraltar.

The navy guarded the Strait of Gibraltar, which is why Gibraltar must be taken first before the next strategy can be implemented.

Because if Gibraltar cannot be taken, the navy must always reserve troops near the strait to prevent the British rescue and supply forces from replenishing Gibraltar.

With the capture of Menorca by France, Britain only has Gibraltar as a support point in the Mediterranean. Once Gibraltar is taken, the Mediterranean will be a complete fog of war for Britain.

Did the Chinese and French navies go to the Atlantic?

Or are they in Toulon Port?

All this, Britain has no way of knowing.

Moreover, as an important part of British trade, once the trade in the Mediterranean is cut off, the silk weaving industry in Britain will actually be finished.

The raw silk of Bengal was cut off by Dashun.

Raw silk from Tuscany and Turkey must go through Gibraltar.

Mexican silk is in the hands of Spain, and Britain can hardly get it.

As the world's most important silk producer, Dashun has a great interest in crushing Britain's silk industry.

As for whether to adopt a tactic of strong attack or siege against Gibraltar, Dashun decided to wait and see.

A group of senior officers climbed onto the fortress of the Spanish town. When they raised the hot air balloon for reconnaissance, the officers also held telescopes at a high altitude to observe the British defense.

There is definitely no problem with the blockade on the sea, and there is even less problem with the blockade on land. The isthmus is very narrow, and it is completely possible to prevent even a mouse from passing through.

After observing the terrain for a while, Li Li said: "This place is really easy to defend and difficult to attack. This is the case from the small terrain, and it is even more of a stranglehold from the large terrain. How can Spain give this place to others?"

"The British army has stockpiled a lot of supplies here before. Especially after the fleet arrived, they are estimated to have to fight. According to the French, the Jews and Moors here must have stored enough food and wine for the British."

Chen Qinghai also felt that the terrain here was difficult to bear. If he really attacked by force, he would be prepared to pay a very heavy price.

"Fortunately, the Privy Council's plan is to let us besiege them. They also prepared a secret weapon for us from the Academy of Sciences, a large flying monkey..."

"It is filled with some oil from Xijing, mixed with rubber, which will catch fire if touched, and it is difficult to extinguish with water."

Speaking of this secret weapon, Li Li smiled and said: "You can hardly say that one of the large flying monkeys will hit the target even if you put 20 of them. Even if you don't handle it well, it may fly randomly and fly over your head."

"But speaking of it, this thing is really useful here."

He pointed to the small town in the distance in England and said: "There They are all wooden houses. I asked them and they said that the winter here is also very cold. I guess the staff of the Privy Council have also studied it, otherwise they would not have prepared autumn and winter clothes for these engineers in advance. "

"That kind of large-sized sky rocket is not accurate. But it flies farther than artillery shells, and it has more powder, so there is no need to worry about the chamber pressure problem."

"It is suitable for setting fires everywhere. I think, ask about the climate here, choose a good day, when the wind direction is right, shoot all the large sky rockets, and burn the towns there directly."

The so-called secret weapon, the large sky rocket, is really a large sky rocket.

The rear-mounted wooden pole is used as a stabilizer.

It is filled with a mixture of sucrose and saltpeter as a propellant.

The outer shell is made of thin copper or cardboard.

Where it can fly depends on luck.

The biggest advantage is that it breaks through the chamber pressure limit of the grenade shell at this time.

Dashun dared not use the shrapnel shells on cannons because the chamber pressure was too high. If the artillery was forced to use them, they would mutiny.

Therefore, Dashun's shrapnel shells could only be used on some parabolic ballistic cannons, with a short range and great limitations.

However, this large-sized sky rocket had a long range and a very large charge. It was mixed with Shaanxi's petroleum extracts and rubber dissolved gelatin. Once it landed, it would be a sea of ​​fire.

This was not Dashun's standard equipment, and the Dashun court actually prohibited large-scale equipment of this weapon.

The main reason was that this thing was too lethal to Dashun. Because Dashun's cities were all wooden buildings, if any city was surrounded and was hit by such a wave of volleys, it would be like hell.

Therefore, these large-sized sky rockets were basically specialized weapons for participating in this war.

Because the staff of the Privy Council have been thinking about the battles to be fought today for many years, how to fight, what the terrain is like, whether it can be captured, and how much loss it will take to capture it, and they basically have a clear idea in mind.

Gibraltar is really difficult to attack. It is a stone mountain and a huge stone block on the seashore. In this terrain, engineers can't even dig pits.

It is easy to fight. In fact, it is easy to fight.

As long as Spain joins the war and blockades the isthmus; the navy can block the strait and prevent British supplies and rescue.

Use the volley of large-scale sky rockets to create a great psychological pressure.

At the same time, take advantage of the characteristics of the wooden town here and adopt a large-scale burning method to burn the town and dock of the Gibraltar Fortress into ashes.

It should be said that within three months at most, there will be a human tragedy inside.

The winter here is also very cold. All the wood is burned, and heating in winter is a problem.

The stone terrain here is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it is also a place where they can't even eat green leafy vegetables, and even the leaves can be burned to ashes. Eating only staple food and bacon, scurvy can cause the defenders of Gibraltar to collapse in three months at most.

Therefore, the tactical guidance of the Privy Council is three steps.

One: blockade.

Two: burn the city.

Three: strictly prevent the British army from desperately counterattacking, because the Isthmus area is a Spanish town. Once the British army suddenly counterattacks, the long-term siege here will be paralyzed and careless, and it is very likely that the siege will fail. The British army will rob a large amount of supplies and can hold out for a long time.

But on the other hand, if standardized siege and camping prevention regulations can be achieved, then forcing the British army to fight desperately out of the city to counterattack, thereby luring them out of the city and leaving the fortress to be annihilated and killed in trench warfare where combat engineers are good at, it can greatly promote the surrender speed of the British army.

That is: using rocket-propelled volleys and naval blockade to cause great psychological pressure on the British Army, luring them to launch a surprise attack on the Isthmus to counterattack during the siege, and using the trench warfare reinforced by combat engineers to eliminate the British Army's manpower in the trenches, achieving a situation in which either people would die or the land would be lost.