Chapter 245: Britain's Hope

After the end of the Papal States, the original Conservative Church of England was quickly taken into the hands of the British royal family, and as the last independent Western European country, the Golden Sparrow Dynasty established by William the Conqueror was much more centralized than the German, French and Italian kingdoms of Western Europe.

King Edward of England died without an heir, William, Duke of Normandy of France, invaded in 1066, entered London in October of the same year, and was crowned King William I of England, known as "William the Conqueror", and the Norman dynasty was established. The Norman conquest accelerated the process of feudalization, which had already begun, and the feudal mode of production was basically established. After William's conquest of England, he declared himself the supreme owner of the land in the country. He confiscated a large amount of land from the Anglo-Saxon nobility and free peasants, and took for himself about one-sixth of the country's arable land and about one-third of the mountain forest, and distributed the rest to his Norman cronies and retinues, and granted him the title of nobility according to the amount of land divided. The church was also taken over by the Normans. William I's vassals then divided their fiefs into small pieces and gave them to their vassals. Through the division of land, a strict feudal hierarchy was established. William demanded an oath of allegiance not only from his immediate vassals, but also from his vassals.

In the first two years of his travels, William sent his ministers to the whole country to conduct surveys and compile a land survey book (also known as the land census book), which recorded in detail how much land in each county belonged to the king, how much belonged to the lords, how many vassals each lord was, how much land and livestock per manor, how many free peasants, dependent peasants, slaves, how many forests, meadows, pastures, mills, fish ponds, etc. How much monetary income there is in the territory. The purpose of the inventory was to enable the king to have a detailed grasp of the property status of his vassals, so that they could strictly fulfill their feudal obligations. People are afraid of such investigations. It felt as if it was facing the Last Judgment, so the survey book was called the "Book of the Last Judgment". According to this survey, the population of Britain at that time was about 150~2 million, of which about 4% were nobles, 12% were free peasants, and more than 70% were serfs and other dependent peasants.

This indicates that serfdom developed rapidly after the Norman Conquest. Locally. The power of the king was exercised mainly through the governors of the counties. The county governor is appointed by the king and has direct jurisdiction. To discuss matters of state, the king organized the Privy Council, which was then also known as the Senate or the King's Court. The Normans adopted the above measures. Establish a centralized feudal rule that is much stronger than that of France. This was an important feature of English feudalism. The strong royal power was widely supported by small and medium-sized feudal lords, the church, and the wealthy burghers, who demanded the protection of the royal power. The great feudal lords opposed the excessive centralization of royal power, but their fiefdoms were scattered, and it was difficult for them to divide one side and confront the royal power.

After the Norman Conquest. Feudal estates appeared everywhere in the fiefdoms. The feudal manor was the basic economic unit of British feudal society. The lord is the supreme ruler of the manor with full powers. Manor land usually consists of three parts: land directly owned by the lord, land owned by serfs, and common land such as forests, pastures, and ponds. Servitude rent is the main form of exploitation. Most of the peasants were reduced to real serfs. Serfs in England are called Wilan, and they own 15~30 acres of land and serve the lord; In addition, there were border farmers, cottage farmers and slaves. The process of feudalization in English society was long, slow, and incomplete, with more pre-feudal remnants retained. There were also quite a few free peasants on the estate. The power of the great feudal lords was not as strong as that of the feudal lords of some countries on the European continent, and the disintegration of the feudal system was earlier than that of other countries. This is another feature of the English feudal system.

The future Hundred Years' War between England and France was caused by disputes over the succession to the throne. The King of England, who was also the Duke of Normandy in France and married a French princess, had the legitimacy to inherit the throne after the extinction of the Capetian dynasty in France, and the Count of Valois, a distant relative of the Capetian dynasty, also had the same right to inherit. Therefore, the outbreak of wars for dominance was inevitable.

When the Pope was counting on King Henry I of England to save the fate of the Papal States, Henry I saw the irretrievable decline of the Papal States. The fact that he did not fall into the trap and directly accepted the property of the Holy See is enough to show his piety and prudence. Although England still held the territories of the great French feudal lords such as Normandy and Anjou, de jure Henry I was still a vassal of King Louis VI of France. When the Papal States ordered Henry I to lead an army to Rome to rescue him, Henry I only led an army of less than 1,000 men to Venice to assemble in person.

This move did not anger Louis VI, and no one could accuse him of being unreligious. Because these thousand people are cavalry, and knights without attendants are also knights, and their combat effectiveness is also guaranteed, but it is difficult to exert their strength to defend the city walls in the Roman battle that may break out again, and the church has nothing to say when they go to danger in person.

This cunning and calculation can be regarded as a qualified monarch, not much worse than his father, William the Conqueror.

After the Shambany incident, Britain saw an opportunity, and if the wealthy Netherlands could become an ally of Britain, then it would be very promising to keep their territory in France in front of the Capetian dynasty, which had the backing of the Chinese Empire.

At this time, Britain only had a population of 3 million people in Normandy and Anjou, and although the area exceeded the territory of the French king, it was still a weak country in terms of overall strength. Although the Capetian dynasty had its capital in Paris, its largest source of economy was trade taxes from the southern coastal region and textile revenues from autonomous cities such as Lyon. Nominally, the total population of France is about 7 million, but France has not yet been unified at this time, and the royal territories are scattered all over the place, and there are more than a dozen large feudal lords. Although Capet, theoretically the king of all Francis and claimed control over all of West Francia, he was in reality only one of many princes, and other great lords far from France, such as the Count of Toulouse, could have ignored Capetian's dictates. In the 10th and 11th centuries, some princes expanded through marriage or warfare, and became more powerful. Even so, this process did not lead to the rulers of the entire kingdom, and only a few larger princes emerged, such as the dukes of Aquitaine and Normandy, and the counts of Flanders, Anjou, Blois, Champagne and Burgundy. They control local tributes, taxes, and public utilities. The real power in his hands was no less than that of the Capetian kings. The Capets are fortunate that their hereditary succession has not been troubled. The family has had 11 generations of legitimate heirs in 341 consecutive years, and battles for the throne are rare. At the same time, the Capetian dynasty also had a good way of dealing with the world. They avoided strife as much as possible, maintained good relations with the pope, and gradually recovered their wealth, power, and fiefdom within their means. Capetian monarchs Philip I, Louis VI and Louis VII were all immersed in the administration of Île-de-France, making it the true heart of France.

Britain's biggest disadvantage is that it is isolated overseas, and the British Isles are barren and sparsely populated, and their national strength is far from being the opponent of mainland countries. There is not the slightest shadow of a future world hegemon. The only thing that could compete with the titular superior lords of France was greater centralization of power and the strength of control over the feudal lords large and small within their borders. The British team's desire for a warm southern land was the same as that of their Viking ancestors, until eventually, the Capetian dynasty reclaimed most of the British territory in France. Britain still struggled to maintain its control over Aquitaine, a region in the southwestern corner of France.

The best way to understand Britain's relationship with continental Europe is to compare it with Japan, which is also an island nation. The island countries are closed, culturally backward, and the geography and climate are not conducive to the development of an agricultural economy (typhoons, earthquakes, narrow plains and barren land, too high latitude in the United Kingdom, cold climate, continuous rain, and lack of manpower), all of which are extremely eager to gain a foothold on the mainland. The speed of unification between Germany and France after the intervention of the people was greatly accelerated, which also put a lot of pressure on King Henry.

In the declaration of the Church on the territory of the British Isles as the state religion. Since then, the Pope has the power to administer and appoint and dismiss all bishops and senior clergy, including the heads of monasteries and religious universities. The crown was further expanded, which gave Henry the confidence to seek more land in France. In fact, most of the high-level thinkers who gave advice were sent through the shadows of the public, ostensibly for the good of Henry, for the sake of the royal centralization and the interests of Britain, but in fact, they were to let the monarchs of various countries come forward to act as shields and pioneers, sweeping away the separatist forces in the territory and the conservative feudal lords who were unwilling to join the free trade alliance.

Although Britain is weaker than Germany, France and Italy, its unique geographical advantages have also become an important part of the Europa strategy that everyone looks forward to.

Even if Henry I had seen this conspiracy, he would not have resisted the temptation. In the end, he chose to embark on the path of centralization and war. Christmas 1111 The Anglo-French War officially began, and the two sides submitted a declaration of war and the final goal. Britain went to annex France completely, to bring two crowns. France, on the other hand, wanted to completely drive England out of France and recover all the feudal territories that were still in the name of the English king.

The focus of the anti-dumping is Normandy and Aquitaine. Although Britain did not have many troops to mobilize troops in the theater of operations, France also did not have many troops to recover these areas. England invented the English longbow, France used all-steel armor and waistcoat and the like it didn't matter, a total of 20,000 people fought, even if the winner was divided, it didn't make much sense. In the eyes of the traversal, this kind of child-level battle can only be seen as a game. But this is not the case with observers in European countries. Its tactical innovation and brutality have stimulated the militaries of various countries like never before.

Having lost almost most of their hard-earned archers on the plains, the British retreated to the castles of various fiefdoms and began to play the Tortoise Stream tactic. A month later, the French siege troops also suffered heavy losses under the rain of arrows from layers of defense, and the asphalt produced by the swamps and the accumulation of human and animal manure played a huge defensive role, and they were heated to the high temperature area behind the city wall, and fell along the city wall when the French ants were attached to the siege, and its adhesion and lethality were simply off the charts. The investment of siege engines and catapults also put several castles in jeopardy, but as long as the walls did not fall, the stubborn defense of the defenders persisted. Even if the city gate was breached, the urn city behind the gate made the French generals dumbfounded several times. The ultimate castle, the Bastion, was born ahead of schedule. Although the various castle styles in Heroes of Invincible have appeared in history, none of them can be comparable to the defense of this style of castle.

The same area, whose circumference is several times that of a circular castle, is the latest military application of the science of fractals, and a vivid practical lesson in educating the European aristocracy about the power of science.

Once in a state of war, military advisers from the East began to be teachers. Britain not only issued war bonds several times the amount of fiscal taxes to support the purchase of cheap arms from the East, but also established a rudimentary national mobilization system and a grassroots militia system. The establishment of officer corps and military academies almost overnight also greatly weakened the military power of the traditional feudal aristocracy. Although the aristocratic armed forces who brought their own dry food and weapons also actively participated in this national war, they were forced. If you don't go into debt, buy arms, and put them in battle. These British aristocrats would be quickly marginalized, permanently losing their military voice and the right to be armed.

In England, where the fist speaks, in Europe without a constitution and the basic order of separation of powers, the consequences of losing military power are also known to the illiterate aristocracy. A year later, the French army, which could not stand it anymore, finally began to ask the Chinese Empire to intervene. The French army suffered huge casualties in this perverted flesh mill war mode, with only about 1 million young and middle-aged people in the territory directly under the French king, and only 200,000 people in the maximum mobilization capacity. Now that 150,000 have been consumed, it is almost impossible to suppress the impatience of the big feudal lords in the country.

To be honest, Britain's hard bite has exceeded the expectations of all military observers. In this situation, Britain gained a rare advantage of low consumption to drag the Capetian dynasty of France to death, and also saw hope of maintaining its own territory on the mainland.

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"What, why can Britain issue 7 million florin's treasury bonds on the Eurobond Exchange in Florence. We are now issuing 800,000 and no underwriters are willing to accept it? ”

The Chancellor of the Exchequer explained: "Your Majesty. Britain actually controls four times the area of our territory, and now there is still a lot of war potential and population that can hold on, and we are about to be unable to hold on, and this dangerous situation can be seen by anyone with a discerning eye, and the 600,000 florin treasury bonds issued last year are about to expire, and seeing that we still can't afford this money, how can there be underwriters willing to come out and lend us for turnover? If we don't win this battle and boost people's morale, our national debt will fall to the bottom. ”

The Economic Counsellor suggested to "Your Majesty. It seems that the only way to sign the free trade agreement is to insist on not signing it. After signing the contract, you can get loans and assistance from the Chinese Empire, and you can also open channels for trade taxes, so why not? This agreement does not require you to become a vassal of the Chinese Empire, there are not many political obligations and conditions, and after signing, you can equally enjoy the most-favored-nation treatment and a large amount of overseas investment, so you should not insist on it anymore! ”

"I just can't sign it, I'd rather die on the battlefield than sign this kind of agreement, not only will all the manors go bankrupt at that time, but our hereditary fiefs will be forcibly auctioned, where will we have a chance to live like martial arts nobles who can only hold guns?" The reason why Louis VI insisted on not signing this agreement, in addition to his pride, was that he saw that many small German states and aristocratic territories that had signed the agreement early could not withstand the dumping from the Chinese Empire, and the peasants went bankrupt under the impact of cheap grain and imported agricultural and sideline products.

What he failed to see was that many of the aristocracy had changed their methods of production before the price of land fell and the underground tenant farmers went bankrupt, and the cultivation of unpromising grains became a minority, and most of them turned to the production of by-products, such as dairy products, wool, bees, fodder crops, and timber, which were more advantageous. Many windmills and mills became workshops that provided industrial power. The development of those labor-intensive textile industries is also high-end export-oriented woolen industry and toy industry. The bankrupt peasants who left the land in Europe were either hired at high prices to work as migrant workers in the overseas colonies of the Chinese Empire, which was extremely short of labor, or they were on the road of expansion to develop large numbers of primeval forests in Europe, which was not as miserable as the French king imagined. The landless aristocracy was still an aristocracy, and there were still political rights to use as a force for survival, and they either became shareholders in the workshops or became members of the new aristocratic parliament in Germany, receiving a stable pension and state allowances.

Although Britain was the last European power to enter the Chinese Empire, it was one of the fastest growing ones, and without the drag of local separation, it was ten times more efficient than Germany, France, and Italy in unifying currency, weights and measures, tariffs, prices, ideologies, and institutions. After signing the free trade agreement, it developed at an astonishing rate, just like Mexico, which joined the North American Free Trade Area. It not only received a large number of investment loans and technical assistance from the Chinese Empire, but also opened a large-scale export market for domestic seafood, wool, timber, coal, minerals and various primary products. The constant increase in import and export volume and tax revenue every year also gives great confidence to the underwriters who issue war bonds. (To be continued......)