Chapter 378 The Great European Reshuffle

The news of Charles I's large loan to the Chinese Empire and the help of the Egyptian garrison army of the Chinese Empire to help Charles I deal with the civil war quickly spread, and the British Parliament was suddenly plunged into a serious political crisis.

The reason is that the Chinese Empire was very important in global affairs at this time, at this time the four member states of the Central Powers were at war against the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Turkish Empire, the Chinese Empire invaded the Mughal Empire, invaded North and South America, and fought the Spanish Empire all over the land.

As soon as the news of the Chinese Empire's assistance to King Charles I of England spread, European countries, including the various allies, immediately set their positions and turned to support Charles I and protest against the existing British parliamentary regime. At the same time, the British bourgeoisie threatened the rule of European royal families, so except for the Dutch Republic, which chose to remain silent under the pressure of the Chinese Empire, all other countries protested against the British Parliament, making the British Parliament isolated in the world.

Countries pointed fingers at the British Civil War, and the Chinese Empire directly provided military and economic assistance to Charles I's royal army, which was a naked trampling on British sovereignty.

What is odious is that Charles I brazenly mortgaged Solent Island (also known as the Isle of Wight) to the Chinese Empire for the sake of his throne, which led to the first time that the Kingdom of England was trampled on for the first time in hundreds of years since its founding, and immediately caused the anger of the British people.

However, Charles I didn't care about that anymore. The anger of these common people, who did not obey his rule and rose up in rebellion, was the pleasure of Charles I.

The weapons and equipment of the Chinese Empire soon arrived on the Isle of Wight, and since the British Royal Navy was on the side of Charles I, the British Parliamentarian army had no naval help, and the Parliamentary army had no way to deal with the nearby Isle of Wight.

The Chinese Empire's Egyptian Garrison Army Headquarters sent a large number of officers to help Charles I's royal army train, and formed a Chinese armament corps with all imported weapons and equipment from the Chinese Empire, including a Chinese armed integrated infantry division and a Chinese armed integrated cavalry division.

The newly formed Chinese Armament Corps was trained on the Isle of Wight, and according to the training program for recruits in the Chinese Empire, this British army would be formed in three months and become combat effectiveness within six months. Since the British army was selected from the royal army, it had a high combat quality and was much stronger than the recruits, so it was estimated that this army could form combat effectiveness and enter the British Civil War within four months.

The British Parliament was very worried about the arrival of this unit, which was all armed with Chinese weapons, and the British Parliament repeatedly studied the combat effectiveness of the Royal Army of the Chinese Empire, believing that the strength of the other side was very strong, and once Charles I obtained this Chinese army, it would pose a great threat to the entire civil war.

For this reason, on the one hand, the British Parliament negotiated with the Chinese Empire, demanding that the Chinese Empire give up its support for Charles I, and was willing to provide equal conditions with Charles I, hoping that the Chinese Empire would support the British Parliament instead. On the other hand, the British Parliament wanted advanced weapons from the Chinese Empire.

In the process of negotiating with the British Parliament, the Chinese Empire has always dragged on and deliberately delayed time, and the negotiations have no substantive effect.

On the one hand, the British Army sought to purchase weapons, but the European royal families were very afraid of the British bourgeoisie, and under pressure from the Chinese Empire and France, they refused to supply weapons to the British Parliamentary Army. Therefore, the British Parliamentary Army had to solve the problem of weapons on its own.

In response to the great challenge posed by the superior firearms of the Chinese Empire, the British Parliament expanded the production of firearms in the rear, and purchased French dog-lock muskets from Dutch merchants at high prices to produce the British version of the Famur musket. During this period, the British also tried to imitate the Type 30 infantry flintlock pistol of the Chinese Empire, but because the strength of British steel could not reach the level of rolling steel of the Chinese Empire, the imitation failed.

On artillery, the bronze artillery of the British was no worse than that of European countries, so there was no need for improvement. However, the proportion of artillery in the infantry of the Chinese Empire was relatively high, and in order to balance this gap, the British Parliamentary Army increased the number of artillery deployments, although it did not reach the ratio of one artillery per 100 men in the Royal Army of the Chinese Empire, but tightening the belt could also achieve an average of two hundred people and one artillery.

The British parliamentary army was mainly based on Cromwell's model army, and the target was very obvious, which was aimed at the Chinese Empire's army of the Chinese Armed King, which was formed with the help of Charles I.

Cromwell's model army had 35,000 men, including 20,000 musketeers and 100 artillery pieces. 15,000 cavalrymen, 3,000 heavy cavalry, and 12,000 light cavalry.

In addition, the parliamentary army organized a militia of 50,000 men, armed with more than seven muskets and artillery. In the eyes of the soldiers of the Chinese Empire, the British Army was too weak, and these militias were super motley troops, vulnerable to attack.

Charles I's royal army trained on the Isle of Wight, while Cromwell's parliamentary army trained outside London, and both sides were scrambling for time to prepare for Armageddon.

When the news of the Chinese Empire's help in training the army reached Europe, the French government immediately sent a note to the Chinese Empire's ambassador in Paris to negotiate a request to borrow money from the Chinese Empire and purchase arms.

Since the French Navy had helped the Imperial Chinese Navy build the battleship Zhenyuan, there was no entanglement of vital interests between China and France, so the request of the French government was quickly approved by the Emperor of the Chinese Empire.

In the 11th year of Shenwu, the Emperor of the Chinese Empire authorized the Chinese Empire's headquarters in Egypt to give France appropriate help to fight the combined forces of the Spanish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire.

Li Yan then joined forces with the European Bank of the Chinese Empire to lend 100 million silver dollars to France to support France's resistance to the invasion of the Spanish Army.

The Sino-French Paris loan contract was then signed, and the loan granted by the Chinese Empire to France contained a number of political conditions, including the transfer of shipbuilding technology from the French naval base in Toulon to the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire, in return for which the loan was interest-free.

The French government was in a difficult situation at this time, and the English Civil War deprived France of economic aid from the British, so the French government urgently needed the loan of 100 million silver dollars from the Chinese Empire, so the French king immediately agreed to this condition.

In this way, the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire received the coveted French supreme shipbuilding technology. Until the middle of the 19th century, France's top shipbuilding technology had been the best in the world, and even Britain, which dominated the seas, had to admit that France's shipbuilding technology had always been superior to them. However, the French Navy was only short-lived, and failed to defeat the British Navy to dominate the world, mainly because France was a super land power, and the development of the navy was slow under the financial constraints, resulting in the defeat of the British Navy.

France, like the British, could abandon its land defense and go all out to develop its navy. France is a land power with a focus on the development of the army, so the French government did not hesitate to agree to the requirements of the Chinese Empire.

After obtaining the highest shipbuilding technology in France, the Chinese Empire took more than 100 detours in the research and development of large sail battleships, so that the shipbuilding technology of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire quickly converged with the first-class navy in Europe and became one of the world's naval powers.

The first loan of 30 million silver dollars from the European Bank of the Chinese Empire was quickly disbursed to the French government, which immediately used the huge amount of money to purchase the advanced artillery of the Chinese Empire. Since the dog-lock musket developed and produced by the French themselves is mature in technology and its performance is not much worse than that of the Type 30 rifle of the Chinese Empire, there is no need for the French military to buy the musket of the Chinese Empire. However, in terms of artillery, the French military admired the Type 31 infantry guns of the Chinese Empire, so they purchased 200 guns to form ten artillery battalions.

At the same time, the French military invited officers of the Egyptian garrison army of the Chinese Empire as advisers to the French army, and drew on the successful experience of the Chinese Empire in dealing with the Spanish Army in the Americas, and studied the tactics and strategies for dealing with the Spanish Army.

At this time, the main purpose of the Chinese Empire was to defeat Spain and annex Spain's colonies overseas, so it was desperate for France to contain the main energy of the Spanish Army, so it reported some of the weaknesses of the Spanish Army to the French Army.

This was a lifesaver for the French army.

Louis de Bourbon, the fourth Prince of Confucius, personally went to Port Said and faced Li Yan, the commander of the Egyptian garrison army of the Chinese Empire, and humbly asked Li Yan for advice on the situation in the Battle of Guayaquil in Peru, South America.

Li Yan had a good impression of this young man of his age, so he told him about the battle of Guayaquil and told him about the weakness of the Spanish army's large phalanx.

After returning to Paris, Bourbon went to the battlefield to observe the combat methods of the Spanish phalanx up close, and combined with the advice given to him by Li Yan, he summed up his own combat tactics.

In July of the 11th year of Shenwu, General Vieira de Mello of Spain led 27,000 men and 30 guns from the Spanish Netherlands to Paris, stopping to besiege the French fortress of Rocroix and waiting for reinforcements from the Holy Roman Empire of 6,000 men.

This Spanish army, led by Francisco de Mello, was the strongest unit of the Spanish Army. Europeans once spoke highly of the infantry regiment of the most elite Flemish army in Spain - the Spanish infantry pike, the phalanx, calling it the "flower of infantry", the myth of invincibility. As a result, the Spanish Army dominated Europe for more than 200 years and became the first army power in Europe.

The French army, led by Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, led an army of 25,000 men and 80 Type 31 infantry guns of the Chinese Empire, rushed to relieve the siege and approached the Rocroix moor.

The French army adopted a two-line battle formation, and according to the fighting style of the Imperial Chinese Army, there were reserves.

In the center of the battle formation were 15 infantry battalions, with 23 cavalry companies on the left and right flanks. The reserve consisted of 3 infantry battalions and 4 cavalry companies, another 5 cavalry companies were arranged in steps in front to ensure the safety of the two wings, and 4 artillery battalions with 80 infantry guns were deployed in the center, and the infantry was deployed in the front.

The Spanish army also used a second-line battle formation, but did not leave a reserve. Spain's most elite Flemish army still uses the traditional Spanish infantry phalanx, with 5 infantry battalions in the center, 4,500 Spanish soldiers forming 5 phalanxes, each phalanx of 900 people, 14 cavalry companies on the right flank, 15 cavalry companies on the left flank, 30 guns in the artillery battalion divided into two artillery companies, one artillery position on the left and right, arranged in front of the infantry, and another group of musketeers hidden in the woods in front of the left flank.

On 18 August, the Armageddon began with artillery fire from both sides.

The French army was equipped with the advanced infantry artillery of the Chinese Empire, which was superior to the Spanish artillery in terms of firepower and numbers. As soon as the artillery battle began, the fire on the Spanish artillery positions was suppressed. After the artillery battle lasted for half an hour, more than half of the artillery on the Spanish artillery positions was destroyed. At the same time, although more than a dozen artillery pieces were lost in the French artillery positions, the remaining 50 or so artillery pieces won the right to make artillery for the French army.

For a long time, the French artillery was always inferior to the Spanish artillery, and the quantity and quality were far inferior, but this time, the French artillery won an overwhelming victory as soon as the war began, which immediately boosted the morale of the French soldiers. For five or six years, the French army has been overwhelmed by the Spanish army, and most of the country has been lost, and the hatred in the hearts of the French soldiers can be imagined.

Immediately after the victory of the artillery, the French cavalry charged.

However, the French cavalry was unable to defeat the Spanish cavalry due to a sneak attack by the Spanish musketeers who were lying in ambush in the woods. The Spanish cavalry took advantage of the situation to cover the kill, and the French cavalry was forced to retreat.

During the day, it ended with the French artillery gaining the right to make artillery and the defeat of the French cavalry.

During the night, when the Spanish musketeers were using the Mushkert arquebus, the lit arquebuses on their bodies immediately revealed their ambush position. The French cavalry struck again, heading straight into the woods, and successfully sniped the Spanish musketeers who were ambushed in the woods according to the bright light.

In the first half of the night, the French eliminated the musketeers of the Spanish army in ambush in the woods, clearing the way for the cavalry charge.

In the second half of the night, the French army suddenly launched an assault on the Spanish army. As the artillery of the Spanish army was destroyed, the French artillery bombarded the Spanish formation, and the cavalry took the opportunity to surprise and cover it. Soon, the French cavalry repelled and dispersed the first line of troops on the left flank of the Western Army, and then routed the second line of troops on the left flank.

At the same time, the cavalry and infantry of the Western Army were suppressed by French artillery fire and could not make effective support, and the formation of the large phalanx gradually dispersed.

In the early hours of the morning, the French artillery concentrated their fire on the Spanish cavalry position on the left flank, and the Spanish cavalry was completely routed. However, its infantry phalanx remained in place, spreading out in a deft formation, allowing the five remaining cannons in the center of it to fire a salvo.

Under these circumstances, Grand Condé made a bold decision to continue to suppress the Spanish artillery with artillery, while sending several cavalry companies to carry out a surprise attack in order to consolidate the gains made on the left flank.

From Li Yan's experience, Prince Condé learned about the weakness of the Spanish Grand Phalanx. Several cavalry companies were sent to attack from different directions, attracting the spearmen in the Spanish phalanx, and then sending the main cavalry to attack the enemy from the rear. At the same time, Prince Condé used his reserves to successfully carry out a counterattack on the enemy infantry while the infantry on both sides was motivated to fight.

As the French artillery targets became more accurate as it gradually dawned, they continued to bombard the Spanish phalanx with artillery, breaking their formation.

In the afternoon of the second day, surrounded by the French infantry and cavalry, this elite Spanish main army was completely annihilated, and Coach de Mello was killed. The defeated Spanish legions had nowhere to retreat, except for the fleeing cavalry, and the besieged phalanx infantry was almost slaughtered by the red-eyed French. Prince Condé immediately ordered a halt, and the Spanish officers and men threw themselves at his knees and sought refuge from the wrath of the victorious French soldiers.

The French army routed the Western Army and relieved the siege of Rocroix. The Spanish army suffered more than 9,000 casualties, 6,000 were captured, and 30 artillery pieces were lost. The French lost more than 2,000 dead and wounded, nearly 6,000 wounded, and 27 artillery pieces.

After this overwhelming victory, the Prince of Condé's reputation as a famous French general rose and he immediately became the war star of the court. It was a great victory, because Prince Condé was facing the Spanish Army, which had long dominated Europe, and his opponents were all experienced generals, and he was only a 23-year-old young commander.

The battle ended Spain's historical land superiority and marked the arrival of French army supremacy. Due to the defeat of the Spanish infantry phalanx at the Battle of Rocroix, the Spanish tactics that had survived from Wallenstein had been completely eliminated. All of Western Europe began to look for new, workable tactical ideas.

After this battle, the French military became more and more fond of the weapons of the Chinese Empire, and continued to expand the import of weapons and equipment from the Chinese Empire. At the same time, the French army obeyed the military thinking of the Chinese Empire, and the young French officers represented by the Prince of Condé set off a frenzied worship of the Royal Army of the Chinese Empire, so that for a long time to come, the French army has been imitating the Chinese Imperial Army for a long time, and has virtually become a small follower of the Chinese Empire.

The Spanish Imperial Army's phalanx tactics were thus withdrawn from the stage of history, and the armies of European countries began to look for new army tactics, and the myth of the invincibility of the Imperial Chinese Army became a model for them to learn. Under the leadership of the French military, European countries set off a frenzy of learning the concept of Eastern war, and in order to learn the concept of the East, European countries had to send students to China on a large scale to learn experience, and at the same time, governments of various countries guided the upsurge of learning Chinese, from government agencies, newspapers, schools to civil organizations, have included Chinese as an important subject.

For a while, "Do you know Chinese?" The words have become a mantra for Europeans to meet and chat, and Europeans are proud to know Chinese.

As the world's largest power, the Spanish Empire was annihilated by the nameless Dutch Navy at sea a few years ago, making the Spanish Imperial Navy withdraw from the position of a first-class naval power in Europe. Now that the French Army has wiped out the most elite Freud infantry regiment in the Spanish Empire, a Spanish phalanx that dominates the world is no longer a myth, and the Spanish Army has also lost its status as the first army power.

In addition, the Chinese Empire first invaded the Philippines, then occupied most of Mexico, and launched a colonial war against Peru, which led to a large loss of gold and silver in the overseas colonies of the Spanish Empire.

The Spanish Empire's participation in the European wars consumed a huge amount of national strength, and these factors combined led to the removal of the Spanish Empire from the world's first power and reduced to a second-rate country in Europe.

The Netherlands and France, as the new victories, replaced Spain's position as a maritime and land power respectively, and a new round of reshuffle in Europe finally established the maritime supremacy of the Netherlands and the hegemony of France on land.