Chapter 377: The Beginning of British Shame - Said's Great Loan

[Abstract: In this chapter, the Chinese Empire skillfully seized the British island of Solrent, and British sovereignty began to decline. 】

Charles I, with the help of the Imperial Chinese Expedition to Yorktown, escaped from Yorktown three days later and followed Li Zicheng back to the British naval base in Portsmouth.

The British Navy strongly supported Charles I, even though Charles I repeatedly defaulted on and embezzled their military funds.

Charles I was grateful, and vowed to treat and value the British Navy in the future, and to follow the naming method of the Royal Army of the Chinese Empire, and named the British Navy the British Royal Navy.

Since then, the Royal Navy was born 30 years ahead of schedule and was reused by Charles I, so that the British Navy continued to grow and develop in the following days, and soon recovered its vitality and returned to the ranks of the world's naval powers.

The Chinese Empire was not aware of the future changes of the British Royal Navy, and at this moment, the British Royal Navy's long-term slackening of armaments did not attract the attention of the Chinese Imperial Admiralty. Therefore, some of the changes in the Royal Navy were not raised to the level of attention.

Charles I returned to Portsmouth to avoid being captured by the Parliamentarian army and returned to London to be executed. Therefore, Charles I did not dare to stay in England any longer. France was supposed to be a good place to go, but France was being defeated by the Spanish army at this moment, so Charles I voluntarily gave up.

Although the Netherlands was good, the Dutch navy took out the invincible Spanish Armada and became the world's first naval power. However, the Dutch Army did not gain an advantage over the Spanish Army on land, so the Netherlands was not a refuge for Charles I.

Within the Allies, Russia was so far away that there was only one place left for the Chinese Empire.

Although the Chinese Empire is farther away, the Chinese Empire has 120,000 troops stationed in Egypt, and there is a Mediterranean Fleet in the Mediterranean, with five coquettish Tornado-class battleships, becoming a small overlord in the Mediterranean, and no one dares to twist its whiskers.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Charles I chose to go into exile in Egypt and take refuge in the Mediterranean Fleet base of the Imperial Chinese Navy in Port Said.

The English Civil War, although not yet over, was clearly in the upper hand with the Parliamentarian army, occupying two-thirds of the territory of Britain.

The British army only controlled the northeastern coast of England, with less than 20,000 troops. On the other hand, after the victory of the Parliamentarian army in Yorktown, the strength of the army was increased to 50,000 men, and the morale was high.

Unexpectedly, Cromwell took advantage of his extremely popular military prestige to quickly speculate in the British Parliament, and in three months, he was promoted six levels in a row and became an important member of the Parliament.

Previously, Cromwell was a member of the House of Commons. He was a Puritan advocate and soon gained the support of a large number of Puritans. And the new British aristocracy, in order to complete the bourgeois ** representing their interests, did not hesitate to use the guise of the Puritans to overthrow Catholicism, and then achieve their goal of subverting the British regime.

Since Cromwell pursued a policy that fully represented the interests of the new bourgeois aristocracy, he received the full support of the new aristocracy, and quickly took control of the parliamentary army and became the leader of the parliamentary army.

After gaining the position of leader of the parliamentary army, Cromwell formed his own model army, which laid the foundation for his future **.

Cromwell did have an excellent military command mind, and in the next three battles -- the Battle of Grantham, the Battle of Gainsborre, and the Battle of Winsby, Cromwell inflicted heavy losses on the king's army and established his absolute position in the army.

The English Civil War entered the middle stage, and the royal army was defeated.

Charles I asked the Chinese Empire to send troops to help, but the Chinese Empire's Egyptian Residence Army Command had not yet received orders from the Imperial Government and the Emperor, so it took a procrastination against Charles I.

Since receiving the news of the British Civil War, Emperor Deng Haonan of Shenwu has been thinking about what kind of policy the empire should adopt towards Britain to be reasonable.

Undoubtedly, Deng Haonan hoped that the British Civil War would last as long as possible, so as to consume Britain's 300-year-old national strength and cut off a potential opponent. On the other hand, Deng Haonan was worried that once Charles I was defeated and his head was cut off, then Britain would embark on the road of capitalism and become an empire on which the sun never set for 300 years, and the threat to the Chinese Empire would be equally huge.

At this time, the foreign policy pursued by the Chinese Empire was a policy of distant friendship and close attack, division and disintegration, and isolation of opponents, and now the imperial government was trying to isolate the Netherlands, and the establishment of the Central Powers was the first step in isolating the Netherlands, waiting for the end of the Thirty Years' War in Europe, when the Central Powers carved up the Netherlands.

However, after the Thirty Years' War in Europe, France was out of breath for a while and could not pose a threat to the Netherlands. The Royal Navy was the only European navy to contain the Dutch navy, and Deng Haonan hoped that Britain and the Netherlands would break out into an Anglo-Dutch war, which would drain the national strength of both countries and allow the Chinese Empire to profit from it.

If Charles I had won, the British Navy would not have been able to confront the Dutch Navy if it had not been taken seriously, and the Imperial Chinese Navy would have to attack head-on. Obviously, Deng Haonan doesn't want that situation to happen, he is not ready to fight with the Dutch, he likes to use the minimum price and cost to get the maximum benefit.

"Emperor" Lin Feng saw that the emperor was hesitant, so he said: "It is better for the empire to export advanced weapons to England, help Charles I train the royal army, arm the royal army, as long as Charles I wins the civil war, then the empire's efforts will definitely be rewarded."

Liu Hu said: "Exporting arms to Britain will give Charles I a much better chance of victory with the help of advanced firearms in the Empire." The worst of them can also cause Charles I and Parliament to lose both, and damage the overall national strength of England."

Feng Shaoyan said at this time: "Your Majesty, it is better for the empire to take out a loan from Britain, after Charles I got our loan, he bought weapons from the empire for war, so that the empire can not only make money, stimulate the military industry, but also weaken the British national strength"

Wang Chengen nodded, turned to Deng Haonan, and said: "What several adults said is extremely true, Weichen thinks that it is better to lend money to the British, let Charles I sign, and use the British port as collateral. If Charles I wins, it is good, if he loses the war, then the empire will occupy the port of LinkedIn before the parliamentary army defeats Charles I. Presumably, the British Parliament has nothing to say, and the Empire can deploy its navy on the Atlantic coast of Europe and meddle in European affairs. ”

Several people did not know what Deng Haonan thought in his heart, and Deng Haonan would not tell them about the historical trend, so he agreed with them and decided to lend money to Charles I first to see if Charles I could win the civil war, and then decide whether to directly send troops to intervene in the British Civil War.

In February of the 11th year of Shenwu, the Emperor Shenwu of the Chinese Empire approved the decision of the cabinet to assist King Charles I of England in quelling the rebellion.

The Imperial Government would provide economic and military assistance to the British, and the Chinese Empire authorized the Suez Canal Garrison Army Command in Egypt to handle British policy with full authority.

At the beginning of April, the command of the Egyptian garrison army of the Chinese Empire received an order from the central government of the empire to immediately send an envoy to negotiate with Charles I.

At this time, Charles I, eager to return to England and regain his throne and power, was happy that the Chinese Empire was willing to help, and actively negotiated.

At that time, the commander of the Egyptian Zhutun Army Headquarters of the Chinese Empire was Lieutenant General Li Yan, Li Yan was known for his strategy, and like Li Zicheng, he was a military attache appointed by the emperor, and he had seen Deng Haonan, the Yellow Emperor of the Chinese Empire, in the Qinzheng Palace.

Compared with Li Zicheng, Li Yan was born in a family of eunuchs, learned five cars, won the attention of Emperor Shenwu, and appointed him to enter the Chinese Emperor's ** official school for further study, and went overseas to experience after completing his studies, and in the imperial colonial war against Peru, he led the Korean servant army to win the Battle of Guayaquil, and annihilated more than 40,000 people colonized by Spain and Peru.

One-third of the credit for the Battle of Guayaquil belonged to the Marines of the Pacific Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire, and it was the Marines who marched into Guayaquil, disrupting the strategic deployment of Peruvian Governor Assange, frustrating Castro's spirit, and forcing the Peruvian colonial army to lose its square inch, quickly withdraw from the Andes, and reinforce Guayaquil.

Due to the lack of marines, the attack on the city of Guayaquil was ineffective, and the interception of Peruvian reinforcements was also inadequate, so that the 251st Army of the 50th Army Group of the Imperial Chinese Army led by Li Yan could be useful.

Li Yan commanded the 1251st and 1255th armies, a total of 100,000 Korean servants, to implement the tactics of encirclement and reinforcement of Guayaquil, sending the 1254th and 1255th armies to surround the city of Guayaquil, and at the same time ordered the 1251st Army to ambush the Spanish army in the Preston Hill Road.

The Spanish army, prompted by Castro's six urgent letters of urgency, marched six days later to the area of Mount Preston, and when the soldiers were extremely tired, they were suddenly attacked by 20,000 Korean servants, suffering heavy casualties.

The Spanish army retreated, rested for a day, and then attacked the 1251st Army again.

At this time, Li Yan ordered the 1251st Army to stick to the Preston Mountain Road and make a blockade, forcing the commander of the Spanish army on the opposite side to believe that the Chinese Emperor ** was really encircling and sending reinforcements, and that the city of Guayaquil was in danger.

Sure enough, the Spanish army was convinced and launched a large corps to attack the high ground held by the 1251st Army.

This happened to fall into Li Yan's strategy, and he made a series of plans, first using the method of encirclement to ambush a Spanish reinforcement, and then using the 1251st Army to drag the attention of the Spanish army, mobilizing the 1252nd Army, the 1253rd Army and the 1254th Army to detour to the rear of the Spanish reinforcements, raid the Spanish reinforcements, and surround all the Spanish reinforcements of more than 40,000 people in the Preston Mountains.

In view of the weakness of the Spanish phalanx, Li Yan used the 1254th Cavalry Division to launch a surprise attack from the southeast, north and south directions in turn to attack the Spanish phalanx.

The large phalanx of the Spaniards was more defensive, but only frontal. The defense of the flanks and rear was relatively weak. Li Yan first used the 1252 Cavalry Division to attack the east of the Spanish phalanx, forcing the Spanish army to mobilize spearmen from the anti-cavalry attack to reinforce the east, and then ordered the 1253 Cavalry Division to attack the west of the Spanish phalanx, forcing the Spaniards to transfer the last reserve to the west to resist the cavalry charge of the Chinese Empire.

In this way, the rear of the Spanish phalanx was empty, and Li Yan immediately made a decision and ordered the 1254th Cavalry Division to directly attack the rear of the Spanish phalanx.

Suddenly, the rear of the Spanish phalanx was crushed. The 1254th Cavalry Division split into two routes, one to the east and the other to the west, destroying the Spanish spearmen from behind, allowing the 1252nd and 1253rd Cavalry Divisions to penetrate the Spanish phalanx.

Without the protection of the spearmen, the Spanish phalanx suddenly collapsed, under the impact of 30,000 cavalry, all large and small formations were destroyed, and the Spanish musketeers, who had no hand-to-hand combat ability, were suddenly wantonly slashed and killed by the cavalry of the Chinese Empire, with countless casualties.

The battle lasted only an hour, and when the frontal 1251st Army and three other infantry divisions pounced, the Spanish reinforcements were instantly defeated and annihilated.

After learning that the Chinese Emperor's ** army had completely annihilated the reinforcements, Peruvian Governor Assange immediately abandoned Guayaquil and fled to the capital Lima. And Castro, who stayed behind, also knew that the general trend had gone, and Guayaquil would definitely not be able to hold it, so he led the army to withdraw from Guayaquil before the Chinese Emperor ** team turned around.

Li Yan commanded the Korean servant army to occupy Guayaquil, so that the Chinese Imperial American Dispatch Army gained the first fortified city in South America as a foothold.

Similarly, Guayaquil is a large city second only to Lima, the capital of Peru. The Korean servant army carried out a large-scale military operation in Guayaquil, and the three-light policy was brought into full play, more than 170,000 Spanish and Spanish civilians were slaughtered in the city, about 10,000 white women were sent back to the Chinese Empire and sold as slaves at high prices, and more than 20,000 white women were reduced to military soldiers.

The entire northern part of Guayaquil was sacked, creating a wealth of nearly 110 million silver dollars for the Chinese Empire. If you count a large number of vacant houses, shops, farms, manors, mines and other fixed assets, worth more than 400 million silver dollars, it can solve the share of 200,000 immigrants for the Chinese Empire, and its results are remarkable, and Li Yan and other officers were ceremoniously commended by the imperial department.

However, Li Yan was very disgusted by the massacre and looting of the Korean servant army, and as a scholar who was full of poetry and books, and was well versed in benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom, and faith, Li Yan felt that he could not stay there, so he asked the military department to transfer his work.

The military department originally did not approve Li Yan's application, but considering that Li Yan was a general appointed by Emperor Shenwu, he had some concerns and specially reported to the imperial study to submit it to the emperor's holy ruling.

Deng Haonan originally thought that Li Yan could make a lot of achievements after studying at the Emperor's School. The Battle of Guayaquil in Peru also confirmed his ability, but Li Yan still couldn't jump out of the shackles of history and couldn't accept the impact of the colonial war.

To carry out a colonial war, the Chinese Empire must have extraordinary human combat effectiveness and willpower. Colonial wars must be brutal and brutal to the extreme, otherwise they would not be called colonial wars. If Li Yan can't stand the baptism of this colonial war, then he shouldn't be put there. Therefore, Emperor Shenwu specially approved Li Yan's request, but did not allow Li Yan to retire, but transferred Li Yan to Egypt to serve as the commander of the Egyptian garrison army of the Chinese Empire.

Because the Suez Canal was built, the fortress defense system was also completed, and the Empire's 120,000 troops were stationed there, and a good commander was needed to defend it. Zhang Fengai has already achieved fame, and returned to China to serve as the left waiter of the Ministry of Industry of the Chinese Empire, leading the Imperial Water Conservancy Governor. Deng Haonan, the candidate to replace Zhang Fengai, thought about it and thought that Li Yan was the best.

Because Deng Haonan knew that Li Zicheng was an officer who could fight hard enough, but he couldn't be allowed to serve as the commander, otherwise it would not be conducive to the implementation of the empire's strategy in Egypt, so it was just right to transfer Li Yan, a stable talent, to the past.

In this way, Li Yan became the commander of the Egyptian garrison army of the Chinese Empire, and he negotiated with Charles I to negotiate aid to the British.

Li Zicheng watched more than a dozen battles of the British Civil War, and knew what kind of goods the British Army was, compared with the Spanish Army, the British Army was not only less in quantity, but also worse in quality, and the equipment was all weapons from half a century ago, and most of the battles were conducted in rainy weather, and basically cold weapons dominated the direction of the campaign.

According to Li Zicheng's opinion, Li Yan decided to provide Charles I's royal army with a reorganized army's armament and sent instructors to train the British army.

The armament of an integrated army of the Imperial Chinese Army, including an integrated infantry division and an integrated cavalry division, as well as the equipment of a unit directly under the army, with a total value of 30 million silver dollars, equivalent to 6 million pounds.

According to the British Army's establishment and equipment, six million pounds can equip 200,000 troops, but in the Chinese Imperial Army, only 10,000 people can be equipped, this gap makes Charles I ashamed.

However, Charles I was very interested, he visited the Egyptian military base of the Chinese Empire in Port Said, and Li Yan specially conducted a military exercise in order to reassure Charles I, which reassured Charles I.

In July of the 11th year of Shenwu, Charles I finally nodded and agreed to borrow 50 million silver dollars from the Chinese Empire, of which 30 million was used to pay for the weapons and equipment of an army, 10 million silver dollars were used to purchase follow-up ammunition, and 1 million silver dollars were used to distribute the standard military uniforms of the Royal Army of the Chinese Empire. Two million silver dollars were used to hire the ** official of the Chinese Emperor as an instructor, and the rest was used to buy grain for the Chinese Empire.

On 17 July, China and Britain signed the "Said's Great Loan Contract", and the European Bank of the Chinese Empire, as the borrower, borrowed 50 million silver dollars like the United Kingdom. King Charles I of England acted as a lender and secured Solent Island opposite the Portsmouth Military Harbour, and until the loan was repaid, Solent Island was temporarily protected by the garrison of the Chinese Empire and administered in the form of a lease.

The reason why Charles I agreed to this condition and endured the humiliation of the occupation of the country and the trampling of sovereignty was not only because he saw the military strength of the Chinese Empire, but also because he thought that if he failed to defeat the parliamentary army, he could directly pull the Chinese Empire into the water.

Charles I believed that if he prevailed, then the loan of fifty million silver dollars would be easily repaid, and there would be no problem in recovering Solent. If he is defeated, the British Parliament may not recognize the ownership of Solent Island. Since the Portsmouth naval base is opposite Solent Island, which directly threatens the security of the British Navy and the security of London, Charles I expects that if Parliament does not agree, he will turn against the Chinese Empire, and then a war will break out, so that the Chinese Empire will be involved in the war, so Charles I will have a chance to recover.

Charles I's calculation was very good, but what he never expected was that in the following ten years, he had not been able to repay the money owed to the Chinese Empire, but owed more and more, and finally Solent Island was ceded by the Chinese Empire, so that the British government had to bear the great shame of being trampled on its sovereignty and ceded territory for hundreds of years. X