Chapter 821 Another year of prosperity

After reading the British newspaper's report on the "Jenkins Ear Incident" in the House of Commons, Wang Youdun almost burst out laughing. As Captain Jenkins said, he had his ears cut off by the Spaniards, and those ears can still be left to this day? The Spaniards, who were afraid of being executed early, kicked into the sea and fed the fish. The ears are clearly on someone else's head, specially looking for momentum.

The political struggle of foreigners is really rough and jerky, but going around the cabinet of chess, fighting methods instead of fighting people, is really another kind of learning, at this point, Yinghua still has a long way to go......

Wang Youdun sighed modestly, but his mood was better. The general policy of the General Office was to contain Britain and squeeze its power out of Tianzhu. Previously, Cai Xin's mission went to Dongzhou, and the bottom limit of the mission was to buy Puzhou, and the further goal was to push Spain to scourge the British colonies and set fire to the backyard of Britain.

Now before Spain was provoked, the Britons themselves jumped to their feet, and the timing could not have been better!

In addition to being happy, Wang Youdun finally had a deeper understanding of the principle of the General Office, but most people did not understand the policy deeply. Why curb the Britons? Because this guy has momentum, the essence of the Jenkins ear war is that the vast number of people in Britain are dissatisfied that Spain still occupies the rich Caribbean and the Americas, and wants to be "rich and poor" with the old empire. As a new seafaring power after the Netherlands, this is normal and inevitable.

There was also an inspection group that followed Wang Youdun to Lisbon, and the head of the delegation, Mi Anping, was revisiting the old place, and when he heard the news, he sighed that it was really not the right time, and asked him why, Mi Anping, who had been the deputy head of the Tiandao Academy, replied, so that Wang Youdun and the diplomats of the legation had a deeper understanding of the true face of Britain.

Mi Anping said: "The country has divided the way of heaven into two ways: truth is the study of exploring the origin of heaven and earth, and practical learning is the study of truth through the world, the former is such as mechanics, and the latter is such as the study of stargazing and positioning. The countries of Europa are exploring both the truth and the practical learning, but some are only better than the truth. Some are only better than learning. The Britons have the power to determine both sides, such as Newton's laws of mechanics, and the British royal family has learned to constantly offer rewards for solving all kinds of practical problems. ”

"Twenty years ago, the British royal family offered a bounty to solve the problem of longitude positioning, and it is said that an octane and a sextant have now been created. Longitude can be accurately measured. His Majesty has offered a reward for this subject in the era of the Heavenly King's Mansion, and it has been twenty years now, but our astrographer still lacks the support of truth, and the deviation is mostly based on speculation and empirical correction. However, the eighth-sextant is not accurate enough, and the new clocking method is based on the moon distance method, which is more accurate and smart. If this is the case. The sea will be a smooth road. ”

This series of professional terms made Wang Youdun and others confused, but even if they didn't fully understand, they could understand that in terms of navigation technology, Yinghua was still far behind Britain, and this gap was still backward from theory to actual technology.

An official from the Shipping Department of the Ministry of Industry said regretfully: "I heard that Britain implemented a shipbuilding document retention system 30 years ago. The shipbuilding method has thus become a tree with roots and can be accumulated into steps. Although I, Yinghua Shipbuilding, have obtained the essence of Portugal and Spain, and still have my own strengths. I was also exploring this road, but I never found a way to connect the yamen, the shipyards and the people of insight by this road, and gather the wisdom of all people, so I originally wanted to take this trip to Britain......"

Just the nautical positioning and shipbuilding, Wang Youdun and others heard a huge gap, but as Mian and others regretted, at this time, the Britons declared war on Spain on the one hand, and imposed punitive commercial taxes on British and Chinese goods on the other, and they were very vigilant against the British and Chinese themselves, and it was absolutely impossible to allow British and Chinese scientific circles to enter the country for investigation. …,

"You'd better look elsewhere. Let's take a look at other countries, this Britain...... At the root, it's a brutal pirate. ”

Wang Youdun unceremoniously exposed the old background of the British, who let the Britons rush into battle this time, and the excuse was not made up.

The Age of Discovery, with robbery as the main theme, has passed, and everyone has almost circled their territory, and they must begin to rein in their hands and feet. Be a civilized person, but no one will be polite when he sees that there are advantages to be taken advantage of. Conniving at smuggling is a gentler means, in today's commercial laws are becoming more and more perfect, smuggling always falls into the handle, and even people have their ears cut off, so let's follow the laws of the state, with the power of the state, with the means of war to rearrange the position and distribute wealth.

But there is always an excuse to start a war, and the reason why this "Jenkins Ear War" is famous is not because of the scale of the war, but because the excuses made by the Britons are too far-fetched, and the people look even more, which can also see the plundering heart that their country has suppressed too hard.

Although Wang Youdun is not yet aware of the results of Cai Xin's mission, he believes that Philip V of Spain will be happy to accept the olive branch of Yinghua. The latter had just been pulled into the chariot of the Polish Succession by King Louis XV of France, and he didn't know how to get out of it to protect himself.

"Take advantage of his illness and kill him! Come on, prepare pen and paper, I will write a letter to Philip V! May his gods bless him and hold up all of Spain. ”

Wang Youdun acted quickly, he couldn't wait for Cai Xin's negotiation to come up with the result, he had to take advantage of the situation to succeed first, even if it couldn't be done, he could pave the way for Cai Xin's side.

Philip V was already mentally ill, and when he received the official declaration of war from London, he almost wiped his ass as a piece of straw paper. Straw paper imported from Anglo-Chinese greatly improved the hygiene of the European aristocracy, but not Britain. The thin paper used in Britain's declaration of war was familiar to the confused Philip V.

After understanding that this was a declaration of war, Philip V was so angry that although his spirit had not completely returned to normal, his IQ was almost back, and he was ready to consult with his nephew, King Louis XV.

But then he received a letter from Minister Seris, who was transferred from the Kingdom of Portugal, saying that if Spain was willing to sell part of the land in the Americas, such as the deserted Upper California, at a reasonable price, Seris was willing to provide Spain with assistance in many ways, from materials to money.

Philip V didn't take the "letter from Seris" too seriously and sold the land of America? That's even more unlikely! Although he has severe depression, he has no amnesia, and he can still feel the burning pain in his cheeks when the Seris savagely took Luzon more than ten years ago. Philip V threw the letter aside and went to hug his nephew's thigh first.

At this time, the French state was still a former court teacher, a cardinal. The current Prime Minister Fleury is in charge. Originally, France was a little forward-looking in the war for the Polish throne, mainly because of Russia's reaction, for fear of beating Austria hard and leading the newly rising northern wolf into the heart of Europe. It was learned that the Britons took advantage of the fire to loot (so they judged). Fleury and Louis XV hurriedly reined in the reins of the army and turned their eyes to the west.

From June to August, Fleury and Louis XV were hesitant to declare war on Britain and take a tough stance to deter each other. However, it was not common sense to go to war on both sides, and at the same time, Britain was afraid that Britain would abandon its original neutrality on the question of the succession to the Polish throne and turn to an alliance with Austria. Therefore, I have never been able to make up my mind.

In mid-August, Calves, the envoy of the Spanish Council for West Indian Affairs, returned home and presented a top-secret credential to Philip V, who had waited for the French to declare war on Britain. It made the people of Madrid panic, and the king of the city was completely hopeless. …,

"Only in this way can Spain be saved......"

After Philip V vented. A wise choice was made. Although France is willing to help Spain, it is also a bogeyman, and it is impossible to go all out. Kingdoms such as Sardinia and even countries such as Prussia are too far away and now have their own chess games to help at all. Spain has never been so lonely, and Seris is willing to reach out, so why should he refuse?

At this point of Philip V, the mighty tide of history rushed into another ditch.

"As long as the Spanish crown does not go bankrupt, we are confident that we can defeat the British!"

This was the consensus of Philip V and the court ministers. Due to financial problems, the Spanish navy became increasingly dilapidated, and the main force was reduced to the mainland, and the strength of the American fleet was extremely weak. If they could get enough liquidity and send enough warships and land to the Americas, the Britons would have no chance of winning.

Britain did not have much foothold in the Caribbean and was to send out the Grand Fleet. It can only rely on the thirteen states of North America for supplies. Such a move would be seen by France as a serious provocation to seize the French colony. As for landing on Spanish soil, or even making trouble in the Mediterranean, France will be even more furious.

So Spain's goal was simple: to keep the Caribbean strongholds, which was precisely the goal of the British. Although Walpole was forced to declare war, he still tried his best to control the scale of the war, not wanting it to become the trigger for another major war in Europe.

Philip V urgently summoned Wang Youtun, and after arduous negotiations, it was finally agreed that Yinghua would buy the ownership of Upper California for one million pesos of silver and two million pesos worth of goods, including silk, tea, pig iron, and saltpeter. At the same time, the two sides will sign a formal diplomatic treaty to formally confirm the question of Luzon's ownership. In addition, New Spain will grant Anglo-Chinese Ocean a preferential trade right with a limited size.

"Two million taels of silver...... The Spaniards got on our ship, and we finally got on Europa's ship. ”

Wang Youdun didn't feel sorry for this figure at all, this bit of silver is nothing to the Yinghua treasury, not to mention that two-thirds of it is still goods.

This was only an intentional meeting between the two sides, and later, when the situation became clear, the Anglo-Chinese and Spain signed a formal treaty in Mexico City, New Spain, known as the Treaty of Mexico City. When Britain took advantage of the fire to loot, Britain and China also took advantage of the fire, politically stepped into the Europa pattern, and the colonial power officially stepped onto the American stage.

After a historic meeting, Wang returned to Lisbon and wrote to King George II of Britain.

"Declaration of war...... The Seris have declared war on us? ”

George II thought the letter was as absurd as if it had been dropped from the moon. Seris is indeed familiar to everyone, the legation has always been in Portugal, and in the past few years, when the relationship was not so tense, he occasionally invited each other to some grand ceremonies. But in general, the distance between the two concepts of the Seris and the "man on the moon" is much smaller than the distance between the Seris and the Arabs and Indians.

George II's recent knowledge of Seris is that Walpole imposed a high excise tax on Seris goods in order to prevent the importation of Seris's goods. It's just a business act, how can you declare war all at once?

George II, of course, did not think deeply at this time, although the British government declared war on the Spaniards because of the encroachment on British citizens, but behind it was the issue of trade.

After a closer look at the credentials, George II was furious, and the reason for Seris's declaration of war was that the British East India Company had detained Chinese merchants in Calcutta, resulting in the deaths of dozens of people. This is a good reason, which is why George II was angry. India, if not British, is Europa! How did you get involved with you Seris? Don't think I can't see through your Seris's intentions to monopolize India! …,

Walpole's response was nonchalant, just as he expected the French reaction to be weak and weak, and even a declaration of war would be a mere gesture, and he instructed the Admiralty in a very casual tone: "Send to India a fleet sufficient to declare our strength and at the same time ensure that we will not lose in a decisive battle of a certain magnitude." ”

If there is a real fight, it is better not to fight hard, it is better to surrender without a fight, Walpole silently recited the warning of Sun Tzu's Art of War. And for the Serisians, Walpole still has a backhand, don't the Seris use the South Seas as their bathtub? The Dutch still occupy Java......

In 1733, there was the War for the Polish Throne, then the War of Jenkins, and then the first official duel between Britain and Seris, a duel at sea.

"I really don't understand, whether you look down on me or the Serisians......"

In the harbor of Portsmouth, the young Admiral George Anson set sail with three fourth-class battleships and three cruisers. Colonel Anson, frustrated that he had not been able to take part in the Navy's offensive against the Spanish possessions in the Caribbean, did not pick himself up when he received this order, and how much honor could he receive to fight against the distant and unknown Naval Seris? Walpole and the Admiralty did not expect his small fleet to challenge the entire Ceris navy, and the order was only to "raid the sea trade lines of Ceris, support the East India Company, and impress Ceris with the invincibility of Britain." ”

Anson said proudly: "No, I can challenge the entire Cyris fleet, just like the Portuguese against the Egyptians in the Battle of Diu." ”

In September 1733, Anson's small fleet set off, and what became known to Britons as "Anson's Great Adventure" officially began.

As the evil villain of this script, Vice Admiral Seris, commander-in-chief of the Western Fleet, Hu Hanshan, was standing on the helm of the battleship "Huashan" at this time, holding his arms and looking at the land to the west.

Behind Hu Hanshan, three battleships and more than a dozen cruisers lined up in several columns, putting on a posture of 10,000 artillery bombardments. In front of him, large wrecks could be seen, as well as several armed merchant ships that were struggling to seize the beach, which were ships of the British East India Company. Farther west is the land, and there is a faint panic ant-like crowd of people wandering around.

This was Madras, the largest British stronghold in India before Calcutta became the seat of the British Indian East India Company.

Hu Hanshan waited for a long time, did not wait for the expected white flag to float, and said impatiently to his subordinates: "Give them an ultimatum, if you don't surrender, you will be turned into powder with Madras!" ”

Almost at the same time, two thousand miles to the north, at the top of the mouth of the Bay of Bengal, two hundred miles up from the mouth of the Hooghly River, a large group of blue-clad soldiers rushed towards Fort William, where the rammed earth wall had been blasted out of numerous breaches. With Fort William at its centre, the city that was beginning to take shape was Calcutta, where the Britons were just starting to gain a foothold.

"Sixteen Years of the Word...... It's been another year of prosperity——! ”

Longmen, no, the place that has been renamed Tokyo is noisy with gongs and drums, and the singing is raising their voices and burning people's hearts. A new palace is rising in the north of Jinshanwei, south of the Huangpu River, and next to Qingpu. This new imperial palace is a reference to the old name of the Han Dynasty: "Weiyang Palace", and will become the residence of the Yinghua Emperor along with the Wuya Palace in Nanjing (Huangpu)...... Bring the cute girl

The King of Materia Medica

Introduction: In my heart, it is difficult to understand under my fingers, a nerd of traditional Chinese medicine, a small waste of the family, a wonderful hand to bring the dead back to life, and the king of medicine and herbs.

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