Chapter 339 Allied Powers

[Today's first update]

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In Egypt, the Suez Canal in the desert is progressing well. In two years, the entry has reached one-third. At this pace, it will take six years to complete.

Originally, it took the French ten years to build, but because Egypt was already independent when the French built the canal, the French could not drive the Egyptians as slaves, so the labor efficiency was too low. For this reason, the French also had to dig a fresh water canal with parallel canals for the workers to provide water, which is equivalent to digging two canals at the same time, and the amount of work is naturally much larger.

In turn, the Chinese Empire dug a canal here, and the Turks would not have cared about the lives of the Egyptians. For this reason, the Imperial Suez Company did not dig fresh water canals, but drove more than 30,000 Egyptian slaves to carry water into the desert day and night for workers.

The governor of the canal, Zhang Fengai, had been supervising the work, and as the river official of the empire, Zhang Fengai attached more importance to the canal than even the emperor. As the key to open the door to Europe for the empire, the Suez Canal naturally attaches great importance to the empire, but Zhang Fengai attaches more importance to it for his political future, so he ordered the canal garrison to drive out more Egyptian slaves and dig the canal day and night.

At the same time, the empire, in the middle of the canal, under the pretext of housing canal workers, rebuilt a castle on the ruins of Ismailia.

However, the castle should not be built too ostentatiously to prevent the Turks from paying attention. As a result, Zhang Fengai caused some trouble for the Ottoman Turkish Empire in West Asia.

Lebanon in Western Asia has been very unstable since its Turkish occupation. After Zhang Fengai learned of this information, in order to buy time for the construction of the fortress, he proposed 500,000 silver dollars from the canal funds to support the independence of the Lebanese lord Fakhruuddin II.

In order to support the independence of Fakhruddin II, Zhang Fengai did not hesitate to take a big risk and smuggled a large number of artillery, muskets and related ammunition to Lebanon to arm the Lebanese Fire Ear Army.

The Lebanese Fire-Eared Army was founded in 1612 as a direct convoy under Fakhruddin II. From the very beginning, Fakhruuddin II had great ambitions, and he always pretended to be an obedient dog in front of the Turks, winning the favor of the Turkish Sultan, and then realizing his ideals little by little.

However, trade in the Mediterranean shifted to the Atlantic, Lebanon's economy was in decline, and Fakhruddin II was left alone in his quest to confront the Ottoman Empire. So he constantly asked for help from the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy Roman Empire, and apart from the Kingdom of Italy, which was willing to provide him with the necessary refuge, the Holy Roman Empire was fully committed to dealing with France, and had no time to care about him.

It is better to rely on people than on yourself, so Fakhruddin II pursued an advanced European policy within his domain. His borders are from Aleppo to the borders of Egypt. He hired many architects, engineers, and agricultural experts from Italy, and rewarded farmers with improved farming methods. Draining the swamps of the Bigar district was one of his plans. incentives for the planting of mulberry and olive trees to support silk production; Build roads, build bridges, develop foreign trade. Under his management, Beirut became a major port for domestic and foreign goods. In addition, he welcomed the arrival of many Christian missionaries, mainly French Catholic missionaries, who had established many centers in Beirut, Sidon, Tripoli, Aleppo, Damascus, and even in the Lebanese countryside. Fakhruddin confessed Islam before the Ottoman authorities and the Druze before his people, and he was so interested in Christianity that some say he was baptized. In his small kingdom, the Druze and Christians lived in harmony. His sympathy for Christianity once again turned the suspicious eyes of the Turkish sultan against him.

Suspected by the Turkish Sultan, Fakhruddin II had a headache, and when Fakhruddin II was worried about his great cause, Zhang Fengai reached out to him.

Whatever Zhang Fengai's intentions, Fakhruddin II expressed his gratitude and was willing to accept aid from the Chinese Empire.

In this way, Fakhruddin II's Fire-Eared Army quickly received weapons and equipment from the Chinese Empire, including hoplite cavalry armor, infantry spears, infantry muskets, and infantry artillery, and armed the Lebanese Fire-Eared Army to the teeth.

This Fakhruddin II also did not fail to live up to the imperial aid, and after he received this huge amount of aid, his ambitions could no longer be controlled, and he began to act three months later.

Under the operation of Fakhruddin II, and under the threat of the powerful attack of the Fire-Eared Army, he received the provinces of Beirut and Sidon from the "Exalted Majesty", the cities of Tripoli, Baalbek, and Bigar by force from his northern neighbors, and the submission of Safad, Tiberias, and Nazareth from his southern neighbors.

At the same time, Fakhruddin II joined forces with a number of feudal lords and vassal states of the Holy Roman Empire near the Mediterranean to fight against the Ottoman Empire.

As Fakhruddin II's movements became bigger and bigger, the Turkish sultan had to withdraw from the Russo-Turkish war in the north and solve the ** trouble behind it first.

With the signing of a treaty against the Ottoman Empire by Fakhruddin II and Grand Duke Ferdinand I of the Medici family of Tuscany, an Italian vassal state.

The Turkish Sultan was completely enraged and immediately sent a raiding party from Damascus and blockaded the Lebanese coast. However, the main Turkish forces were concentrated in the north and the Russian Empire was at war, and the southern forces involved in the attack on Lebanon were weak, and Latakia was routed by the Lebanese Fire-Ear Army three months later.

At this moment, the Turkish Sultan was angry, although the war in the north was important, but the location of Lebanon was very important, if Lebanon became independent, then the communication between the Turkish Empire and North Africa would be cut off, which was not allowed.

But the Russo-Turkish war was fierce, and the Turkish Empire could not allow it to be bullied by a newly rising Muscovy, so the troops in the north could not be transferred back for the time being. In the end, the Turkish Sultan decided to transfer troops from North Africa to suppress it. As a result, the Turkish army sent a large number of troops from Egypt and other places to Lebanon, so that the Chinese Empire had time to quickly build a fortress next to the Suez Canal in Egypt.

The Turkish Empire mobilized North African troops to Lebanon, but in the battle with Fakhruddin II's Fire-Eared Army, the Turkish army could not take advantage, and for a time the Lebanese battlefield fell into a stalemate, like the Russo-Turkish war in the north, this quagmire worried the Turkish Sultan.

As a result, the Turkish government negotiated with the Lebanese government, and Fakhruddin II, considering the strength of the Turkish Empire, finally chose to compromise with the Turkish government, and Lebanon became independent, but still attached to the Turkish Empire Federation. Lebanon was then capitalized at Deir-Kamal.

Subsequently, in order to win over him, the Turkish government granted him the districts of Ajren and Nablus, and in the sixth year of Shenwu, he granted him the title of monarch of Arabia. And he himself called himself the emir of the mountain nations of Lebanon, Sidon and Galilee.

Although the two sides called off the war and ceased fighting, both sides knew that a major war was inevitable. The Lebanese government needed further help from the Chinese Imperial Government, including substantial military and economic aid.

At this time, the central government of the Chinese Empire had received a request from Zhang Fengai, the governor of the Suez River, and the imperial cabinet then approved Zhang Fengai's request, in order to protect the absolute interests of the empire in the Suez Canal, the imperial government decided to secretly support the independence of Lebanon, contain the military power of the Turkish Empire, and make the fortress controlling the Suez Canal safely completed.

In the sixth year of Shenwu, the central budget of the empire allocated an additional 3 million silver dollars to the Suez Canal Company, authorizing Zhang Fengai to take full charge of North African affairs.

The Ottoman Turkish Empire's compromise with Lebanon was only a stopgap measure, as Turkey prepared to withdraw from the battlefield in Ukraine and end its war with Russia. Thus, the offensive of the Turkish army weakened and withdrew from part of the occupied Ukrainian territory. However, the newborn calves of the Russian Empire were not afraid of tigers, and seemed to be unappreciative, pressing step by step. This made the Turkish Empire very embarrassed, so it had to continue the war. In this way, Lebanon had enough time to prepare for war, and the strategic deployment of the Chinese Empire in Egypt could be carried out safely and smoothly.

However, the arrogant Fakhruddin II took the words of Doroha, a feudal lord who had just submitted to him, and transferred the capital's troops to the periphery of Lebanon, leaving the capital defenses empty. This feudal lord, Doroha, secretly surrendered to the Turkish Sultan Murad IV and helped the Turks capture Fakhruddin II.

In the autumn of the sixth year of Shenwu, an army secretly sent by Sultan Murad IV from Damascus marched to Lebanon again. Under Doroha's passive resistance, the Turkish army approached the capital city lightly, as if in a no-man's land.

After a little resistance, Fakhruddin II fled to a cave near Chajing, where the Fire-Eared army was leaderless and annihilated by Doroha's plot. Half a year later, Fakhruddin II was discovered, and he was chained by the Turks and escorted to Constantinople. There, he was beheaded along with his sons, and his body was thrown in front of a mosque for three days.

After the death of Fakhruddin II, the cause he valued and worked for, namely the pursuit of an independent and greater Lebanon, was succeeded by another feudal monarch, Beshir Shehab II, but the Lebanese resistance was far less than before, and Fakhruddin II's efforts were in vain.

The Ottoman Empire seized a large number of weapons, most of which were verified to be from the Chinese Empire. In response, the Ottoman Turkish Empire protested to the Chinese Empire. However, the Ministry of Rites of the Chinese Empire resolutely refused to admit it, saying that these weapons and equipment had long been eliminated by the imperial army and were scattered all over the world. Although the Turkish Sultan did not believe the reply of the Chinese Empire, he did not want to make enemies with the Chinese Empire because the north was mired in a fierce war with the Russian Empire and could not extricate himself. However, the Turks withdrew their North African forces and camped in Cairo, eyeing the Suez Canal, which would be open to the Chinese Empire.

However, when the Turkish Sultan paid attention to the Suez Canal again, he suddenly got very bad news, that is, the Chinese Empire had completed the construction of the Ismailia fortress in the middle of the Suez Canal and stationed heavy troops to protect it.

The Chinese Empire unknowingly built a strong fortress on the ruins of Ismailia, and stationed more than 20,000 troops, as well as a large number of artillery for defense, which is undoubtedly equivalent to nailing a big nail in the Turkish territory, like a slump in the throat, which made the Turkish Sultan furious, fiercely reprimanded a large number of relevant officials, and prepared to start a war against the Chinese Empire in advance.

However, the roof leak happened to rain overnight.

Just as the Turkish Sultan Murad IV was preparing to go to war against China and seize the fortress of Ismailia and the canal, the Turkish court changed dramatically, Murad IV died violently, and his son Ibrahim I ascended the throne, but the Empress Dowager Hattijie ruled the throne.

Since then, Turkey has entered a feminist era for a long time, and after Hattijie came to power, it was urgent to stabilize the domestic political situation and fight the opposition, so the Turkish Empire gave up the idea of starting a war against China, and most of the Turkish army turned to suppress the domestic opposition and became the ruling tool of Hattijie.

However, the palace coup d'état of the Turkish Empire gave the surrounding countries time to breathe. While strengthening the fortified defense system and strengthening the control of the Suez Canal, the Chinese Empire continued to make trouble for the Turkish Empire by other means.

In the spring of the sixth year of Shenwu, the envoy of the Chinese Empire went to Moscow, the capital of the Russian Empire, to visit the Russian Tsar Mikhail I.

The purpose of the Chinese Empire was to unite the Russian Empire and jointly wage war against the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

Of course, the greatest motive of the Chinese Empire was to cheer up the Russian Empire and allow Mikhail I to invade the Turkish Empire in a big way.

The Russian Empire asked for an alliance with the Chinese Empire, to which Deng Haonan, the Shenwu Emperor of the Chinese Empire, immediately agreed to the other party's request. After the alliance, the Chinese Empire and the Russian Empire promised that neither side would send troops to the Western Regions countries, and that the Western Regions countries would be used as military buffer zones between the two countries, so that the two countries would not have direct territorial disputes and would prevent the destruction of the alliance.

The strategic purpose of the Chinese Empire was to open up the Suez Canal, and at least control the Suez Canal, and control of Egypt and North Africa was a secondary purpose. The Russian Empire also put forward a clear strategic goal, that is, to open up the southern outlet to the sea, occupy the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, open Constantinople, and enter the Mediterranean.

The ambitions of the Russian Empire were very large, but the Chinese Empire, instead of opposing the ambitions of the other side, said that the Empire would not cross the Aral Sea into the Caspian Sea, recognizing the vested interests of the Russian Empire.

Negotiations with the Russian Empire were lengthy, with thousands of miles between the capitals of the two countries, and the exchange of letters between the envoys of the two countries was delayed for more than a year. Although liaison and negotiations began in the third year of Shenwu, it was not until the sixth year of Shenwu that the two sides generally reached an agreement, and the Chinese Empire gave up a considerable number of interests in order to facilitate the Russian Empire to launch a full-scale war against the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

In March of the sixth year of Shenwu, the latest news from Moscow indicated that the Russian Empire had finalized the final alliance plan, and the envoy in Russia sent the contents of the treaty back to Beijing.

In the imperial study, Deng Haonan read the draft of the contract and asked Qian Qianyi.

"Do you have any opinion from the Cabinet?"

"Emperor Qi" Qian Qianyi replied: "Wechen and several other cabinet ministers discussed it, and thought that the empire only sought one place in Egypt, but gave up westward expansion, and suffered a little. On the contrary, after the alliance, the Russian Empire could move south, occupy the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, and even eventually the Mediterranean, and most of the territory of the Ottoman Turkish Empire was occupied by them, which was a big advantage."

Deng Haonan smiled faintly and replied, "Do you really think that the Russian Empire has taken advantage?" ”

Qian Qianyi was stunned for a moment, and asked puzzledly: "Does the emperor still think that we have taken advantage?" This is clearly the Russian Empire taking advantage."

Qian Qianyi pointed to the map and said: "Your Majesty, please see, once the empire agrees to turn the Western Regions into a military buffer zone, then the pace of the empire's westward expansion will stop, and it will not be able to cross the Western Regions countries to attack the Turkish Empire." Wouldn't the vast territory of the Turkish Empire be taken only by the Russian Empire? ”

Deng Haonan smiled, stopped Qian Qianyi's words, and said, "What you see now is only a superficial phenomenon. The population of the Russian Empire was only 3 million, while the population of the Ottoman Empire was more than 20 million, more than seven times that of the Russian Empire. So how easy was it for the Russian Empire to swallow up the Ottoman Empire? ”

Qian Qianyi seemed to have realized something: "The emperor means"

"An alliance with the Russian Empire is nothing more than a guts to give them the courage to give Mikhail I a pretext to continue the war against Turkey"

Deng Haonan snorted coldly and said: "Not to mention a Russian Empire, even if all European countries unite, it will be very difficult to conquer the Ottoman Empire, and our alliance with Russia is just for the Ottoman Empire to vent its anger on the Slavs." Let's ask, we don't share a border with the Turkish Empire on land, and the Turks will not use their main forces against us, and their anger must be vented on the Slavs. ”

Use the Russian Empire as a gunman, let the Russian Empire drag down the energy of the Turkish Empire, then the Chinese Empire can open Europe from the sea, occupy Egypt, and even North Africa.

Qian Qianyi understood a little and asked: "What does the emperor mean is that the real intention of the alliance with the Russian Empire is to use the Russian Empire as a gunman, so that they can fight Turkey to the death, and then the empire can take the opportunity to occupy Egypt and North Africa?" ”

"That's right" Deng Haonan nodded and said: "Anyway, now that the two countries have fought inextricably, and Liangzi has been concluded, we will fan the flames for them again and let them fight more fiercely."

Deng Haonan thought about it again in his heart, the Russian-Turkish war was fought dozens of times, and the large-scale battles were fought more than a dozen times, until the fall of the Russian Empire, the two sides fought for more than 200 years, almost every day, and a medium-sized war every three or five years, and a large-scale battle for more than ten years. The war between them was longer and more brutal than the Hundred Years' War between England and France.

Deng Haonan did not want the Russo-Turkish war to become a protracted war of the century, because it would be too long and would hinder the colonial expansion process of the empire. However, the empire did not yet have the basis for a full-scale war with a land power like the Ottoman Turkish Empire on land, and the most prominent representative was the other side's star-shaped fortresses, and the empire had not yet studied an effective way to restrain it.

The starting point of Deng Haonan's colonial war was to carry out colonial plunder, to carry out primitive capital accumulation for the empire, so that the empire would always be at the forefront of the world in the future development.

If the money lost in the colonial war is more than the plunder, then it will be meaningless for Deng Haonan to start a colonial war.

Deng Haonan didn't want to be dragged into the quagmire of war by a powerful country, so he would change his way and borrow the hands of other countries to accomplish his goal.

Russia is the pawn used by the empire to contain and consume the Ottoman Turkish Empire, these two countries, one is a super land power that is going downhill, and the other is the Russian Empire that is in the rising stage and will become the gendarme of Europe in the future.

At this time, in Deng Haonan's heart, he calculated all the enemies that he would encounter in the colonial war. At sea, Britain, France and the Netherlands were listed as the main potential enemies at sea, and for this reason, Deng Haonan developed a series of strategies and tactics against them. The land power was second to none the Ottoman Turkish Empire, followed by the Spanish Empire, and again France. However, soon Spain will be replaced by France in fourth place. And the third belonged to the rising Russian Empire.

Qian Qianyi understood what Deng Haonan meant, and then he suddenly realized, and said happily: "The emperor Shengming, this plan of killing two birds with one stone is really clever"

Deng Haonan nodded and said, "Don't look at the Turkish Empire now has no former glory, but the emaciated camel is bigger than a horse, the other side has a population of more than 20 million, and the war potential is quite huge." If no one tries to test the war potential of the Turkish Empire, the Empire will intervene rashly, and the gains outweigh the losses."

Qian Qianyi understood what Deng Haonan meant, the Russian Empire was used by the empire to test the war potential of the Turkish Empire. Only by knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent can one survive a hundred battles.

"Then Weichen will reply to the envoy of the Russian Empire"

Qian Qianyi then approached the Russian envoy to China, and the two sides drew up two alliance treaties, one in Chinese and the other in Russian.

The next day, after the cabinet verified that the contents of the contract were correct, it was sent to the imperial study room for Deng Haonan to sign and seal for effect. Then, the Ministry of Rites of the Chinese Empire sent an envoy to return to Moscow with the envoy of the Russian Empire to get the Russian Empire Tsar to sign, and the Sino-Russian Allied State would be formally established and take effect after the exchange of contracts between the two sides.

According to the terms of the treaty, the Chinese Empire and the Russian Empire renounced their suzerainty over the Western Regions states bordering the two countries, and maintained the independence of the Western Regions states and strictly maintained a neutral posture. After the two countries conclude an alliance, they will respect and recognize each other's vested interests of the allies. To maintain military mutual trust and economic and trade exchanges, the two sides officially dispatched ambassadors and established diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level.

The annex stipulates a series of military, political, economic, and religious details of the two sides. The focus is on military secrecy. The Russian Empire and the Chinese Empire were to fight jointly against the Ottoman Turkish Empire, with the Russian Empire attacking from land and the Chinese Empire attacking from the sea. The two sides flanked the Turkish Empire in the north and south. E