Chapter 445: Charging (2)

The Dutch groveling disappointed the European countries, and the strength of the Chinese Empire once again made the European countries jealous.

France's strong rise after the war made it the backbone of Europe, but the young king of France, whose power was divided between the cardinal and the prime minister, made it impossible for the two major groups of France to work together to resist the infiltration of the Chinese Empire.

France has never openly supported the Netherlands, and at the meeting of the four allies, the French representative chose to acquiesce, which greatly disappointed the EU countries and dealt a big blow to the EU's momentum.

However, on the issue of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, France took a tough line. French Prime Minister Richelieu demanded that the Chinese Empire contain Turkey and cooperate with the European crusade in terms of national interests. The French cardinals, on the other hand, were at the heart of Catholicism and insisted on expanding the gains of the Crusades. Therefore, the unprecedented unity of the two major political groups in France put great political pressure on the Chinese Empire.

Although the secret armistice agreement between the Chinese Empire and the Ottoman Turkish Empire has not yet been exposed, the actual ceasefire between the two countries in the Sinai Peninsula is well known and cannot be concealed for long.

France's concessions on the Dutch question were not unconditional, and the recognition of the Chinese Empire's occupation of the Dutch East Indies and the absolute hegemony of the Pacific Rim in Asia required an exchange of political interests.

In September of the 17th year of Shenwu, the French cardinal's envoy, Archbishop Paterlai, visited the Chinese Empire on behalf of the French government.

Deng Haonan knew that if he did not agree to France's demands, it was likely that the European Union would unite against the Chinese Empire. At present, the main forces of the Dutch Navy are not damaged in the slightest, and the construction of its large combat ships is nearing completion, and it is not far from service.

According to the Military Intelligence Agency's reconnaissance of the Netherlands, the Dutch Navy has been enduring humiliation and waiting for the moment to retaliate against the British Navy and the Imperial Chinese Navy.

The Netherlands' shipbuilding capabilities at sea have always been feared by the Chinese Empire, and for the Netherlands, which once dominated the world in history, Deng Haonan decided to defeat it while it had not yet reached its peak.

France grew stronger on the European continent, and Deng Haonan knew that within ten years, France would become a formidable enemy of the Chinese Empire. But at present, the Netherlands is the number one enemy that threatens the Chinese Empire, followed by France, so it is necessary to deal with the Netherlands first.

Deng Haonan gave a positive answer to Pater's concerns, saying that he would comprehensively strengthen the alliance with France, and informed the first and auxiliary minister of the cabinet, Gu Mingzhe, to communicate with Pat in detail.

Gu Mingzhe quickly convened a cabinet meeting to discuss the details of the strategic transaction with France, and listened to the opinions of Lin Feng, the secretary of the Ministry of War.

Lin Feng said that the imperial military had a strong war potential, and the clapper said that there was no problem with the navy, land and air forces.

In this way, Gu Mingzhe had the bottom of his heart, and he made an appointment to talk with the French envoy Pat.

In mid-November, China and France held separate closed-door meetings, bypassing the framework of the allies and the European Union.

The meeting held a series of negotiations, which lasted for six months, and finally reached a consensus between the two countries on May 7, the 18th year of Shenwu.

Negotiations between the major powers naturally came at the expense of the interests of smaller countries, and France eventually gave up its support for the Netherlands, remained neutral in a possible future Anglo-Dutch war or Sino-Dutch war, and strictly restrained French arms dealers from making underground arms deals with the Dutch military. As compensation to France, the Chinese Empire promised to mobilize for war in the next three months and restore the state of war against the Turkish Empire. At the same time, support France as the hegemon of Europe and put an end to the dumping of goods to France.

The two sides also exchanged views on the issue of the American colonies. Since the Chinese Empire occupied most of the American continent, the French colonists had only a few scattered colonies along the eastern coast of North America. Since both sides were opening up colonies in the Americas, it was inevitable that there would be some friction at the border. In this regard, both China and France have said that they will control the scale of the friction and leave it to diplomacy as much as possible.

The French colonial expansion was just beginning, and the French originally occupied vast areas such as Canada and the Louisiana prairies in the central United States, but now most of these lands are occupied by the Chinese Empire, except for Canada's near the Arctic. It was impossible to survive there during the Xiaoice era, so France had no interest, but occupied a few colonies along the eastern seaboard that should have been British.

For the time being, there was no strong dispute of interests between China and France, and the joint interests of the two countries outweighed the antagonistic interests, so the two countries concluded a secret agreement in Beijing by no means.

The French Archbishop Pater, who stayed in the Chinese Empire for more than a year and a half, immediately attracted the attention of other countries. Naturally, the British always maintained a comprehensive alliance with the Chinese Empire, so after learning of the inside information, King Charles I of England knew that the Chinese Empire intended to prepare for war against the Netherlands, so he actively prepared for war and was ready to get a piece of the pie.

In the north, the Russian Empire was cooperating with the Spanish Empire, the vassal states of the Holy Roman Empire, and the French army to wage a full-scale war against the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, who had just ascended to the throne as tsar a few years earlier, had to go all out to the war against Turkey in order to consolidate his position as tsar.

Now that Tsarist Russia has invaded a large area of northern Turkey, his strategic goal has been achieved, so if he wants to end the Russo-Turkish war, he must first recover his vitality.

However, the Chinese Empire's control of the Western Regions caused alarm among the Tsar. The reason why there was no direct military conflict between the Chinese Empire and the Russian Empire was due to the demarcation of a neutral buffer zone between the two countries, the Western Regions. Nowadays, the Chinese Empire has influenced the countries of the Western Regions in all aspects, regardless of politics, economy, military, and culture, and the countries of the Western Regions have fallen to the Chinese Empire.

The balance was tilting, the buffer zone between China and Russia was disappearing, so the Russian government had to put defense against a possible military invasion of the Chinese Empire on the agenda.

In terms of the national strength of Tsarist Russia, it could not stand alone against the Chinese Empire. After years of rapid development, the Chinese Empire has the financial resources to fight a number of high-intensity local wars at the same time, and can support any protracted all-out war, and its huge population and advanced military strength are undoubtedly the decisive weight for the final victory.

As a result, Tsarist Russia had to turn to France and unite Spain and the Catholic vassal states against the influence of the Chinese Empire.

However, the French archbishop had stayed in the Chinese Empire for more than a year and a half, and the Russian embassy in China had already determined that France had reached some unknown agreement with the Chinese Empire.

France and Tsarist Russia had a common interest in dealing with the Ottoman Turkish Empire, but that was not their main interest. The French Cabinet had little real national interest in the Second Crusade, because France and Turkey did not share a border. France sent troops purely for the sake of the French cardinals, purely for the sake of religious wars.

On this point, the French cabinet and the cardinals are actually divided. Therefore, the French side merely informed the Tsarist government that France had persuaded the Chinese Empire to resume war against the Turkish Empire. France did not disclose any other details of the exchange of benefits.

Although Tsarist Russia knew that there must be a problem between China and France, it was also very happy to learn that the Chinese Empire had resumed its state of war against Turkey. If the Chinese Empire launched a war in the Sinai Peninsula, it would not only contain the Turkish army on land, but also relieve the pressure of Tsarist Russia's offensive in the north. Moreover, if the Mediterranean fleet of the Chinese Empire smashed directly into the Aegean Sea and stormed Constantinople, it would cause panic in the Turkish Empire, and even force the Turkish Empire to surrender and end the war early.

In that case, the Russian army could drive directly to the Black Sea and open up the southern outlet to the sea, which was extremely important to the national interests of Tsarist Russia.

Therefore, Tsarist Russia temporarily shelved the contradictions in the Western Regions and instead urged the Chinese Empire to complete its preparations for war as much as possible.

In September of the 18th year of Shenwu, the Chinese Empire was completed more than a month later than the agreed three-month war preparation time.

The Imperial Army of the Chinese Empire mobilized five integrated divisions and transported them by sea to the Egyptian colony in preparation for war against the Turkish Empire.

Although the Chinese Empire agreed to France's request to send troops, it has been grinding. The Egyptian garrison had been stationed in the Sinai Peninsula on the grounds that they were moving while reinforcements arrived. The five reorganized divisions that set out from the mainland walked for more than half a year, and arrived in the Egyptian colony at the beginning of June of the 19th year of Shenwu, rested for another month, and did not begin to move to the front line until July.

For up to a year, the Ottoman Empire was deliberately given time to prepare for the return of troops from the northern and western fronts to the southern front.

In August of the 19th year of Shenwu, the Royal Army of the Chinese Empire mobilized seven integrated infantry divisions, one integrated cavalry division, and 500 artillery pieces to storm the fortified area of Karaxia defended by the Turkish army, and occupied Karaxia before dawn the next day.

The Turkish army was defeated and chose to retreat on its own initiative. It happened that at this time, the rainy season and flood season came, the river water swelled, and the Chinese Imperial Army chose to stop advancing.

In fact, this was all deliberately designed by the military top brass of the Chinese Empire, otherwise how could time be so coincidental? The military believed that the main focus of the Chinese Empire at the moment should be on the Netherlands, so the Army would not overstimulate the Turkish Empire and allow other countries to take advantage of it. The Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet even withdrew after a circle in the Sea of Love, claiming that it could not get close to Constantinople.

In accordance with the special instructions of Emperor Shenwu, the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire began to strengthen the forces of the Atlantic Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet to deal with the increasingly powerful Dutch Navy.

After about eight years of naval arms race, the main fleet of the Dutch Navy was formed in the summer of Shenwu 18, and the Dutch Invincible Armada was formally established in July of 19.

After the completion of the Invincible Armada, the main force of the Dutch Navy had 20 first-class battleships, 22 second-class battleships, and 88 fourth-class battleships, making it the strongest navy in Europe.

The main force of the adjacent British Royal Navy consisted of only eight first-class battleships, two second-class battleships, and sixty-two old fourth-class battleships, which were far inferior to the Dutch Navy.

Similarly, although the French Navy also participated in the arms race, it was slow to build French warships and had few in number. By the end of Shenwu's 19th year, the French main fleet had six first-class battleships, four old second-class battleships, and twenty-two quasi-fourth-class battleships.

The strength of the Dutch navy is not only in the main warships, but also in the inferior ships. Because the Netherlands used to build its navy with a preference for building medium-sized cruisers and frigates, the Dutch navy had more than twice as many cruisers and frigates as Britain and France combined. Therefore, if another naval battle broke out, the British navy realized that it was possible to defeat the Dutch navy. History also confirms this, except that the Dutch navy is now much stronger, directly following the imperial Chinese navy.

In order to balance the strong military pressure of the Dutch Navy, the British Royal Navy could no longer bear it, and the tunnel asked the Imperial Chinese Navy to come to help.

In March of the 20th year of Shenwu, the Royal Navy Fleet Command of the Chinese Empire transferred new warships and elite naval units from the Home Fleet, the Pacific Fleet, and the Indian Ocean Fleet to support the Atlantic Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet.

By the end of the 20th year of Shenwu, the Mediterranean Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy had 10 first-class Tianqiong-class battleships, 20 Tornado-class second-class battleships, 30 Beiyun-class fourth-class battleships, and more than 100 other cruisers and frigates, stationed in Port Said. The Atlantic Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy has 10 first-class Tianqiong-class battleships, 10 Xiangying-class steel-hulled battleships, 20 Sea-Lion-class third-class battleships, and more than 70 cruisers and frigates. Stationed at the British military port of Portsmouth, and opposite the military port of the Chinese Newport Island.

In order to deter the Dutch Navy, the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire and the British Royal Navy often conducted joint exercises, conducting shooting drills in the North Sea, in the English Channel, and even in the Hader Sea off the doorstep of the Dutch Republic.

The Dutch Navy was obviously inferior to the number of capital ships of the Combined Fleet of the Chinese Empire and the United Kingdom in terms of the number of capital warships, but the Netherlands had an incomparably large number of cruisers and frigates. In the waters near the Netherlands, the water depth is generally shallow, making it unsuitable for large warships. In this way, as long as the Dutch navy controls the areas of war, it can be invincible.

Although the real purpose of the Chinese Imperial Government was to destroy the Dutch navy, it was also in line with the strategic purpose of taking the opportunity to deplete the British navy. Similarly, the British Navy also had its own calculations, that is, the best outcome would be for the Imperial Chinese Navy and the Dutch Navy to fight to the death, so that the British Navy could take over the dominance of Europe from the Chinese and Dutch navies.

As a result, there have always been differences in the command of the Sino-British Combined Fleet. The British Royal Navy refused to hand over command to the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire, and demanded that both sides fight in command. Both sides want to consume each other, and the combined fleet of tunnels has become a situation of 1+1 less than 2. A