Chapter 446 The dry policy towards Europe thunders and does not rain

The 15th day of the seventh month of the 20th year of Shenwu, that is, August 16, 1650, was a day that had a great impact on the pattern of Europe in the next half century, and the whole European countries could not forget it.

On this day, the General Staff Headquarters of the Chinese Imperial Expeditionary Force was established, stationed at the White Military Base in the White Island Special Administrative Region of the Chinese Isle of Wight, opposite the military port of Portsmouth on the British island of Great Britain.

The General Staff Headquarters of the Chinese Imperial Expeditionary Force had strong powers, and Emperor Deng Haonan of Shenwu specially approved the special bill on the delay of war submitted by the cabinet. The bill was originally submitted by the overseas colonies of the Chinese Empire on the right to authorize the authorities of the colonies of the Chinese Empire to deal with disputes over sudden international affairs.

Since the vast colonies of the Chinese Empire were spread all over the world, disputes between the colonial government and foreign countries had to be reported and approved to the central government of the Chinese Empire, i.e., the Emperor and the Cabinet. Because many colonies were far from the mainland, it often took months or even more than half a year for a letter to be delivered to Beijing. If there were any delays, delays in the Cabinet, endless debates in the House of Commons, and undecidedness of the Emperor's decision, the formal approval of the Folds would have to wait for a year and a half before being sent back to the colonial authorities, a delay of up to two and a half years.

In this regard, many colonial authorities were quite slow in dealing with problems with efficiency, and many small problems became major problems because of delays. In particular, when there was a conflict between the colonial authorities and the surrounding foreign colonists, because the colonies did not have the right to deal with foreign affairs, the cucumbers and vegetables were cold when the central government approved them.

Therefore, after discussion by the Cabinet, it was finally imitated by the British and Dutch governments that a part of the power was delegated to the colonial authorities, that is, charters were issued, allowing the colonial authorities the right to declare war, armistice, conclude treaties, etc. However, in order to prevent the colonial authorities from escaping themselves from the control of the central government, the Imperial Cabinet issued charters for a limited period of time and were linked to the term of office of the colonial governor. Each colonial governor had the right to apply for a charter, but the length of the charter was tied to the governor's performance and loyalty to the court. The duration of the charter with a high loyalty will follow his tenure, and the duration of the charter with a high loyalty will decrease gradually. In this way, the time-limited charter constrained the expansion of the power of the colonial governors, and served as a consolidation for the Chinese Empire's long-term control of the colonies.

The colonies were granted charters, and international disputes arose. The strength of the Chinese Empire directly influenced the attitude of the colonial governors towards the outside world, and the attitude of each colonial governor and the government was quite arrogant. As a result, friction and disputes around the colonies were rising year by year, and many colonial authorities even directly provoked wars.

For example, within the framework of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Mughal Colonial Governorate of the Chinese Empire suddenly launched a war against the Albert feudal Dominion in the south in the summer of the 19th year of Shenwu, occupied Albert by force, and expanded the colonial territory to the southwest coast of the Bay of Bengal.

Since the Chinese Empire's dispatch troops stationed in the Indian subcontinent were not under the jurisdiction of the Mughal Colonial Governorate, when the Mughal Colonial Governorate declared war on the Albert Dominion, the Dispatch Command did not know what to do for a while. The regulations of the Imperial Chinese Army were so strict that foreign warfare operations had to be ordered by the Imperial Military Department.

As a result, the joke came out. When the Mughal governor declared war on the Albert Dominion, the Indian troops of the Chinese Empire did not move. The member states of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were very panicked for a while, and when they saw that the Royal Army of the Chinese Empire had not moved, they ridiculed the Mughal Governor's Office for scaring people, making the Governor's Palace very faceless in front of the people.

Eventually, the Mughal Governor's House was unanimously attacked by the local population, and the pressure was forced to send the colonial National Guard and gendarmerie, as well as the local police force, to attack Albert.

According to the Supreme Constitution of the Chinese Empire, the National Guard has no right to war against the other side, but only a territorial defense force. Now in the Mughals, the National Guard is waging war instead of the army, which will make the imperial government quite angry.

In order to prevent the National Guard from leaving the country to fight, the Indian Dispatch Army Command of the Chinese Empire had no choice but to send a combat request to the military headquarters. However, the military department may not approve the round trip for at least half a year, so the dispatch army command has no choice but to disobey the order to prevent the National Guard from leaving the country to fight, and the lesser of two evils.

When the news reached Beijing, the imperial government was equally shocked and outraged. The Mughal colonial governor and the commander of the Indian Troop were both removed, but the problem was not resolved. The two of them are just behind the blame, and the next one will also be forced to make the same mistake under the pressure of the local people.

As a result, the military department filed a request for a military charter under the colonial charter. At the request of the military, Imperial troops stationed overseas would be granted charters allowing them to cooperate with the local colonial governor's office to go to war or armistice.

However, the cabinet has been slow to take a position on this issue, citing the sensitivity of issuing concessions to the military and fearing that it will affect national security.

In the end, after more than a year of delay, the emperor finally issued a charter authorizing the overseas garrison to decide whether or not to cooperate with the decision of the local colonial governor's office and allow the so-called special bill for the delay of war, on the grounds that the general did not accept the foreign military order.

With the special authorization of the Act, the colonial authorities of the Chinese Empire could work closely with the local garrisons to actively expand the colonial territory and sphere of influence of the Empire, making the Chinese Empire even stronger.

Every bill of the Chinese Empire touched the nerves of all countries in the world, especially the promulgation of the charter and the special war postponement notification bill, which directly hit their hearts.

In contrast, the central government of the Chinese Empire did not know much about the local situation on the colonial issue, and its judgment was not accurate, and it often let other countries take advantage of it in the game. Now that these problems are dealt with by the local government, the local colonial government has stronger ambitions for expansion than the central government, which will make other nearby forces uncomfortable, and it will be difficult to take advantage of it again.

Of course, the colonies of the Chinese Empire were largely far away from Europe, so the colonies did not conflict with most European countries.

But when the Chinese Empire set up the Expeditionary Force General Staff Headquarters on the Isle of Wight, the nations of Europe were terrified because they were lying on the side of the couch with a tiger that could jump up and bite at any moment.

For the Netherlands, the Chinese Empire seemed to be eyeing their country, and every move in Europe was aimed at their country, so that their navy and army were waiting for each day.

The military observers in Europe were limited by the backwardness of communications in this era, and could not know as much about the future development of the Netherlands as Deng Haonan, so they did not understand why the Chinese Empire let other weak countries in Europe bully the powerful Netherlands instead of bullying them

In the First Anglo-Dutch War, Britain listened to the blockade tactics adopted by the Chinese Empire against the Netherlands, so that its weak navy defeated the strong Dutch navy, and shared a considerable share of the war benefits.

Now that the Chinese Empire is once again preparing to use force against the Netherlands, Britain will naturally not give up this opportunity to take advantage of the fire and take a piece of the pie.

However, is this really the case? The Second Anglo-Dutch War, which broke out on May 6, 1653, left European dignitaries and military experts dumbfounded.

With the establishment of the General Staff Headquarters of the Chinese Imperial Expeditionary Force, the Chinese Empire strengthened its military power in Europe, the Army added two integrated infantry divisions to the Isle of Wight, and the Air Force sent six flying squadrons of 36 search airships and a large number of reconnaissance hot air balloons. The Navy was the most powerful, expanding the Isle of Wight Naval Base as the base of the Royal Chinese Navy's Atlantic Fleet, and occupying a considerable piece of land near the Royal Navy's Portsmouth Military Harbour as a backup naval base, which was convenient for the Royal Chinese Navy's Mediterranean Fleet to temporarily anchor.

Although the British Navy protested, the politicians in London chose to acquiesce, because they were hoping for a war between the Chinese Empire and the Netherlands.

The Netherlands were extremely nervous, because in the eyes of the Dutch government, the actions of the Chinese Empire were directed at the Netherlands, as the outside world speculated. To this end, the Dutch government spent a huge amount of money to build a 70-kilometer-long land defense and coastal fortress defense system around the Dutch lowlands, and deployed more than 1,000 Westminster modified fortress guns. (Historically, the Netherlands built this fortress system to protect against a powerful French invasion, but it was destroyed by the French before it was built.) ）

This military defense system was highly targeted, and it was designed to prevent the Imperial Chinese Navy and Army from attacking the Netherlands mainland. Of course, in order to deal with the airships of the Chinese Empire's air force, the Dutch government also spent huge sums of money on the development of airships. However, due to the backwardness of European chemical technology, the Chinese Empire's extreme secrecy about the industrial production of hydrogen made it impossible for the Dutch authorities to obtain the real gas filling of the airship and thus to build the airship. Still, the principle of hot air balloons is difficult for Dutch experts. Soon, the Dutch experimented and lifted into the air to detect hot air balloons.

However, the Dutch's hot air balloons were never comparable to the airships of the Chinese Empire. Therefore, the Dutch Army spent money on the development of large-caliber anti-aircraft muskets, which had an anti-aircraft range of up to 1,000 meters, forcing the Chinese Imperial airships to be unable to carry out bombing operations in airspace below 1,000 meters. However, the accuracy of bombs dropped above 500 meters is very low, and after more than 1,000 meters, the error is too large, and it is basically difficult to hit the target.

The Dutch government spent huge sums of money to develop defensive weapons against the military invasion of the Chinese Empire, and the Dutch finances, which had been heavily indebted by the dumping actions of the Chinese Empire, were already in dire straits, and the high level of debt more than tripled its fiscal deficit.

The Netherlands first spent a huge amount of money to carry out a naval arms race with the Chinese Empire, and the losses of the first Anglo-Dutch War had not been made up for and the Chinese Empire's commodity dumping countries suffered heavy economic losses, and then in order to prevent the possible military invasion of the Chinese Empire, the Netherlands built a sea and land fortress defense system, after these money was spent, the Netherlands' financial resources have bottomed out, and the annual maintenance cost of a strong navy is equivalent to the national income of a medium-sized country, and the weak comparison is not much better than the Russian Empire.

The smell of gunpowder in China and the Netherlands had permeated the whole of Europe, and everyone thought that the Chinese Empire would soon go to war with the Netherlands, and it would be a terrible war. But to everyone's surprise, although there were tensions between the Chinese Empire and the Netherlands, they were slow to exercise restraint and never fight.

China and the Netherlands were tense for several years and did not go to war, which caused two countries, one Britain and the other France.

Britain was anxious, because Britain had also spent a lot of money on military affairs, greatly building naval warships, and preparing to get a piece of the pie in the Sino-Dutch war. If China and the Netherlands do not go to war, then the British money will be wasted. Not only that, but the annual maintenance cost of the navy built with huge funds is simply not something that the feudal government of Charlie can support. The longer it drags on, the greater the loss of vitality in Britain.

The French are in a hurry, except that France also has a large navy to raise, France and the Netherlands are next to each other. The Dutch excuse for building a strong defense system of sea and land fortresses was against the Chinese Empire, but if the two countries did not fight, then this fortress defense system would only be against France. The strong Dutch navy has made France fearful, and now if the Netherlands is built into a turtle shell on land, it will be a challenge to the French army, and it will be a threat to France's security.

Compared to the threat of the Chinese Empire, the threat of the Netherlands has become an after-dinner topic for the French military at this moment.

The Chinese Empire was slow to use force against the Netherlands on the grounds that the Sino-British Combined Fleet had strict internal contradictions and the British Navy refused to hand over the command of the Chinese Imperial Navy.

In response, the British government, which had endured for a year, finally agreed to place the British Royal Navy under the command of the Imperial Chinese Navy in wartime. However, the Chinese Empire changed its mind, saying that the war in West Asia was tight, that the Chinese Empire did not have enough troops to fight the Ottoman Turkish Empire in the Sinai Peninsula, and that the Persian and Afghan provocations in the Indian subcontinent had caused the war to resume and that conscription was needed. As a result, all two integrated infantry divisions stationed on the Isle of Wight were transferred to West Asia. And the Russian Empire has always protested that the Chinese Imperial Navy did not attack Constantinople and did not attack the Turkish Navy, but stayed in the North Sea to eat leisurely. In response, the Chinese Empire quickly transferred the Atlantic Fleet to the Mediterranean Sea to engage in the Aegean Sea engagement.

After the transfer of the Imperial Navy and Army of the Chinese Empire, the British side was dumbfounded, so it seems that by the end of the war against the Turkish Empire, the British finances had collapsed.

The British could not afford to delay, so Charles I sent a note to the ambassador of the Chinese Empire to Britain to inquire about the relationship between the Sino-British military alliance. The Chinese Empire said that the alliance between the two sides was very close.

When Charles I asked if Britain would stand by if Britain went to war with the Netherlands, the Chinese Empire actively said that it would not stand by and let Charles I rest assured.

Charles I, encouraged by the Chinese Empire, decided to go to war against the Netherlands.

Thus, on May 5, 1653, the main fleet of the British Royal Navy attacked Dutch fishing ships in the North Sea, and exchanged fire with Dutch warships patrolling nearby, sinking two Dutch cruisers on the spot. The Dutch sent a note to the ambassador of the Chinese Empire to the Netherlands, asking if the Chinese Empire would help the shameless British, but the Chinese ambassador hinted that the Chinese Empire on the Dutch side was busy with the West Asian War and would not care about the British for the time being.

The answer from the Chinese side undoubtedly made the Dutch understand that the Chinese Empire had chosen neutrality, so the next afternoon, the Dutch sent a note to the British consul and declared war on the British.

The Second Anglo-Dutch War broke out. A