In January 1663, Hong Tiancheng, Leopold I, the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in the guise of a thousand faces, signed a treaty of alliance with the Axis powers in Kiev, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, to intimidate the entire continent.

1. In the event of an external threat to the security or vital interests of one of the Contracting Parties, the other two Parties shall provide political and diplomatic support;

2. If one side is involved in the war, the other two sides will give military support by land and sea;

3. The three contracting parties undertake to be completely consistent with each other in the event of an armistice agreement or contract once they are able to fight together;

4. In order to ensure the fulfilment of the above-mentioned obligations, the three countries decided to strengthen cooperation militarily and economically, and to establish a standing committee.

The reason why it is called the Axis military alliance is because Hongtian has become a major contributor to the Axis powers, and has added many additional terms, but in addition to the Habsburg dynasty represented by Leopold I, the Russian Empire and the Taiping Empire, other countries that have joined the alliance are subject to the terms of the unanimous decision of the three Axis powers.

After the signing of the military alliance of the three Axis powers, the Cossack United Emirate immediately joined the Axis bloc, and immediately received the relevant military technology and certain weapon support such as flintlock muskets and bayonets.

Originally, the Cossack United Emirate was only supported by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but now the Kingdom of Austria ruled by Leopold I and the Russian Empire with a thousand faces will lend a helping hand to the Cossack United Emirate, even if this 'helping hand' is only symbolic, for the small country of the Cossack United Emirate, it is also quite a strong foreign aid.

In addition to the accession of the Cossack United Emirates, which was privately granted by Hong Tiancheng, those small German states with strong ties to the Habsburgs also joined the Axis alliance and took refuge under Leopold I.

In this way, even the last fig leaf of the Holy Roman Empire, which existed in name only, was ruthlessly removed, and the entire German state of Central Europe soon formed a tripartite force.

Join the Axis military bloc, side of Leopold I, diehards who resisted the invasion of the Taipings, and neutrally watch the German states that do not border the Taipings.

The die-hard rebels were led by Frederick, Duke of Brandenburg and now King Frederick of Prussia, and under his guidance, the German states that rebelled against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also learned from the Axis bloc to form a loose military alliance, but the participating German states were not very strong, far less shocking than the combination of the two great powers of the European continent and the former overlord Habsburg.

Interestingly, the self-reliant Czechs, Slovaks, and Hungarians all sent representatives in the hope of joining the Axis military bloc in order to obtain a legitimate independent status.

However, it was easily vetoed by Leopold I and Hong Tiancheng, and the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary were Hong Tiancheng's bargaining chips to win over the Habsburgs, and if they were allowed to come in and get a piece of the pie, this Axis military bloc would break down in minutes!

The emaciated camels of the Habsburgs were bigger than horses, and the Kingdom of Spain was controlled by the members of the Habsburg family!

Although the Thirty Years' War had removed the Kingdom of Spain from its position as the hegemon of Europe, it was now at least a second-rate European state, much stronger than the German states in Central Europe.

What's more, there were still small states on the Italian peninsula that were controlled by the Habsburgs.

Of course, the whole of Western Europe, including the Kingdom of Spain, did not intend to join the Axis military bloc headed by the hostile Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and adopted a wait-and-see posture, but the secret political contacts between Western Europe and the countries of the Italian Peninsula became extra frequent, and they obviously did not want to see the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom really gain a firm foothold in Europe with the help of this Axis military bloc.

The traditional European monarchies were naturally hostile to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a regime that ruled by foreign races and monopolized the aristocratic group.

Therefore, even if the Spanish royal family is part of the Habsburg dynasty, it still did not join the Axis military group like Leopold I, Leopold I was desperate, and in order to borrow the power of the Taiping army to quell the rebellion, he cooperated with Hong Tiancheng, which does not mean that the entire Habsburg family is willing to watch the rise of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!

At this time, the Habsburgs, including Leopold I, did not understand the difference between this Axis military bloc and the previous military alliances, and only thought that this was a "limited" cooperation with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to solve the political crisis in the Kingdom of Austria at the lowest cost.

Like the Habsburgs, most countries on the European continent thought that this Axis bloc was nothing more than a local war between Hong Tiancheng and his allies against the German states opposed to Central Europe, just like the current Ruedan War, which could not affect them, so they maintained a wait-and-see attitude.

The Ottoman Turkish Empire wanted to intervene in the Axis military bloc and try to establish a military alliance against the Axis military bloc, however, the European countries also did not have any good impression of these green and green believists, and with the size and temper of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, it was destined to be the boss, and the Christian countries of the European continent were naturally unwilling to follow the footsteps of the Ottoman group of pagans to fight.

At this time, the Ottoman Turkish Empire had not yet decayed, and it was very ambitious.

In the end, the Ottoman Turks' call was not successful, and they had to turn their attention to the domestic counterinsurgency again, with the only difference being that they sent a lot of troops to the vassal states bordering the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, just in case and to take advantage of the opportunity to pick fruits.

While the European countries were watching, the coalition led by the Kingdom of Prussia and the Taiping Army took the lead in breaking out into war.

The Taiping Army concentrated two elite grenadier divisions of the Taiping Army and attacked the East Prussian area.

After learning that the four newly organized divisions of the Taiping Army's Heavenly Kings Guards were still in Silesia and were helping the Kingdom of Austria mediate (threaten) the political problems of the three independent nations of Czech, Slovakia, and Hungary, Frederick was overjoyed and led a coalition of more than 60,000 troops to meet the more than 20,000 elite grenadiers of the Taiping Army!

These 60,000 troops were a new type of army trained by the German Confederation against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in line tactics, and Frederick, after witnessing the performance of heavy cavalry on the battlefield, no longer formed heavy cavalry, but turned to light cavalry and musketeer cavalry.

At the beginning of the war, the German coalition led by Prussia took advantage of the numerical advantage and formed a situation of encirclement to approach the attacking Taiping army!