The decline of the Netherlands began with the expulsion of Southeast Asia by China, but the fatal blow came from Britain and France.

Britain wanted to gain maritime benefits, and France wanted to encroach on the Dutch mainland.

In the face of the financial difficulties of England, Louis XIV offered money, and Charles II immediately agreed to fight against France.

Financial support is obtained out of thin air, with strings attached, of course. Britain and France signed the Treaty of Dover. The treaty stipulated that France would provide financial support to England, that England would gradually restore Catholicism, and that it would have to join France in fighting against the Dutch. In the event of a riot in England over the restoration of Catholicism, France had to borrow troops to help put down the rebellion in Britain.

After the signing of the treaty, France suddenly declared war on the Netherlands, and Britain immediately withdrew from the Triple Alliance with the Netherlands and Sweden.

Immediately afterward, Britain attacked a Dutch merchant fleet without declaring war on the Netherlands, and the Third Anglo-Dutch War broke out.

The strongest fortress of the Netherlands, in the face of the French military strategist Vaubana, collapsed as completely as the paper lake. Seven provinces in the Netherlands, five provinces directly fell to it.

The Dutch parliament urgently invited Wilhelm III to govern and allied itself with Spain, Austria, Prussia, the Duchy of Lorraine, and the Duchy of Palatine, all of which clearly wanted to work together to contain the rise of France. France was surrounded and had to fight in all directions, and after the forces were scattered, William III regained the lost territory of the Netherlands.

Louis XIV again brandished the banknote and pulled Sweden, an ally of the Netherlands, into his side.

Sweden then attacked the German regions, Brandenburg and Austria, and had to order the front-line troops to return to the defense. The French were relieved of the plight of the enemy and began to attack the Dutch and Spanish coalition forces.

The Swedish army was unexpectedly defeated by Brandenburg, and Denmark immediately fell into the trap, allied with the Netherlands, and declared war on Sweden.

Seeing that France would be completely surrounded again, Louis XIV began a tariff war, and the Dutch merchants suffered heavy losses. Immediately, the British and French navies jointly attacked the Dutch navy, and then went to fight the Spanish navy to seize the sea supremacy in the Mediterranean.

Due to the loss of Spain's control of the sea, the Italian state of Italy, which submitted to Spain, took the opportunity to set off a great uprising for national independence.

The French army won another great victory over the German states and occupied the Lorraine region. He then returned to Spain and occupied Franche-Comté and Flanders in Spain.

Britain, which had been helping France in the war, did not want to see France win, so it chose to jump sideways again, and suddenly announced the marriage between Britain and the Netherlands.

Stabbed in the back by his allies, Louis XIV was furious, but he had to pinch his nose and admit it. He took out a large amount of gold coins and presented them to Charles II and the English nobles in exchange for slowing down the British army. Then, the French attacked frantically, forcing the Allies to pray for negotiations.

During the negotiations, Louis XIV bribed Dutch merchants and promised to lower tariffs. Dutch businessmen forgot their interests and disregarded the interests of the country and collectively overthrew the Dutch ruler William III.

In this way, France dominated the continent.

However, the cost of war and diplomacy was too high, and the people of France were struggling to make ends meet, and there was even a peasant uprising.

Britain first betrayed the alliance to France, and then to the Netherlands halfway through, and also received French financial support twice, so it can be said that it made a lot of money, and also grabbed maritime privileges from the Netherlands.

However, in order to fulfill the secret treaty between England and France, Charles II was publicly baptized and declared Catholic, which met with fierce opposition from Parliament and the Anglican Church, and he had to order the dissolution of Parliament, which opened the prelude to religious struggles in England. It is equivalent to planting a landmine for his son, and in the end the eldest son died, and the second son also lost centralized power.

After a series of wars, the Dutch economy collapsed, and China seized the opportunity to seize Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and the Netherlands was completely driven out of Asia.

The current situation is that China colonized the east coast of India and Ceylon, and the Portuguese colonized the west coast of India. Countless Chinese goods have been transported to India and transshipped to Europe by Portugal.

Portugal married the princess to China and took Chittagong as a dowry, which was richly rewarded at this time, and the second-tier dealers were not too comfortable.

However, the political situation in Portugal is chaotic.

King Afonso VI, who was paralyzed and mentally ill since childhood, was cuckolded by his wife and younger brother. Even the queen openly declared that she had never had sex with the king, and asked for the marriage to be declared null and void, and then directly remarried to the king's younger brother.

And that's not all, after a dog man and a woman got married, they teamed up to put the king under house arrest in the Azores.

Just five years ago, the king died of illness, and the dog man and woman succeeded in becoming king and queen.

Three years ago, Catalina, a Portuguese princess who was married to Zhao Han, received detailed news from Portugal, believing that her younger brother had been murdered, and asked Emperor Zhao to send troops to preside over the overall situation.

Zhao Han immediately ordered the navy to be dispatched, and the Datong navy, stationed on the east coast of India, did not have to go too far, to blockade the Portuguese colony on the west coast of India. In addition, tariffs on Portuguese trade were ordered to be raised, and all merchant ships bound for the west coast of India were inspected and additionally taxed along the way.

The Portuguese nobles and businessmen were shocked when they heard the news, they all relied on China to make money, but they were not willing to turn their faces against China.

Two years ago, Zhao Kuangquan, the son of Zhao Han and Caterina, was only 25 years old, leading eight warships, ten armed merchant ships, and 2,000 peasants and soldiers who volunteered to seize the throne in Portugal.

At this time, he arrived in Lisbon, Zhao Kuangquan hung out the Portuguese royal flag, and the Portuguese Navy all defected on the spot!

Of course, the royal flag did not work so well, and the real reason was that the military expenditure of the Portuguese navy, as well as the interests of a large number of nobles, had to rely on China and Chinese goods. The navy did not dare to start a war with Zhao Kuangquan, and once the war started, it would be to tear its face with China, and they would not even be able to get their salaries in the future.

The army landed smoothly, and King Pedro II urgently mobilized his army to defend.

A diplomat from Honglu Temple came to the city and shouted: "Princess Caterina Enriqueta of Portugal, the princess of Portugal and the daughter of the Chinese princess João IV, has the right to inherit the Portuguese throne. King Afonso VI of Portugal was murdered to death, and the puppet king Pedro is the biggest suspect. Now, Alfonso Zhao Kuangquan Enriqueta, grandson of the Chinese prince and grandson of João IV and son of the princess of Portugal, has returned with his loyal army. All Portuguese nobles, soldiers and commoners, lay down your arms at once and welcome your new king! ”

The nobles and soldiers defending the city looked at each other after hearing the shouts.

King Pedro II roared: "Shoot, kill him!" ”

The soldiers raised their weapons, but instead of shooting immediately, they turned their heads to look at the officers. The officers looked at the aristocratic generals again, and these generals were hesitant, they did not dare to tear their faces with China, otherwise the Indian colony of Portugal would be gone.

At this time, the world's largest gold mine had not yet been discovered in Brazil, and Portugal's finances had to survive on Chinese trade.

Pedro II roared again: "You have carried out a coup d'état with me, and you have driven out Count Kashtromello, will you be able to continue to live a carefree aristocratic life with a new king?" Shoot him! ”

When the nobles heard this, a few guys who participated in the coup finally decided to get out of the way and keep their power even if they fell out with China.

"Bang bang bang!"

More than a dozen bullets were fired, and the diplomat of Honglu Temple was shot in the leg and bruised on his cheek, so he limped back in fright.

"Your Majesty, Lisbon is not easy to attack, you can go north to attack Porto first."

The one who spoke was the Viceroy of India of Portugal.

Although he was appointed by Pedro II, he resolutely chose to betray Pedro II. Otherwise, not only will the post of Viceroy of India be lost, but it will also be attacked by the Chinese fleet, and perhaps he will be killed in India.

This cargo took the entire Indian colony, declared allegiance to Zhao Kuangquan, and also pulled the Portuguese Indian fleet (so weak that it was all armed merchant ships).

Zhao Kuangquan was influenced by his mother since he was a child, researching detailed information about Portugal.

He knew that Porto was the second largest city in Portugal, the center of Portugal's handicraft industry, and the central port of Portugal to Western Europe.

"All back to the ship and march to Porto!" Zhao Kuangquan is as good as a stream.

During the voyage, the Viceroy of India suggested: "Your Majesty, send an envoy to Count Kashtromellor." He was the most powerful nobleman in Portugal besides the king, but he was forced to resign as regent because of the coup d'état of Pedro II. In the whole of Portugal, he is the one who hates Pedro the most. ”

Zhao Kuangquan left the port of Lisbon and took the Portuguese fleet with him by the way.

In the blink of an eye, we arrived in Porto, and the nobles defending the city fled without a fight, because there were less than 500 soldiers here.

Zhao Kuangquan immediately summoned representatives of merchants and scholars throughout the city and announced that he would reduce commercial taxes and implement a policy of academic freedom in the future. The merchants and scholars were overjoyed, pledged their allegiance to the new king on the spot, and formed a militia at their own expense to continue the war with the king.

It is so easy, and it is also the aura of a Chinese prince, the merchants rely on Chinese goods for profit, and the scholars have an infinite yearning to worship Chinese culture.

The militia recruited by these guys, many of whom were homeless people and low-level people, burned and looted all the way, and were severely stopped by Zhao Kuangquan, and even executed more than ten on the spot. After the military discipline was strict, where he passed, the civilians enthusiastically sang praises, and gave Zhao Kuangquan the nickname "The Merciful One".

Zhao Kuangquan's army fought all the way to the south, and many nobles took the initiative to vote.

In particular, the accession of the Count of Castellomeloll was extremely appealing, which was equivalent to the recognition of the Portuguese nobility for a foreign prince.

Constantly losing cities and land, Pedro II could not sit still, and gathered the noble army to the north for a decisive battle.

The two sides met on the outskirts of Coimbra, armed with 2,000 Chinese peasants, who had already been named the King's Guard by Zhao Kuangquan. In China it was a peasant soldier, but in Portugal it was the top elite, and it broke Pedro II's army head-on, and the Count of Castellumelloll took the opportunity to chase down with cavalry.

A month later, Zhao Kuangquan proclaimed himself king in Lisbon, called "João V" in Europe and "King Chen" in China.

The Pope was furious and declared an excommunication of Portugal.

The Portuguese have long been accustomed to this, and by Zhao Kuangquan, he is already the fourth Portuguese king who has not been crowned by the Pope.

Britain first recognized the throne of Zhao Kuangquan, and then Louis XIV also expressed support, both of which did not take the pope seriously.

Spain, which had just been beaten by France, was on the verge of a great enemy at this time, fearing that Zhao Kuangquan would lead troops to stab the chrysanthemum, and also publicly recognized Zhao Kuangquan's throne in exchange for the signing of the non-aggression pact between Portugal and Spain.