Daming slowly retracted his claws, except for some key nodes, all the troops were retracted into the country, and he devoted himself to economic construction.

The Ming Dynasty, which had been fighting for many years, had stopped, but on the European continent, the spirit of France was gone.

As an ally of the Ming Dynasty in Europe, France was invincible under the command of Napoleon. Under the organization of the British, the countries of continental Europe fought a total of six wars against the French alliance, all of which were declared defeated.

If it were not for the lack of a navy, France would have attacked the stronghold of the anti-French alliance. For this reason, Joseph made a trip to Daming, but did not get the support of Li Xiao.

Joseph, who was unwilling, ran to Xinjiapo again, wanting to hit Li Xiu's wooden clock. In order not to let Li Xiu know what Li Xiao meant, Joseph specially hired an airship at a high price to fly directly from the capital to Xinjiapo.

Unexpectedly, today's Daming has something called telegraph. Through the telegraph office that crisscrossed the north and south, when Joseph was still gritting his teeth in the sky, Li Xiu already knew Li Xiao's thoughts.

"Joseph, it's not that I don't talk about friendship, I really can't help it. My eldest brother's words are now a holy decree in Daming. Especially up and down the Liao army, no one will not obey his orders.

The Ming Dynasty will not provide you with ironclad ships, and if you want to land in the UK, you can only rely on your own strength. ”

Li Xiu wanted to help Joseph in his heart, after all, Britain was a naval power. If you talk about the European navy, who else can confront the Ming Dynasty, is only the United Kingdom.

However, Li Xiao's telegram made it clear that the European continent should maintain the balance of power. If Britain is finished, France will be dominant. This is very bad for Daming!

The Ming Dynasty needs a fragmented and confrontational Europe, not a united and cooperative Europe. As the second most industrialized region in the world after the Ming Dynasty, once Europe becomes a monolith, it will pose a threat to the Ming Dynasty.

"Can't think about it anymore? We can spend a lot of money. Joseph used a trick, and in his opinion, the Ming people were greedy philistines. As long as you have money, you can think about anything.

"It's not about the money!" Li Xiu reluctantly refused, and now he has no fight. The Navy's military spending has been curtailed again, and the recent plans for new mountain-class warships have been put on hold.

Li Xiu really wanted to get a sum of money to equip four more Shanzi-class ironclad ships. In this way, it is possible to maintain the pattern of two combat cruises, two maintenance, and two actual combat training.

As it is now, only one of the two mountain ships can maintain combat cruise, and the other is maintained in the harbor. Only one of the two ships can be dispatched!

"Suez Canal stocks can also be discussed!" Joseph immediately threw out another decoy.

The bottom line that Napoleon gave him was to do whatever it takes, which means that there is no bottom line in this negotiation. As long as Daming doesn't want Paris, everything else can be discussed.

Li Xiu was really moved, this is the stock of the Suez Canal. A large number of ships now pass through the Suez Canal every day, and the annual toll is a significant income.

Because it was originally developed by the French, the Suez Canal also has a stake in France. After all, you still need a reputation to mix in this world, and Li Xiao didn't hack all the shares of the French.

Now Joseph is using this to tempt Li Xiu, and this time Li Xiu is really tempted.

Gritted his teeth! "I'll have to ask my eldest brother about this, you wait a minute." Li Xiu walked out and ordered the confidential room to send a telegram to the capital immediately. He just waited in the confidential room for news!

Suez Canal stock, this thing is standard for no market. No one is going to sell such a profitable stock unless that person is crazy.

Now that the French offered to exchange all the shares of the Suez Canal for the Ming Navy, Li Xiu felt that this was a golden opportunity.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the French can be kicked out with one kick and completely occupy the equity of the entire Suez Canal de jure and completely.

Li Xiu was smoking a cigarette in the confidential room, smoking was not allowed here, but no one dared to pay attention to the commander of the navy.

After about an hour, the telegram finally returned. There are not many words, just two words: no!

Li Xiu held the telegram, his fingers trembling a little.

"Again! Just four words, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Li Xiu gritted his teeth and ordered the confidential room to send it again.

This time the call back was very fast, and it took less than twenty minutes for there to be a reply.

It's still two simple words: no!

This time Li Xiu was helpless, and it seemed that the stocks of the Suez Canal were flying on their wings.

"Commander, there's another telegram." The confidential officer handed over another telegram in both hands.

When Li Xiu saw Li Xiao's cold words, he was covered for a while.

The official ships and civilian ships of the Ming Dynasty are not allowed to participate in the war on the European continent, and there will be no forgiveness for violators!

This is because he is afraid that Li Xiuming will repair the plank road and secretly Chen Cang, and directly cut off Li Xiu's retreat.

Li Xiao, who was far away in the capital, was also worried, he was afraid that Li Xiu would not be able to help him and really send warships to help France. After all, there are not many opportunities to get a stake in the Suez Canal.

Although the equity of the Suez Canal is precious, Li Xiao's continental equilibrium policy is even more precious.

In addition to the Ming Dynasty, the forces of all countries in the world must be balanced. You hold me back, I hold him back, he holds you back. The world will be too peaceful, and if you rashly break a balance, the next outcome is difficult for anyone to predict.

Without Britain, the continent would have been unified by Napoleon. As a result, the European continent became the most formidable opponent of the Ming Dynasty.

What to do when that time comes? In the end, the two forces will collide in order to compete for interests, and really want to fight with the Europeans?

Thousands of miles away, and people can also make guns. The cost of war will be absolutely frighteningly high! It's hard to say whether Daming's finances can hold up!

In relation to this consequence, the stake in the Suez Canal is not worth mentioning.

Li Xiu had heaven and man at war in his mind, and the words of killing without forgiveness were certainly not suitable for him. Li Xiu is very sure of this, and the eldest brother will never attack him.

But the officers under his command are different, Li Xiao doesn't even have to say hello when he kills.

Thought and thought, thought and thought. Li Xiu, who was helpless, could only walk out of the confidential room, returned to the conference room, and said to Joseph dejectedly: "No! My eldest brother did not allow the Ming Navy to help you, and specifically said that those who violated the order would be beheaded. ”

Joseph's eyes widened, and he wanted to ask Li Xiu what method he used to contact Li Xiao, who was thousands of miles away. And so fast!

From Li Xiu's attitude, Joseph could see that he was telling the truth.

When Li Xiu left, his eyes were full of greed. He knew that Li Xiu was really tempted at that time, but he didn't understand why he couldn't impress Li Xiao at such a big price.

Joseph left gloomily, if it had been before, with Li Xiu's character, he would definitely attack privately. Anyway, at that time, I had the right to act cheaply.

But this time is different, the eldest brother's attitude is extremely resolute, and he can only follow the eldest brother's wishes.

Without the support of the Ming Dynasty, the ships of the French Navy were simply not enough to deal with the British Royal Navy. After all, the shipyard in Liverpool can produce ironclads. The French Navy, on the other hand, does not yet have the capacity to produce ironclad ships.

Whether it's an introduction or purchase, or a lease. I've used all the tricks, but I still haven't been able to impress Daming.

Napoleon reluctantly gave up the idea of attacking London, and since he couldn't deal with London, it would be better to deal with Russia.

These damned Slavs, participated in every anti-French coalition. Because of their distance from the center of the European continent, they decided that Napoleon could not go on an expedition against them.

Since you can't beat the British, then it's better to just kill the Russians.

As long as this polar bear is completely defeated, Britain will have no important helpers in the future to organize an anti-French alliance. It can be said that if you hit down Russia. There will be no more anti-French alliances on the European continent.

After thinking about it for a long time, Napoleon decided to take out Russia, the last opponent.

Of course, to fight a war in peacetime, you need to find a reason, which can also be understood as an excuse.

Napoleon made an excuse, that is, the war reparations that Russia promised to pay were not paid in time. Moreover, Russia bullied the Romanians, the little brothers of France.

Before the declaration of war, Napoleon had already secretly transferred troops to the border. It took him nearly a year and a half to send 600,000 people to the Russian border.

According to historical convention, the army should have a claimed number of people. However, this time is a little different from the previous time, and the previous time needs to be said more.

This time, it's going to be less reported. Napoleon modestly claimed that his army numbered 200,000 men. If the Russians are not convinced, they can fight.

200,000 people!

This number still did not frighten the Russians, and soon under the command of the commander-in-chief of the border guards, Balklai, two hundred and fifty thousand troops were gathered in the presence of the French.

Barcly's idea was simple: France would not spend a huge amount of national strength on an expedition to Russia, which was very far away from France. Especially in Russia, the winter weather is very cold, which will be a great test for the French soldiers.

Confront the French, fight if you can, and run away if you can't. Anyway, the French will not pursue too much, and they will not run to occupy Russian lands. It's so far from mainland France!

It has to be said that Barclay's idea is very problematic. He wants to take advantage of Russia's vast strategic depth, but unfortunately the mobility of his soldiers is far from enough.

When Napoleon saw Barcly's arrival, he immediately smiled and waved the butcher's knife.

May 4th, at dawn. The roar of explosions shattered the pre-dawn silence, and one explosion after another erupted. The shelling lasted for an hour, and numerous French troops crossed the border line.

The French army suddenly launched a fierce attack on the Russian army led by Balclay, but the vigilance of the Russian army in front of it was quite high. With their strong fortifications, they resolutely resisted the French.

Soon, the offensive momentum of the French was curbed. The battle is deadlocked!

Balclay was excited, this time against Napoleon's main French army, who had been invincible until then.

Unexpectedly, this time, I actually touched a nail under my own arrangement.

While issuing orders to the front-line soldiers, let them resist. On the one hand, he sent someone to report to Moscow and asked Moscow to send reinforcements.

The offensive went on for a whole day, and the French made no progress except for a number of corpses.

Balclay was simply crazy, he didn't expect that with the strength of his men, he would actually withstand Napoleon's attack.

For three days in a row, the French were on a fierce attack. But Barclay's Russian army was like a miracle protector, and they repelled the French attacks again and again, and their positions were not lost.

Barclay began to believe that the French were not as powerful as the legend suggests. His war report to Moscow said that he had won the battle for the Neman River.

The war report said that the French had suffered heavy casualties and could not afford to fight again. The arduous battle to defend the Neman River will soon be won.

The Russians' communications were quite primitive, and the knights rode fast horses from post to post. It took seven days for the battle reports from the front to reach the Kremlin in Moscow.

When the war report reached Catherine, she was discussing with Kutuzov and Dorgon about the equipment of the Praetorian Guard.

After more than a year of hard work, the Janissaries were finally equipped with new rifles. It was armed not only with new rifles, but also with artillery such as mortars, cannons and rocket artillery.

Even, the Praetorian Guard formed an airship brigade. It has ten large airships, and three small reconnaissance airships.

The thing discussed today is what kind of machine guns the Praetorian Guard will be equipped with. Whether it is a Maxim heavy machine gun or a light machine gun researched in Mumbai.

The heavy machine gun has a long range and great power, but the weight is too heavy, and it requires four people to wait. It's not bad to fight positional warfare, but when you fight sports warfare, most of the time you need to pull a wagon.

The light machine gun has a short range and is not as sustained as a heavy machine gun, but it is light and agile, and only two people need to play it. This is very important on the battlefield, knowing that a place is likely to be a target for cannons if it continues to produce firepower.

No matter how powerful a heavy machine gun is, it is nothing more than a gun. Under the bombardment of artillery, it will also turn into scum.

Catherine took the battle report from the messenger's hand, opened it and read two lines, and a smile like a peach blossom bloomed on her face: "Great, the border guards withstood the attack of the French at the Neman River.

The French tried to cross the river three times, but were repulsed by our troops. Now Barklay is organizing forces to tightly defend the Neman. The French can't get by! ”

As he spoke, he handed the battle report to Kutuzov.

"Balklai's kid is not bad, he actually withstood Napoleon's attack. The terrain along the Neman River is good, which is very favorable for the defense of our army. Kutuzov looked at the battle report and nodded with satisfaction.

He liked Balklai, a young man who was full of energy!

Glancing at Dolgon, Kutuzov handed the battle report to Dolgon. After two years of training, Dorgon was able to read Russian documents.

Dorgon didn't even read the battle report, but said lightly: "Let's study the Praetorian Guard, I think they will come in handy soon." ”