Amsterdam, March 26, 1725.

"Are you serving the people of Qi?" After Troy Parrott waited for the waiter to leave, he looked up at the European-faced man opposite, and asked straight to the point.

"It doesn't matter who we serve." Malbo smiled and motioned for the other party to enjoy the food on the table casually, "But I know that you, as fundraisers for the Irish Resistance, are traveling around Europe, hoping to gain the sympathy and support of some countries and civil society groups in order to help you rebel against the rule of the English. But in the past ten years, it seems that the effect is not good, and no one is willing to pay attention to them. And that's where we can help. ”

"How can you help us?" Troy Parrott stared into the other's eyes and asked cautiously.

"We can provide you with much-needed muskets and gunpowder, as well as corresponding melee weapons such as swords, spears, and armor. Even, if necessary, we will provide you with artillery. "If your personnel lack military training, we can also provide you with professional military guidance to help you organize and train your soldiers," Malbo said. At the same time, we can also provide you with a large amount of money to buy the daily necessities you need for the Irish resistance. ”

"I know, your Qi country has just declared war with England, you want to use us Irish to fight England, right?" Troy Parrott sneered.

"Even if, without our presence, wouldn't you rebel against the colonial rule of the English?" Malbo asked with a grin.

"......" Troy Parrott listened, his expression froze, and he said in annoyance: "You Qi country want to fight the English, although with the strength you have, fight on the battlefield with real swords and guns, don't treat us Irish as your cannon fodder, and push them under the butcher's knife of the English." ”

"It seems that after so many years of enslavement and colonization, you Irish knees have been completely softened." Malbo sneered, stood up, took a few silver coins from his pocket, and placed them on the table, "In that case, we don't need to continue talking to you. I believe that among the millions of Irish, there will always be a few warriors who are not willing to give in and have the courage to challenge the English. Well, gentlemen, please take your time for this lunch! ”

With that, Malbo beckoned his companions to leave the elegant restaurant.

"Gentlemen, please wait." Seamus Coleman immediately got up, stretched out a hand, and stopped Malbo and the two, "Oh, I'm sorry, Troy was too excited just now, and his words were biased, and I apologize to the two gentlemen." ”

Marbo was dragged back to his table by Seamus Coleman, but he said no more, and looked at the two Irish Resistance representatives opposite.

After the defeat of the Irish-backed James II at the Battle of the Boyne River in 1690 by William III, James fled back to France, and the Catholics in Ireland began to be liquidated. Previously, during the reign of Charles II, many of the rights granted by sympathy for Catholicism were also lost, and both politically and economically were suppressed and restricted by the English.

During this period, Catholics were about 70% in Ireland, 10% Protestant in England and 20% Protestant in Scotland. But 70 per cent of Catholics own only a measly 15 per cent of the land. A small group of English-speaking Protestants in England owned vast lands and brutally exploited the majority-majority Catholic, Gaelic-speaking Irish peasants.

In foreign trade, Ireland was forbidden to trade directly with European countries and the colonies of England, and the wool produced by the herders could only be sold to England. Millions of Irish people are living in dire straits, suffering from the devastation of their lives and their economies. Even those who converted to Protestantism were suspicious and wary of the Irish.

In order to resist the colonial rule of the English, the Irish launched countless armed uprisings in the past few hundred years, but due to the lack of weapons and equipment and backwardness, they were repeatedly suppressed by the English army, followed by a new round of crazy revenge and oppression by the English.

In order to be able to compete with the wool textiles from Qi and obtain sufficient and cheap raw materials for production, England wantonly enclosed the land of the Irish, converted countless fertile fields into pastures, and artificially created food famines.

In order to gain full access to the sales market of the colony at its doorstep, England forbade Ireland to import any goods from abroad, nor did it allow foreign merchants to enter the Irish market, and also bought wool from the Irish at very low prices, but at the same time sold its own manufactured goods to the Irish at unusually high prices, obtaining a very high difference between workers and peasants.

Every winter, because they can't afford to buy expensive woollen textiles to protect themselves from the cold, countless Irish people are frozen to death in the streets.

It can be said that the Irish have suffered England for a long time!

"According to the English rules, we Irish are not allowed to approach any area within four miles of the coast, let alone live there." Shames Coleman asked in a deep voice, "In this case, how can you Qi people send in the weapons and equipment that support us?" ”

"Although Ireland is small in size, with the naval power of England, it may not be able to blockade the whole of Ireland seamlessly." Malbo smiled slightly and said confidently: "In a few months, our Qi Kingdom will send a large expeditionary fleet to attack England. In such a situation, the English Navy will inevitably loosen its control of Irish waters. At that time, we will send a small fleet to the coast of Ireland and occupy a port at the right time, and deliver you the appropriate weapons and equipment. ”

"Is your support for us Irishmen temporary, or long-term?" Seamus Coleman asked.

In the course of hundreds of years of resistance against England, the Spaniards, Dutch people, and French all supported the Irish in their anti-British struggle to a certain extent. However, after the situation in Europe eased, or after the peace agreement between the above-mentioned countries and England, the Irish, without exception, were abandoned and left to the English to carry out a frenzied revenge and massacre against them.

So, what are you Qi people thinking?

Unloading the mill and killing the donkey?

Pull the ladder up behind you?

Like toilet paper, when it's finished, throw it away?

"We will spare no effort to support you, Ireland, in your steadfast and courageous resistance to British colonial rule, until you achieve your goal of independent statehood." Malbo said solemnly: "In order to ensure that your independent country will not be invaded by England, our Qi country can sign a security treaty with you. In addition, we can also provide you with long-term financial assistance to help you Irish people completely get rid of their dependence on the English financially. ”

"Why do you want to help us Irish?"

"Because, England is our common enemy."

"What if you defeat this enemy once and for all?"

"Hehe......" Malbo smiled lightly, leaned forward, and said meaningfully: "In the future, our Qi country may not have only one enemy in Europe. Therefore, we need to support a fulcrum that will allow us to lay out the layout of the country. ”

"What if we don't work with you?"

"Then we will look for other reliable partners." Malbeau had an indifferent expression on his face, "In the whole of Europe, England's popularity is not very good, Spain, the United Provinces, France, oh, and the Holy See, should all hope that the English people are unlucky." As for you Irish, we will continue to watch you sink and live a miserable life of inferiority forever. ”

——

April 17, Rome, Palazzo Muti.

A luxurious carriage slowly drove into the Palazzo Muti, and the guards standing outside the gate immediately saluted the owner of the carriage.

"Your Majesty." A royal attendant walked briskly to the carriage, bent down, gently opened the door, and respectfully extended his right hand.

"Roy, is the Earl of Rashford back?" James Francis Edward Stuart (i.e., James III), known to the Whigs of England as the "Old Tyrant King", put his hand on the arm of his attendant and dismounted the carriage with great grace.

"Your Majesty, Lord Rashford has returned and is speaking with Sir Foden in the halls."

James III nodded, then took Queen Maria Clementina Sobieska by the hand and walked towards the palace.

"Your Majesty." Seeing James III enter the main hall, Earl Marcus Rashford and Baron Phil Foden, who were talking, immediately stood up, bent slightly, and greeted His Majesty the King and His Royal Highness.

"Come with me." James III first turned his head and asked the queen to go to her room to rest, and then walked straight to the study with the two court ministers.

"What do the people of Qi say?" James III waved his hand to let the servant who poured the tea out of the room, and then asked impatiently.

"Your Majesty, the people of Qi are willing to support Your Majesty's return to England and restore the throne." Earl Marcus Rashford had an excited look on his face, "In order to show sincerity, the people of Qi are willing to give us a grant of 200,000 pounds in advance, which will be used to recruit mercenaries and buy off members of the royal party in China. ”

"What are the conditions for the people of Qi?"

"The people of Qi hope that after His Majesty is reinstated, he can negotiate with them amicably on trade disputes between the two countries and give them fair import tariff treatment for Qi goods." Earl Rashford said: "In addition, Qi also hopes that we in England will severely crack down on the piracy of privateers in the North Sea, the Mediterranean, and the North Atlantic, and maintain the normal order of navigation in the seas." The people of Qi also demand that we, England, respect their legitimate rights and commercial interests in the European region. ”

"Anything else?" James III blinked and continued to ask.

"Qi people......" Earl Rashford hesitated for a moment, and then said stubbornly: "The people of Qi believe that the Irish question must be resolved justly. ”

"Huh?" James III looked at the Earl of Rashford in bewilderment.

"Your Majesty, the people of Qi want us England to withdraw from Ireland, end our colonial rule over them, allow the Irish to carry out national self-determination, and establish an independent Irish kingdom." Baron Phil Foden sighed and said softly.

"No way!" When James III heard this, he immediately stood up, his expression extremely excited, "We in England must not give up Ireland!" ”

What a joke, if Ireland is abandoned, then the King of Ireland in my title will not become a joke!

In 1541, King Henry VIII of England proclaimed himself King of Ireland to prevent the Pope from seizing the Irish crown, which was confirmed by the Irish Parliament. Since then, the Kingdom of Ireland has been established, nominally forming a co-confederation with England, which is governed by the Viceroy of England, and successive kings of England have also served as the king of Ireland, which has a history of 200 years. To throw away the crown of the King of Ireland in order to restore his throne would be spurned by the whole of England.

Born on 10 June 1688 at St. James's Palace, James III was the son of James II (known as James VII in Scotland) and his second wife, Queen Maria Béatrice Durst, the Catholic Queen, and was born with the titles of Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothasse, and a number of other titles.

However, on December 9 of that year, William III, the ruler of the Netherlands, launched the Glorious Revolution and expelled James II. Queen Maria disguised herself as a washerwoman and fled to France with the baby James. So, from the beginning of his childhood, he lived with his parents in Paris. They often visited Versailles, and Louis XIV and his courtiers treated them like reigning monarchs.

After the death of his father, James II, in 1701, James was recognized by Louis XIV as the rightful prince of England, Ireland, and Scotland. Spain, the Papal States, and Modena also recognized him as King James III of England and Ireland and King James VIII of Scotland, while rejecting the successive reigns of Mary II, William III, and Queen Anne.

Because James III had been demanding his father's lost throne from the English government, on 3 February 1702 he was stripped of his citizenship by London on the grounds of treason, and all his titles were abolished by law.

In March 1708, James III, with the support of France, attempted to land a mercenary army in the English Forth of Forth. As a result, he was intercepted by the Royal Navy fleet of England, and the weather was bad, so he and the accompanying French fleet failed to land.

In 1713, Queen Anne became seriously ill and her days were numbered. Some nobles close to the Stuart dynasty contacted James III and tried to persuade him to convert to Protestantism so that he could come to London and regain the throne of England. But James III turned out to be a devout Catholic and refused to convert, thus cutting off his hopes of returning to England.

As a result, in August 1714, James III's distant cousin, Elector of Hanover, Hough Georg Ludwig, a German-speaking Protestant, became King of England as heir to the late Queen Anne, for George I.

James III was so outraged that he publicly accused, "We have seen a foreign family, a foreigner who is alienated to our country and does not even speak our language, ascending to the throne".

With the gradual détente between England and France, James III had to leave Paris and live with a large number of followers in the territories of the Papal States, first in Avignon, then in Pesaro and Urbino. Pope Clement XI gave the Palazzo Muti in Rome to James III to live in, and received a lifetime annuity of 8,000 papal gold coins per year.

With this help, James III was able to form a Jacobite court in Rome and live in peace, but he continued to work for the restoration of the Stuart dynasty. In 1719, James organized an expeditionary force from Spain and landed in Scotland, capturing Irene Donan Castle for a time, but was quickly routed by the English army, and the Spanish soldiers recruited were forced to surrender to the government forces. Three years earlier (1722) there had been another bold attempt at the plan, but it was also in vain due to the lack of necessary material and financial support.

A month earlier, when James III heard the news of Qi's declaration of war on England, his mind began to come alive again, and he immediately sent his court minister, Earl Rashford, to Paris to meet with Qi's minister to France to test the possibility of the two sides joining forces to overthrow the Hanoverian dynasty.

The fair treatment of trade, the fight against privateer piracy, and the respect for their access to the Caribbean were of little relevance in the eyes of James III, and they were agreed to be accepted without harming England's vital interests. But for him to give up Ireland, it must not be.

You know, since hundreds of years ago, when England began to colonize Ireland, a large amount of land was given to many nobles in the country. During the period of Cromwell, the regurgitator, more than eighty percent of the land ownership of the Irish was deprived and became a fief of the English aristocracy.

If they gave up Ireland in order to obtain the throne of England and allowed them to establish an independent kingdom of Ireland, they would inevitably attract the opposition of many nobles in England. Even if he can re-enter London with the help of Qi Guo, the throne under his ass may not be able to sit firmly.

Why are these Qi people so annoying! Why do you have to mess with Ireland?

(End of chapter)