May 18, 1725, Duchy of Courland, Riga.

"I think in the Duchy of Courland, the Russians are more like masters here." Dutch merchant Grit de Vries shook his head as he watched a swaggering Russian mission, escorted by soldiers, walk through the streets toward the docks outside the city.

"Of course, the Russians are now the guardians and protectors of the Duchy of Courland." Hendricus Clariant, the manager of the Riga trading station, glanced at the Russian legation and said disapprehantly, "You know, even their dukes are Russians. …… Oh, a Russian duchess! ”

Had it not been for the fierce reaction of Poland and Sweden, the Russians might have annexed the duchy long ago. Oh, poor Courland! ”

"Yes, poor Courland." Gerrit de Vries nodded and said: "I heard that the Russians demanded that the principality pay a special tax of five hundred thousand rubles to St. Petersburg within a month. Can you imagine that this is equivalent to having every Courland person take a ruble out of his pocket. ”

"Insatiable Russians!" Hendricus Clarian said sympathetically: "According to the news from St. Petersburg, the reason why the Russians levy special taxes on the Courlands is because they are going to war again. ”

"War?" Gerrit de Vries was amazed when he heard this, "Their Tsar Peter I died only in February, and Queen Catherine seized the Tsar's throne through a coup d'état. Why start a war in a hurry? …… Oh, and who are the Russians targeting? Ottomans? Or the Swedes? ”

"The new Tsar Catherine is, after all, a woman who does not hold real power in the country at all." "At present, political power in Russia as a whole is in the hands of Field Marshal Menshikov and Privy Council Ambassador Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy, as well as several other members of the Supreme Privy Council," said Hendricus Clarian. As to why a war was started, I suspect that it had something to do with the visit of the English mission a month earlier. It is said that the English encouraged Russia to attack the Ottomans and Persia, and gave them a million pounds of money for this. ”

"Why did the English encourage Russia to attack the Ottomans and Persia?" "As far as I know," asked Gerrit de Vries, "there is no substantial conflict of interest between England and these two countries, and there have been no political or economic disputes in recent years. ”

"Mr. De Vries, think about it, which country stands behind the Ottomans and Persia?" Hendricus Clariant said with a smile.

"Qi Country!" "The English instigated Russia to attack the Ottomans and Persia in order to strike at the Qi state behind them. Hehe...... England is really fighting against Qi in order to fight against Qi State, racking its brains to pull more allies to attack Qi State together. ”

"Yes, last year, Russia was forced out of the Caucasus by the Qi State and the Ottomans, and it was unable to touch the Caspian Sea, and it has been haunted by it. In addition, Qi vigorously supported two indigenous kingdoms in the Far East, constantly squeezing Russia's colonial power in Siberia, causing heavy losses to the Russians. Now, at the instigation of the English, the brutal and brutal Russians naturally wanted to find their way back and start a war against the Ottomans and Persians. ”

"No matter what aspect of it, England does not have any advantage in front of the Qi State." Hendricus Clariant shook his head and said: "Even if the English are waiting for their work, sitting on the convenient geographical position, waiting for the expedition launched by the Qi people from thousands of miles away, I am not optimistic about the fate of England. I think that even if the Qi people can't defeat England in the end, they will still lose a lot of money and greatly weaken England's maritime power in Europe. ”

"If the Qi and the English lose in the Atlantic Ocean, then it will be the best outcome for our United Provinces." Gerrit de Vries said with great excitement: "It is true that the power of Qi has not penetrated into Europe, and England will lose its maritime supremacy in the Atlantic, thus greatly easing the maritime pressure on our United Provinces. Well, ......, perhaps, we can also take this opportunity to seize England's commercial interests in the Caribbean. ”

"If everything turns out as you say, it's for the best. But I still hope that this war between Qi and England will last longer, so that our United Province can gain more commercial benefits. Didn't you realize that due to the war, the number of English merchant ships in the Baltic Sea had been greatly reduced. ”

"Haha......" laughed Gerrit de Vries, "not only in the Baltic Sea, but also in the North Sea and the Mediterranean, English merchant ships have been reduced to varying degrees. Moreover, what surprised us even more was that the people of Qi transferred all the commercial transportation in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean to our inter-provincial merchants. I believe that as the war progresses, the Qi Congress will cede more commercial interests to our provinces. ”

——

Stockholm, May 28.

The Great Northern War, which had just ended, brought the heaviest disaster to the Kingdom of Sweden, and for more than 100 years, the overseas territories conquered by generations of kings were almost completely lost, and it can be said that it has lost its status as a great power in Europe.

Estonia, Livonia, Ingria, Keksholm, and most of Karelia were ceded to Russia, and the kingdom gave up its support for Holstein-Gottorp, leaving it under Danish control and a vassal of them. In addition, under the threat of England and Denmark, the kingdom gave up its exemption from the Kattegat Strait toll tax, thus losing a significant amount of revenue.

As the biggest winner of the Great Northern War, Russia had already spread their army all over the Baltic coast, replaced the Kingdom of Sweden in one fell swoop, gained hegemony over the Baltic Sea, and also eyed Finland in an attempt to further weaken the Kingdom of Sweden.

King Carl XII of Sweden was not willing to be defeated (due to the influence of historical time and space, this monarch did not die in the Battle of Norway), after the war, although under pressure from various countries, the size of the army was reduced from 110,000 to more than 30,000, but he followed the model of Qi State, built it into a completely professional army, and began to establish an officer training system.

However, given the total population of the Kingdom of Sweden of only 2 million, the 30,000 army still placed a heavy burden on the national finances.

As in other European countries, the nobility of the Kingdom of Sweden owned large amounts of land and almost monopolized the positions of military officers and state administrators, thus controlling the power of the kingdom as a whole. Similarly, the economic activities of the kingdom were controlled by the nobility. Karl XII, because of the defeat of the Great Northern War, was forced to make significant concessions to the noble council, granting it more powers, which allowed the parliament to exert great influence on fiscal and judicial policies, forming a certain degree of restraint on royal power.

As early as the time of Gustav I, Sweden created a system of compulsory conscription, which differed from that of European countries, which treated peasants and nobles equally, and as long as they enlisted in the army, they could be recognized by the king for their autonomy over the land. As a result, in Sweden, a large number of peasants took advantage of this to hold on to their land and gain a certain political voice.

It is hard to imagine that Sweden at this time was the only country in Europe that recognized the peasants as an independent class and gave them representation in the national parliament.

However, this system is useless in promoting industrial manufacturing and business activities. This is because the aristocracy who owned a lot of land was simply unwilling to engage in risky commercial activities, and relied too much on the output of land to maintain their rich and luxurious life. As a result, the Kingdom of Sweden has a very weak tax base, which often makes the state finances unable to make ends meet. In order to obtain much-needed funds, the kingdom had to rely on the export of mineral resources, mainly copper and iron, and life was very difficult.

"You Qi want to invest in the construction of a steel plant in our Sweden?" King Carl XII of Sweden personally met with the visiting Qi minister to Prussia, Su Weishan, and was immediately surprised to hear that the other party had promised to invest in the construction of a series of factories in Sweden, especially to build a steel plant with an annual output of 50,000 tons in Stockholm.

"If your government is willing, our country can also provide you with a low-interest loan of one million yuan in Sweden to promote the development of commerce and trade between your two countries." Su Weishan smiled and said, "At the same time, in order to support your country in resisting the Russian invasion, our Qi country can also provide you with a package of military assistance. ”

"You Qi Kingdom have paid so much, what do you want in return from our Swedish Kingdom?" Karl XII was silent for a while, and then asked in a deep voice.

There is no love for no reason in this world, and there is no benefit for no reason!

"We want your Kingdom of Sweden to maintain the neutrality it deserves in the war between our Kingdom of Qi and England." Su Weishan said: "In addition, we also hope that during the war, the ships of our Qi Navy can obtain the convenience of material supply in the coastal ports of your country. ”

"Mr. Minister, if you allow your naval ships to dock in our coastal ports during the war, it could easily involve our Kingdom of Sweden in this war." Karl XII solemnly said: "At present, the main tone of our kingdom's foreign policy is peace and neutrality, and we do not participate in any regional wars and conflicts. I regret that I am not able to accede to your terms. ”

"Your Majesty, although your Kingdom of Sweden retains its will for peace and neutrality, certain countries may not be willing to see where you stand." "As far as I know," said Suvishan, "England entered into a contract of military alliance with the Kingdom of Denmark eight years ago, which does not seem to have been abrogated by the end of the war. In addition, the Royal Navy of England has a permanent detachment in the Danish port of West Hals. In your Majesty's opinion, which country is England targeting in this move? ”

When Karl XII heard this, he was immediately silent.

In recent decades, as Britain has grown in power, it has not only completely controlled the North Sea region, but also continued to penetrate into the Baltic Sea. After the Hanoverian dynasty came to London, Britain relied on Hanover as a fulcrum to intervene in the affairs of North Germany, constantly squeezing and excluding Swedish influence.

During the Great Northern War, the Swedes and the Russians were at loggerheads, while the British were constantly switching positions between the two. After the defeat of the Kingdom of Sweden at the hands of Russia, it lost a large part of its territory in the East, so it thought that "the East does not shine in the West", and planned to completely take Norway to make up for it. In 1716, King Karl XII personally led a large army to Norway, but unexpectedly, the unrelated Britain immediately pulled Denmark to declare war on Sweden.

Later, in retaliation, Sweden also actively negotiated with the Jacolites in order to seek allies and try to cause chaos within Britain.

With the Great Northern War coming to an end, Sweden humiliated the Treaty of Stockholm with England-Hanover, Denmark, and Prussia, which divided most of Sweden's territory in North Germany, with Hanover receiving Bremen-Felden, Denmark Holstein, and Brandenburg-Prussia annexing the southern part of Swedish Pomerania.

If it had not been for France's efforts in the course of the peace talks and its effective mediation in order to prevent the complete collapse of Sweden's power on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, and its success in enabling Sweden to retain two territories in Wismar and northern Swiss Pomerania, Sweden would probably have lost more territory and lost more interests.

As a result, the two countries have formed a deep bond and are eager to kill each other. If it weren't for the fact that the Swedish Navy had suffered heavy losses after a war with Russia and was no longer able to control the Baltic Sea dominance, it would not have endured so far and maintained the so-called "neutral peace".

Su Weishan, the envoy of Qi to Prussia, was sent to Stockholm in order to persuade the Kingdom of Sweden to stand on Qi's side during the war, and to give Qi's naval ships the convenience of docking and supplying. Even if this task cannot be accomplished, it is necessary to ensure that the Kingdom of Sweden does not fall to the British. It would be better to prevent Sweden from exporting strategic goods, especially copper and iron, to Britain on the basis of neutrality.

As long as Britain cannot obtain enough strategic materials, how many strategic reserves can it have based on the broken islands?

If you want to fight attrition, which country in this world can fight my Great Qi Empire!

"We, the Kingdom of Sweden, are bound by the principle of neutrality, and we are indeed unable to provide corresponding docking and supply services for your Qi naval ships in wartime. At the same time, however, we pledged not to export war materials such as copper and iron to the UK. Karl XII hesitated for a long time, but in the end he refused to take a clear side.

After all, Qi is too far away, and Britain is too close.

Just as Suvetsan was about to take his leave, Karl XII politely got up to see him off, and when he walked to the gate of the palace, he said seemingly casually: "In order to increase the financial revenue of the kingdom, in the near future, I will persuade the parliament to either lease or sell several small islands near Gothenburg in exchange for some necessary funds." …… I wonder if Qi is interested in those small islands? ”

(End of chapter)