5 September 1725, France, Château de Fontainebleau.

In the past month, the ongoing Qi-British War began to expand day by day. After Qi declared war on England on March 15, on July 3, Qi declared war on the Kingdom of Portugal on the grounds that it had aided the English navy. Subsequently, on August 18, Qi declared war on the Republic of Venice on the grounds that the Republic of Venice wantonly intercepted and attacked Qi merchant ships in the Mediterranean.

Because the coastal towns were raided by the English navy, Qi's most important ally in North Africa, the Moroccan Alawite Dynasty, also declared war on England, and not long after, along with Qi, declared war on Portugal, thus officially joining the side of Qi.

The Balkans, which had been silent for several years, have risen again. On 10 August, the Habsburgs gathered more than 60,000 troops and marched from Belgrade to attack the Ottoman region of Wallachia, and the two countries were locked in a bitter border tug-of-war.

Russia, which had just undergone a change of tsarism, launched an invasion in mid-August from both the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus against the Safavid Empire of Persia, which had just expelled the Afghans. The Qi army in Persia immediately took a tough stance and cooperated with the Persian army to launch a counterattack against the incoming Russian army.

Probably hearing that England had been attacked by Qi and suffering heavy losses, the Kingdom of Spain saw an opportunity to take advantage of it, so it sent a strong note to England on August 26, demanding that it immediately return the stolen islands of Gibraltar and Menorca to Spain and withdraw all its troops and warships. This move, naturally, was categorically rejected by England.

On 30 August, the long-prepared Spanish army launched an offensive against the British troops stationed in Gibraltar and prepared to reclaim the area by force. Unfortunately, more than 4,000 Spanish troops were wounded in the face of the strong defensive line built by the English, suffering more than 700 casualties, and had to retreat to their starting positions.

In Germany, in view of the fact that Prussia was on the border, Hanover immediately responded-for-tat, mobilized and gathered more than 20,000 troops, and marched to Wendeburg, where they were ready for battle. In order to ensure that his land was not ravaged by Prussia, King George I of England asked the Prime Minister, Count Robert Walpole, to send an army on land and sea to defend Hanover.

However, this request, rejected by the Cabinet Council, provoked King George I to be indignant and clamor for his return to Hanover to defend his domain.

Yes, the interest of the king of Great Britain was not at all in England, but in the foreign affairs of Europe with his Hanoverian fiefdoms. Moreover, he himself did not even speak English, only German and French, and was never able to communicate normally with the ministers of England. He also spent most of his time in Hannover, where his true home belongs, where his heart belongs.

Not knowing what benefits Britain had promised to Saxony, August II, who was also king of Poland, began to gather troops and drove to the Prussian border, warning Wilhelm I not to provoke a war in North Germany and stop the military threat to Hanover. For a time, the two countries entered a tense state of confrontation, and the entire German region was once again shrouded in the shadow of war.

In contrast to the treacherous European continent, France has maintained a rare calm, always watching the further development and evolution of the situation in Europe as a whole. Of course, the French court ministers at this time may not have focused on the "little things" that did not matter, but they were all devoted to the preparations for the grand wedding of King Louis XV.

On the 5th of September, the Château de Fontainebleau, on the left bank of the Seine, was transformed into a grand wedding hall, with the main tower, the palace, the courtyard, the gardens, the ballroom, the conference hall, the François I Gallery and ...... covered with flowers, ribbons and velvet inlaid with royal irises, and even the forest roads were decorated with colorful satins and scarves.

Representatives of royal dignitaries or ministers in France from dozens of countries came to this magnificent palace in grand costumes and their well-dressed female companions in luxury carriages to witness the grand wedding of King Louis XV of France.

Of course, this wedding also provided an excellent diplomatic stage for European dignitaries to mediate and negotiate with each other on the current complicated European situation.

"Your Excellency, on behalf of His Majesty the King of Great Britain, I extend my most sincere wishes to the King of your country!" The British envoy, Count Dalton Felling, walked to the side of Louis IV Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon, Prime Minister of France, and bowed slightly, "We hope that His Majesty's marriage will be happy and long, and that he will continue to lead the Kingdom of France to prosperity and prosperity." ”

"On behalf of His Majesty the King, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks for your blessings!" The Duke of Bourbon smiled slightly and responded politely.

"Your Excellency, your two countries are traditional friendly neighbors separated by a strip of water, and we should always uphold the principles of peace, fraternity, and mutual benefit in developing our relations." Earl Filin said: "At present, our Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Qi are in a state of war, and in view of the principle of neutrality and friendship, I hope that your country will prohibit the ships of the Qi Navy from sailing into the ports of France to obtain the necessary supplies. ”

"Oh? ......" The Duke of Bourbon raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "Regarding the war between your country and the Qi country, our Kingdom of France expresses deep regret and concern. In this war, we in France will remain strictly neutral, will not take sides or sides, and will not provide war support to one side or the other. However, China has always maintained an open attitude towards ordinary merchant ships coming to our ports to conduct normal commercial trade activities, and will not set any restrictive measures. As for the matter mentioned by Count Feilin that the warships of the Qi Navy sailed into the coastal ports of our country to carry out material supply, this does not exist at all. At least, I haven't received any reports or feedback on this matter. ”

"......" Count Philin looked at the Duke of Bourbon deeply, and there was a faint bit of schadenfreude in the smile on the other party's face, and he didn't seem to care about his reminder (warning) at all.

According to reports from English merchant ships off the coast of France, a few days ago, two Qi-flagged transport ships sailed into the port of Dunkirk, loaded with coal, grain, livestock, and poultry, and then left the port at night and headed for the North Sea.

It's so sneaky, and the purchased materials include a large amount of coal, which is clearly the material supply ship of the Qi Expeditionary Fleet!

Could it be that the merchants of Qi also traveled thousands of miles to transport French coal back to Hanzhou to make a profit?

More than half a month ago, the Qi expeditionary fleet made a false shot near Gibraltar, and then turned around and went straight to the mainland of England, raiding the port city of Liverpool. After the frenzied Qi people lifted the defense of the port, they did not take a landing action, but shelled the city for two consecutive days, and also fired a large number of rockets into the city, turning the entire city into a sea of fire.

A week later, when the British army and navy rushed to Liverpool, they were greeted by a ruin, with tens of thousands of city dwellers weeping and wailing, dragging their tired bodies through the ruins to find and dig up their loved ones, or pick up the remnants of the rubble.

After a thorough clean-up, more than 1,800 bodies of the victims, more than half of them women and children, were collected. In addition, there are more than 3,000 injured people of varying severity. Throughout Liverpool, there are very few buildings in good condition, and almost all the shacks and wooden houses will be burned down.

It can be said that the people of Qi have completely destroyed this emerging port city!

If the Qi people did such a tragic thing, and only made England extremely sad and angry, then the subsequent actions of the Qi Expeditionary Fleet caused the royal government and the Royal Navy to panic.

On 20 August, the Qi fleet attacked the northwestern coastal town of Sligo and occupied it for several days. Soon after, the local Irish resistance suddenly grew rapidly and began to attack the surrounding English-controlled towns and villages, and spread to other parts of the north-west.

On 23 August, English fishermen operating in the North Sea were attacked by the Qi fleet, destroying all the fishing boats they had captured, throwing their fishing gear into the sea, and brutally seizing all the fishermen.

The Qi Expeditionary Fleet has actually divided its troops!

They also contacted the Irish and encouraged them to rebel against English colonial rule again!

At the beginning of the war, the royal government and the Royal Navy expected to start a decisive naval battle with the Qi expeditionary fleet when it arrived in Europe. Even if it could not be annihilated, it would be a heavy blow to it, so that the Qi navy could not threaten Britain's overseas trade.

What they are most worried about is that the Qi navy will be divided into pieces, infesting the waters around England and the North Atlantic in the form of wolves, intercepting and attacking the English merchant ships passing by, cutting off England's foreign trade, and reducing the import of all kinds of goods and materials, so as to achieve the sinister purpose of continuously weakening England itself.

Now, the other side really avoided a decisive naval battle with the English navy, and after attacking Liverpool, it split in two, and a fleet entered the North Sea area, destroying England's trade in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, and even with European countries; The other, most likely after having done so in Ireland, plunged headlong into the vast North Atlantic to intercept English merchant ships between North America and the Caribbean.

The sea is vast, dozens of Qi warships are scattered among them, if you want to find them one by one and annihilate them, it is tantamount to looking for a needle in a haystack, it is not easy.

After two skirmishes at sea, the Royal Navy sadly discovered that the Qi sail ships, equipped with steam engines, were far more maneuverable than the English ships. As long as they are bent on avoiding war, it will be difficult for any ship of the Royal Navy to catch up with them at sea.

On the contrary, with the speed advantage and maneuverability of the ships, the warships of the Qi Navy could easily catch the fleeing English merchant ships at sea, and then capture or sink them. In such a situation, England's merchant ships would inevitably suffer heavy losses, and the overseas trade on which it depended would also suffer a heavy blow.

In order to curb the Qi raids on English merchant ships at sea, it was necessary to limit their access to supplies and weaken their ability to continue fighting. France, with its long coastline, was naturally the object of England's efforts to convince to prevent the ports within its territory from supplying the Qi expeditionary fleet.

But now it seems that the French are happy to see the jokes of their English, and even go so far as to indulge the supply fleets of Qi to enter and leave French ports freely.

Then, the Kingdom of Spain, which had entered into an armed conflict with England in order to retake Gibraltar (England had tentatively defined it as an armed conflict before the two countries had declared war), would have been more reckless in allowing Qi warships to sail into their ports for a short rest and supplies, thus intensifying the blow against their English.

As for the United Provinces, it is even more impossible to stop them. Not to mention the traditional friendly relations between the two countries, the greedy nature of the Dutch who dared to do business with their own enemies during the war would certainly secretly increase their support for the Qi people.

Oh God, how can the Qi people who have come from afar to fight away feel like they are back in their own home stadium and can get so much help?

(End of chapter)